WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama today starts a three-state tour of Gulf Coast states tainted by oil before speaking to the nation about the country's worst environmental disaster and what to expect in the weeks ahead.

Before the start of the two-day trip to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, the White House announced Obama would order BP to establish a major victims' compensation fund. When he returns to Washington on Tuesday evening Obama will use his first Oval Office speech as president to address the catastrophe.

BP said in a statement that its costs for responding to the spill had risen to $1.6 billion, including new $25 million grants to Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.

Obama's first three trips to the Gulf took him to the hardest-hit state, Louisiana.

Today, Day 56 since BP's leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and unleashed a fury of oil into the Gulf, Obama will fly to Gulfport, Miss. From there he'll travel along the coast to Alabama.

The administration said early today that BP had responded to a letter sent over the weekend asking the company to speed up its ability to capture the spewing oil.

In its response, BP said it would target containing more than 2 million gallons of oil a day by the end of June, up from about 630,000 gallons of crude a day now.