BP Claims Gulf Well Has Been Stopped

An anonymous reader writes with word that BP has announced the Gulf oil spill has been stopped. Another reader adds more detail: "The last valve on the new cap has been closed, and the flow of oil and gas into the sea has stopped. That doesn't mean it's over. It is unclear whether the steel casing deep in the well can contain the pressure. The risk is that it could burst, which would eventually cause a rupture on the sea floor that would make things much messier to deal with. However, they're monitoring the pressure buildup carefully and if the pressure holds over the next 48 hours (indicating there is no leak below the sea floor), they'll assess what to do next. If it doesn't hold at the expected readings, then they'll re-attach the pipe used for producing to the surface and start collecting again. Regardless of what happens the relief well still has to be completed to permanently plug the well with cement, which could take a couple more weeks."

Comments

Re:Back to business as usual then...

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Well, BP did collaborate with terrorists. That is fact, so they are no beyond putting business interests ahead of the well being of the cousins across the pond.

But I agree that there are cultural and geographical distances that caused BP to really screw up the public relations. For instance, though everyone in Texas knows on which side their bread is buttered, but we like our coast line only as oily as necessary. This means that we likely would not have wasted time trying to save the hole. We like drilling holes. It makes us a lot of money. Recall, the rig was insured. Plug the hole, build a new rig, drill a new hole, a thousand engineers don't lose their jobs. Texas is all about engineering jobs. England is a nation of shopkeepers paranoid about keeping stock, not creating it. Half of BP problems was an unwillingness to give up on the hole.

Also, Texas would have never given into the fishing and tourists interests. The fishing industry will not admit that they kill more in bycatch and destroy their livelihood by overfishing way more than an oil spill ever will. Let the fishing industry sue for loss of income. As we have seen in the articles, many of them do cash business, so cannot substantiate income, or at least not substantiate without getting in trouble with internal revenue. Louisiana in particular would have a hard time whining given that they support killing sea turtles to get shrimp.

Of course the tourist industry psychotically believes that it can exist without cheap energy. Florida might make a ruckus in congress, but Texas has the craziest congress people of all. These are the people who complain about the deficit while maximizing it by insuring clear lake always has high paying government jobs, and fighting for contract for their fishing buddies. One word from them and energy goes up 25%. Look at it this way. Texas has it own personal grid. Not hooked up to the national grid. It is like we are the Brits that did not cave into the EU.