Sen. Bill Nelson wants a criminal investigation into whether BP deliberately played down the amount of oil spewing from its well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Nelson said he is sending a letter to the Department of Justice along with Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., another outspoken critic of the oil giant's handling of the disaster. The letter comes a day after the government again upgraded its estimate on how much oil is leaking -- up to 60,000 barrels per day.

That is up from the early 5,000 barrel estimate, which the government went along with at first.