WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will establish an independent presidential commission to probe the huge oil spill from a wrecked BP-leased rig in the Gulf of Mexico, an official said Monday.

The commission, similar to other presidential-ordered probes into civilian disasters, will be established by executive order, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Reports said that the commission will be officially unveiled in the next few days, and will supplement existing government inquiries into the disaster sparked by an explosion aboard a drilling rig last month.

Obama has gradually ratcheted up criticism of BP over the spill of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf in an unfolding ecological disaster, betraying more and more frustration over the company’s failure to stop the leak. A visibly angered president on Friday hit out at oil companies for trying to avoid blame over a massive slick, and vowed an all-out effort to stop the leak pouring into the Gulf of Mexico.

“I will not tolerate more finger-pointing or irresponsibility. The people of the Gulf Coast need our help,” Obama said, as he also unveiled a review of the environmental safeguards to be put in place for oil and gas exploration.

He slammed the three oil companies linked to the Deepwater Horizon rig — BP, Transocean, and Halliburton — for seeking to pass the blame, denouncing what he called a “ridiculous spectacle” by their top officials during congressional hearings.

Senators join in

Eight senators urged Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday to investigate possible civil and criminal misdeeds by British energy giant BP in connection to a disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

“We are writing to ask that you open an inquiry into whether British Petroleum made false and misleading statements to the federal government regarding its ability to respond to oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico,” the lawmakers, all Democrats, wrote to Holder [PDF].

The group, led by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer, urged Holder to investigate whether BP misled U.S. regulators on its ability to respond to catastrophic oil spills.

They cited a Feb. 23, 2009 document BP submitted to the federal Minerals Management Service expressing confidence in its ability to contain an oil spill and mitigate any impact on the environment. “In the event of an unanticipated blowout resulting in an oil spill, it is unlikely to have an impact based on the industry wide standards for using proven equipment and technology for such responses,” that document said.

“In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it does not in any way appear that there was ‘proven equipment and technology’ to respond to the spill, which could have tragic consequences for local economies and the natural resources of the Gulf of Mexico,” the lawmakers wrote.

They also cited a May 10 document in which BP said all of its potential strategies for containing the disaster “involve significant uncertainties because they have not been tested in these conditions before.”

The senators pressed Holder to evaluate BP’s actions “with respect to civil and criminal laws related to false statements to the federal government” as well as “any federal law or regulation that may have been violated in connection with issues surrounding the spill.”

Head of MMS to retire

Chris Oynes, a top official overseeing offshore energy for the Minerals Management Service — an agency blamed for lax inspection in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill — announced his retirement Monday, his agency said.

“After 35 years of service he will be retiring from the agency,” an official at the Department of the Interior, which includes MMS, told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Oynes was named in 2007 as the associate director of the Offshore Energy and Minerals Management Program in the MMS, with responsibilities including administering the Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas program.

His retirement comes amid scathing criticism of the agency for being too lax on enforcement of safety standards in offshore drilling. Last week, President Barack Obama himself slammed it as being too “cozy” with the companies it regulates.

After the Gulf of Mexico disaster at a BP-leased offshore oil rig that ruptured an undersea well which continues to spew crude into the water, the Obama administration announced a breakup of the agency’s leasing and regulatory functions into two separate entities.

Obama ordered “top to bottom” reform of MMS after allegations it had allowed BP and other oil companies to drill in the Gulf without first obtaining required permits. “For too long, for a decade or more, there’s been a cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill,” he said.

The Washington Post said the retirement would come May 31 and that Oynes, who oversaw oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico for 12 years before being promoted to MMS associate director, had come under fire for being too close to the industry officials he regulated.

MMS separately drew criticism from senators Monday by failing to send an official to a hearing on the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

“There’s one set of witnesses that are not here, and I must say that’s from MMS,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who heads the committee on homeland security. “I regret that the MMS leadership has chosen not to appear before our committee today because, really, they need to be asked the same questions I’m going to ask Homeland Security, Coast Guard, and BP, because MMS, as I’ve mentioned, must approve or reject the oil-spill response plans for wells, which is where this accident occurred before those wells can be drilled.”

Last week, one MMS official told a hearing in New Orleans that the oil and gas industry largely policed its own drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico with little government supervision.

An MMS official said the regulatory agency did not enforce compliance with its “safety alerts” on underwater blowout preventers and allowed oil companies to inspect their own drilling equipment.

“I am not aware of who does the self-certification,” Michael Saucier, the Minerals Management Service regional supervisor, said when asked about the inspections.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans to break up the functions of the MMS to eliminate a conflict of interest in its role as oil industry regulator and a lessor of lucrative federal oil rights.