This article is by Ian Urbina, Justin Gillis and Clifford Krauss.

BP spent Monday preparing possible solutions to stem oil leaks from an undersea well off the Louisiana coast, and fending off new accusations about its role in the widening environmental disaster.

Crews were building a containment dome, a 4-story, 70-ton structure that the company plans to lower into place over one of the three leaks to catch the escaping oil and allow it to be pumped to the surface.

The company was also planning to install a shutoff valve at the site of one of the leaks on Monday, but the seas were too rough, delaying that effort. Heavy winds damaged miles of floating booms laid out in coastal waters to protect the shoreline from the spreading oil slick, which appeared to be drifting toward the Alabama and Florida coasts and the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana’s southern tip.

On Monday, lawyers representing environmental groups, workers from the oil rig and fishermen who have been hurt by the leak leveled fresh accusations against BP, as well as Transocean and Halliburton. BP leased the rig from Transocean. Halliburton was providing several services on the rig, including cementing, which is a method of sealing the well to control pressure from the oil and gas beneath.