she ll join us to explain why, today, friday, april 30th, she ll join us to explain why, today, friday, april 30th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to today on this very busy friday morning. i m meredith vieira. i m ann curry in for matt this morning. as you know, this morning long thin lines of oil leaking into the gulf now lapping up on the shore of louisiana s ecologically sensitive shorelines. much thicker oil is now just a few miles from shore. on thursday homeland security secretary janet that pa that know says it is now a spill of national significance. she ll head to the region today. an official at the oceanic and atmospheric association calls the situation a very, very big thing. did the obama administration wait too long to respond? we ll ask the woman overseeing the government s response to the disaster in a moment. first, we ve got nbc s anne thompson in venice, louisiana where the spill has now reached land. anne, go