Scotland welcomes oil spill disclosure

Scottish officials said they were pleased with the disclosure regarding the oil spill in the North Sea but stressed the hard work must continue.Royal Dutch Shell said the leak from its Gannet platform in the North Sea has slowed about 1 barrel -- 42 gallons -- of oil per day. The company said it notified authorities Aug. 10 that about 1,500 barrels had spilled from the platform.Scottish officials monitoring the spill said they've seen little evidence of significant contamination even though the spill is considered one of the worst in the North Sea.Scottish Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said he was in contact with London and Shell to discuss the spill."I'm pleased to see that steps have now been taken to put more information in the public domain," he said. "This must continue."Hugh Shaw, the British government official in charge of the response, said from Aberdeen, Scotland, that the spill seemed to be under control."Although the spill was deemed as significant, our information is still that the oil is not expected to reach the shore and that it will be dispersed naturally," he said in a statement.Shell is under fire for waiting two days before making public comments available. Officials had told the BBC's Radio 4 that authorities were notified immediately though Shaw said he wasn't told of the incident until Friday evening.