BP fits cap over gushing Gulf Coast oil pipe, begins to capture crude to surface
Friday, June 4th 2010, 1:52 PM
There was a possible breakthrough Friday in the battle to stop the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Engineers for embattled oil giant BP succeeded in fitting a containment cap over a ruptured pipe, and it was starting to divert the crude that has been befouling the Gulf of Mexico for 46 days to a ship on the surface.
"Sometime later today, we'll probably be able to get ... an approximation of how much oil we are capturing," Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said.
BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the containment cap "should work" by capturing up to 90% of the gushing oil.
As the world held its breath that the latest fix would work, President Obama cancelled a trip to Asia and prepared to make his third trip to the stricken region to ratchet up the pressure on BP - and to reassure Gulf coast residents that they are his top priority.
The Obama administration has already presented BP with a $69 million bill for cleanup thus far.
Meanwhile, the first tar balls from the environmental disaster began washing up on the beaches in Florida's Panhandle - endangering a state that relies heavily on tourism.
Oil has already washed up on the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts - befouling beaches, killing off wildlife, and endangering a way of life for millions of Americans.
The developments came a day after a chilling new report from government scientists warned that BP'S epic oil slick could soon round the Keys and start oozing up the southern East Coast before flowing out east towards Europe.
Under the model released by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the oil will spread along hundreds of miles of the Atlantic coast as the summer rolls on - but New York, New Jersey and New England will escape unscathed.
Nevertheless, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer has asked the Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers to start holding contingency planning meetings with Long Island's coastal towns.
The well began leaking after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20 - killing 11 workers - and sank two days later.
As much as 800,000 gallons of crude a day has been pouring into the sea from the busted well - a rate approximately equal to one Exxon Valdez spill every 10 days.
Under fire for mishandling the disaster and underestimating the damage, embattled BP honcho Tony Hayward has started trying to repair the oil company's reputation with an apologetic TV commercial.
"The gulf spill is a tragedy that never should have happened," he says in the spot. "To those affected and your families, I am deeply sorry," he says. "We will make this right."
The BP ads went up just as the state of Florida had to pull down a tourism spot claiming the "coast is clear."
BP has also been under pressure to suspend some $10.5 billion in dividend payments and divert the dough to deal with the spill and help pay for the clean up.
The oil company's board, however, was not ready to take that step.
"Future decisions on the quarterly dividend will be made by the Board, as they always have been, on the basis of the circumstances at the time," the firm said in a statement.
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