BP Oil Dome Fails: Oil To Soon Reach the Shore in 5 States

05-08-2010 • mcclatchydc.com/

Efforts to cap a leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico suffered a major setback Saturday, after ice-like crystals clogged the inside of a massive dome meant to contain an 18-day-long spill. The crystals forced officials to move the steel-and-concrete dome, which is still on the sea bed, some 650 feet away from the well — and to scramble to find ways to stop the water-and-gas crystals from forming. "I wouldn't say it failed yet," said Doug Suttles, chief operating officer of BP, the London-based company that owns the leaking well. "What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work." He kept expectations low, however. "It's very difficult to predict whether we will find solutions," he said. The dome was considered the best short-term solution to stop much of the spill. Engineers had hoped to contain 85 percent of the estimated 210,000 gallons gushing daily from the well by funneling oil to the surface from the dome, which is really a 78-ton box with a pyramid on the top. The 40-foot box took about two weeks to build.

1 Comments in Response to BP Oil Dome Fails: Oil To Soon Reach the Shore in 5 States

Comment by Steve Bichler

Entered on: 5/9/2010 4:25:23 AM

I have been deeply involved in environmental remediation processes for over 30 years. Once again, Greed and political Grandstanding has taken precedent over solving the problems at hand. The DOME will work with a few common sense modifications, and I'm certain alot of people already involved KNOW this.

Let the people with the working knowledge getn to work on an unrestrained basis. This problem is much more EASILY repaired than mosy realize. Yes.... expensive... but damn the torpedoes, dump the political grandstanding and fix this problem. The needed answers to these simple problems are obvious as the noses on our faces. Lets use the brains God gave us, and remedy these simple problems with the obvious solutions.

I would

Make a Comment (1) • Email Link • Send Letter to Editor