by Agence France-Presse. NEW ORLEANS, La. — Federal officials said Tuesday they have launched a criminal and civil probe into the nation’s worst-ever oil spill, even as BP voiced hopes of capping the six-week-old Gulf of Mexico leak soon. “We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who has violated the law,” Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters in New Orleans. “We will not rest until justice is done.” Holder said the criminal probe began “some weeks ago,” but declined to elaborate what kind of charges could be brought and against whom. He was speaking after touring the region to witness first-hand the damage caused by the spill. “What we saw this morning was oil for miles and miles. Oil that we know has already affected plant and animal life along the coast, and has impacted the lives and livelihoods of all too many in this region,” he said. “This disaster is nothing less than a tragedy.” President Barack Obama earlier on Tuesday threatened to take legal action against those to blame, saying the government had an “obligation” to determine the cause of the “greatest environmental disaster of its kind in our history.” “If our laws were broken leading to this death and destruction, my solemn pledge is that we will bring those responsible to justice on behalf of the victims of this catastrophe and the people of the Gulf region,” Obama said in a statement in the White House Rose Garden. “If the laws on our books are insufficient to prevent such a spill, the laws must change. If oversight was inadequate to enforce these laws, oversight has to be reformed.” Obama delivered his threat of legal action after meeting with former Florida senator Bob Graham and former EPA administrator William Reilly, who will co-chair a presidential commission into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. How’s that stop-the-spill thing going?

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