i got an idea... get this coast guard joker and the bp ceo on a air craft carrier in front of a big banner that says "mission accomplished" clackin' champagne glasses together and smilin' ... that'll be great pr, and no doubt that guy matthews on the teevee will have an orgasm...

Neill, if the 'topkill' actually works, I'll cheerfully let them have their 'mission accomplished' moment. Better that than another 2-3 months' worth of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.

Of course, after that, BP still has a lot of cleaning up to do, and our government needs to measure just how much oil they actually let loose in the Gulf, and we need a moratorium on new drilling while we get new safety and liability standards in place.

I don't see why anyone is down on the Coast Guard; they've been doing everything humanly possible.

Agreed with both parts of cyclist's post.

I would add, criminal charges need to be pursued if half the information about what happened leading up to the spill is true.

But if they get the leak stopped, let them have a little celebration first. Then send them back to work and eventually send some of them to jail.

y'all need to go over to TPM.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
There are some serious letters that Josh has put up from people who are actually involved.
They indicate that there are many people and companies involved that are completely off the MSM radar (imagine that?) While not ignoring the colossal failures of BP and the regulators, I mean how many ships and ROV's can you fit into the area.The MSM is determined to blame this on Obama when in realty there is probably not much more to be done than what is already being tried.

JD - guess you haven't seen the interviews Anderson Cooper has been doing with parish officials and the guv, nor seen pictures of the oil invading and killing the marshes and wildlife, while the open surrounding waters are empty of skimmers or anything else to prevent the poison from destroying the marshes. Thad Marshall of the Coast Guard points his finger at BP as the ones responsible for safeguarding the coast and BP points back.

re Neill's remarks, I'm with LTC: at this point, success in stopping or slowing the blowout flow earns those responsible the right to hoist the Mission Accomplished banner, as long as the hole stays plugged. This last may be reason to reconsider whether Halliburton should retain the cementing contract....

AS for the stories that are coming out about the BP company hand telling the driller and tool pusher that there had been some changes made in the job schedule--this is no surprise. When I roughnecked, thirty-odd years ago, I learned fast that to foul up was natural, but to reach FUBAR usually required the involvement of one or more company hands, bless their hearts.

I don't see why anyone is down on the Coast Guard; they've been doing everything humanly possible.

Yeah, like prohibiting journalists from taking photographs and taking orders from BP to arrest journalists. They have been doing everything they can do to protect BP.

http://ncoal.com/blog/?p=2522

@JD, our Coast Guard was magnificent during Katrina. However, they have not been able to take charge of this mess due to restrictions in our federal laws. However, what is grating to many is Allen appears to be nothing more than a mouthpiece for BP. This may be the wrong perception, but, perceptions have become very important in this ever building mess. The right and the media, wrongfully, tried to call this Obama's Katrina at the beginning. However, the perception of the government not stepping in and doing more grows larger by the minute. No, the government may not have the expertise of the oil company experts, but, they have the power to take command and bring in experts and equipment from across the globe. Even, Obama's going to Chicago to, perhaps, check on Mrs O'Leary's fire, today, is a day late in going to the Gulf. BTW, I thought Shortstop had put out that fire. But, the perception of Obama, Allen, Salazar and others in our government not doing enough is exploding.

Seems like a simple and (for the time being) effective enough solution...

So why were we waiting so long to deploy it? Was it so important that BP maintained access to the oil the wellsite provided?

Bobby Jindal will continue to whine and kvetch about the Federal response. This from a governor previously in full revolt against Obama, against "intrusive" government, against "government takeovers","socialism", etc. Doesn't Jindal realize what a hypocrite he is?

If I were President I would tell Jindal to go talk to BP if he wants some help.

I would be hugely relieved if BP successfully stopped the flow of oil; Everyone should cheer when that is done. Like others, I'm curious why it wasn't done before--were they trying to solve the problem in a way that let BP continue to obtain the oil from this well?

As for blame, there's enough of that to share all around. In the end, though, I believe that primary blame should fall on the reckless "drill, baby, drill" crowd. They refuse to conserve ("a private virtue" remember?) or invest in alternate energy sources; to them, the only impediment to getting all the cheap oil that we want is that the government makes the price too expensive through unnecessary regulation. Thus, eliminate the regulation, let corporations do what they do best, and Americans get to fuel our unsustainable lifestyle--to drive our gas guzzlers, our blueberries from Chile, and our plastic trinkets from China.

So the "drill, baby, drill" crowd did eliminate regulations, the oil companies did what they do best (cut costs), and Americans got to avoid facing the problems of their consumer society until, kablooie, one bad accident and one environmental catastrophe later. So, while, I'd love to assign all the blame to BP, really BP was just a player in a tragedy staged by others.

Hopefully, this mud plug will hold over the weekend and they can cement the permanent one next week.

Regardless, a full court press has to continue to quantify the damage and hold BP accountable. A distinction has to be made between economic and environmental damages. Congress may have fucked us over with the economic cap, but they should have to pay every cent to restore affected ecosystems to 100% of their pre-spill condition. Not just the gulf itself, but anywhere this massive death zone happens to travel via the gulf stream.

Going forward, companies should have to drill a relief well in addition to the primary one, just like they've been doing in Canada (for how long?). Not just future ones, they should have to start drilling relief systems for every existing well in U.S. waters.

A thorough review of every drilling permit that's been issued during the past decade should also be commenced.

This is the bare minimum IMO.

Like others, I'm curious why it wasn't done before... -PTate in MN

It's my understanding that the 'Top Hat' method attempted before is the typical method for stopping/controlling underwater spills, and the 'Top Kill' method is typically a dry land method.

What I don't understand is where there is so much time between attempts. It's like they assume each method is guaranteed to work and don't start to plan for the next method in earnest until the previous has been shown a failure.

World's Toughest Fix.

Like it or not, the oil companies have the engineers, equipment, resources and knowledge onsite doing the best they can. It's a puzzle as to why MSM and know-nothings insist that government -- you know federal government that can't do anything right -- to step in and take over.

I hope this top-kill works. NOAA is predicting an extremely active hurricane season this year. And the first storms generally form in the Gulf of Mexico. Those surface ships can't operate in heavy swells, let alone, high winds.

It took so long to try the top kill because the fittings on the BOP needed to be cut off, ground smooth, and new mud lines from the surface connected, all of this done with remote controlled submersibles, only a few of which can approach the BOP at one time to avoid tangling their umbilicals to the surface. Watch some of the videos BP has released and you get a feel for how even just tightening a loose fitting is a tough job when it is a mile underwater.

Another very serious concern is that as the flow stops the pressure will initially increase until you can get enough mud down the pipe to compensate. BP and the government wanted to be very careful that the increased pressure wouldn’t damage the well casing or the BOP, and I think it is a good thing that they are trying to be careful and cautious about not making things worse.

ATTACK OF THE BLOB !

Marine scientists have discovered a massive new plume of what they believe to be oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico, stretching 22 miles from the leaking wellhead northeast toward Mobile Bay, Alabama.

David Hollander, associate professor of chemical oceanography at the school, says the thick plume was detected just beneath the surface down to about 3,300 feet. He says it's more than 6 miles wide.

AP

It is good that Engineers have got success for stopping the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico and also good that now situation is in under control.

anthony morrison

BP obviously caused the spill and needs to plug it. However, the response to an emergency in federal waters is a FEMA-first activity. The feds should be the ones providing resources such as boats and skimmers and corps of engineer support for the cleanup efforts, which are mult-state in nature.

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