国际英语新闻：Texas asks BP to pay 25 mln USD for oil clean-up efforts

HOUSTON, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The attorney general of U.S. state Texas on Tuesday asked British oil company BP to pay the state 25 million U.S. dollars to clean up oil reaching Texas shore from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement on Tuesday that though the ultimate impact of the spill on Texas is not known yet, BP should "be held fully financially accountable for the costs incurred by taxpayers" when state and local governments engage in clean-up efforts.

Abbott requested BP be held responsible for the economic losses suffered by coastal businesses, fishermen, landowners, individuals and communities. He also demanded an office be opened in Texas to handle spill-related claims.

Texas officials confirmed Monday that tar balls from the Gulf oil spill had reached the state's shoreline, the first evidence that the spill has reached all five U.S. Gulf states.

After hearing reports of tar balls washing ashore on Texas' Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island, state officials performed tests on samples collected from the balls.

The test results that came out Tuesday showed that about two gallons of tar balls discovered Sunday on Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island were from the Gulf spill, according to state officials.

The spill, the worst in U.S. history, began April 20 with an explosion and fire aboard the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off the Louisiana coast, killing 11 workers.