With new containment cap in place, BP waits to see if it works

Venice, Louisiana (News Today) - BP may learn Friday how effective the new cap it placed on the ruptured undersea well is in slowing down the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

The complex underwater maneuver completed Thursday night was applauded by U.S. and BP officials.

"The placement of the containment cap is another positive development in BP's most recent attempt to contain the leak, however, it will be sometime before we can confirm that this method will work," said Coast Guard Lt. Commander Tony Russell. "Even if successful, this is only a temporary and partial fix and we must continue our aggressive response."

Robot submarines steered the new cap to BP's ruptured undersea well in the Gulf of Mexico at about 10 p.m. Thursday. But early Friday morning a non-stop cloud of oil was still spewing from the pipe .

BP CEO Tony Hayward announced Thursday that the company had crossed an "important milestone" earlier in the day when it cut away the remains of the well's damaged riser pipe, clearing the way for the dome to be lowered 5,000 feet below the surface to the well.

"The next 12 to 24 hours will give us an indication of how successful this attempt will be," Hayward told reporters at the company's U.S. headquarters in Houston, Texas.

Thursday's developments followed days of setbacks for workers trying to cap the well, which has spewed hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico for six weeks.

An effort to slice off the pipe with a precision diamond-edged cutter failed Wednesday, forcing BP to settle for a rougher cut of the pipe made with shears. The more primitive cut means that a rubber seal will not be as tight as previously hoped, so the dome that was being guided into position by the submersibles won't completely contain the spill, said U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government's response manager.

Nevertheless, Allen called Thursday's news "extremely important."

"I know they're working hard at it right now," he said aboard one of the drilling platforms working at the site.

The well may not be completely sealed off until at least until August, when BP hopes to complete a relief well. And Hayward, whose company is responsible for containing the spill, said the company will be working to clean up the mess left behind "for a very, very long time."

"Our task is to contain the oil, ultimately to eliminate the leaking well and most importantly, to clean up the oil, defend the shoreline and restore the shoreline where the oil comes to ashore, so we return it to the original state," he said.

Hayward appeared this week in television ads launched as part of a national campaign to restore the beleaguered oil giant's tarnished reputation, in which he apologizes and promises to "make this right."

But even as the ads began to air, a grassroots campaign dubbed Seize BP planned to kick off a week of demonstrations in more than 50 cities.

The BP well erupted after an explosion and fire on the leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20 that killed 11 people. The rig sank two days later, leaving up to 19,000 barrels (798,000 gallons) of oil pouring into the Gulf daily, according to federal estimates. BP, rig owner Transocean and oilfield services contractor Halliburton have all pointed fingers at each other for the disaster.

Anti-BP sentiment has grown as oil has made its way to or near coastal areas. And the company has come under increasing fire from state governments and the Obama administration, which announced a criminal investigation into the spill and cut off joint news conferences with the company this week.

President Obama told CNN's Larry King on Thursday that he is "furious at this entire situation," because "somebody didn't think through the consequences of their actions." Obama, who is scheduled to visit Louisiana again on Friday, said he has not seen enough of a rapid response from the company, the responsible party under federal law.

Oil also hit barrier islands off Mississippi and Alabama this week, and was only six miles off the Florida Panhandle on Thursday morning, state emergency management officials have reported.

In Louisiana, where oily sludge has been fouling coastal marshes for two weeks, state officials said the White House has given its blessing to a plan to dredge up walls of sand offshore and BP agreed to fund the $360 million construction cost. But Gov. Bobby Jindal said Thursday that state officials "haven't gotten a dime from them."

"I'm calling on BP to step up (and) be the responsible party in fact, not just by label," Jindal said. He added, "We're done talking to attorneys."

But BP announced Thursday on its website that it has established a $360 million escrow account to fund construction of the six sections of Louisiana barrier islands approved by federal authorities. "Since the environmental implications of the projects are not fully understood, BP assumes no liability for unexpected or unintended consequences of these projects," the company said in a posting on its website.

Source : CNN

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