Gulf oil spill hits shores of Louisiana
Source: Agencies |
May 21, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HEAVY, sticky oil from a massive monthlong spill was starting to clog Louisiana marshes on the Gulf of Mexico as another edge of the partly submerged crude reached a powerful current that could take it to Florida and beyond.
Brown ooze that coated marsh grasses and hung in the shallow water of a wetland at Louisiana's southeastern tip was the first heavy oil seen on shore since a BP seafloor well blew out following an April 20 rig explosion. Governor Bobby Jindal declared on Wednesday it was just the outer edge of the real spill, much heavier than the oily sheen seen before.
"This is the heavy oil that everyone's been fearing that is here now," Jindal said during a boat tour. The wetlands at the mouth of the Mississippi are home to rare birds, mammals and marine life.
BP PLC was marshaling equipment and conducting tests yesterday ahead of a new effort to choke off the oil's flow. Crews hoped that by Sunday they can start the "top kill," which involves pumping heavy mud into the crippled equipment on top of the well, then permanently sealing it with cement.
The procedure has been used before to halt gushing oil above ground, but like other methods BP is exploring it has never been used 1,500 meters below the sea. That's why experts have spent much of the last week preparing for the complex operation and taking a series of measurements to make sure that the mission doesn't backfire.
"The philosophy from the beginning is not to take any action which could make the situation worse, and those are the final steps we're doing," said Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer.
BP is already sucking up oil through a mile-long tube it managed to insert into the leaking pipe over the weekend. BP spokesman Mark Proegler said yesterday that the tube is now capturing nearly 800,000 liters a day.
Brown ooze that coated marsh grasses and hung in the shallow water of a wetland at Louisiana's southeastern tip was the first heavy oil seen on shore since a BP seafloor well blew out following an April 20 rig explosion. Governor Bobby Jindal declared on Wednesday it was just the outer edge of the real spill, much heavier than the oily sheen seen before.
"This is the heavy oil that everyone's been fearing that is here now," Jindal said during a boat tour. The wetlands at the mouth of the Mississippi are home to rare birds, mammals and marine life.
BP PLC was marshaling equipment and conducting tests yesterday ahead of a new effort to choke off the oil's flow. Crews hoped that by Sunday they can start the "top kill," which involves pumping heavy mud into the crippled equipment on top of the well, then permanently sealing it with cement.
The procedure has been used before to halt gushing oil above ground, but like other methods BP is exploring it has never been used 1,500 meters below the sea. That's why experts have spent much of the last week preparing for the complex operation and taking a series of measurements to make sure that the mission doesn't backfire.
"The philosophy from the beginning is not to take any action which could make the situation worse, and those are the final steps we're doing," said Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer.
BP is already sucking up oil through a mile-long tube it managed to insert into the leaking pipe over the weekend. BP spokesman Mark Proegler said yesterday that the tube is now capturing nearly 800,000 liters a day.
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