'Top kill' effort succeeds in blocking oil leak, Coast Guard admiral says

latimes ^ | 5 27 10

[dennisw]

Reporting from Houma, La. Engineers have succeeded in stopping the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a gushing BP well, the federal government's top oil spill commander, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said Thursday morning.

[Carley]

And now for the smaller leaks that have emerged from other sections of the well.

[deport]

The live feed shows stuff still spewing out...isn’t the mud supposed to be heavier than water...if so, this stuff is still oil?

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They are still pumping mud/fluids into the bore at a pressure/rate greater than the pressure of oil/hydrates coming up from the bottom. The riser and BOP haven’t been shut closed so there will be mud/fluids coming out until they can get a cement plug down hole to set up and plug the pipes. In other words they have overcome the pressure from the bottom and supplying pressure from the top with mud/fluids. That is what is coming out of the riser you see on the live cams.

[b4its2late]

Let’s hope so. Bambi will take credit though.

[ken21]

yes, comrade obozo will take credit.

[Bigun]

He is!

Last evening when I saw the first indications of mud coming out of the riser my hopes of success were raised and now to see ONLY mud coming out of those vents is reassuring indeed!

[east1234]

And it will continue until they stop injecting mud.

[crusty old prospector]

They had to devise a way to stab into the failed BOP at a mile below the surface. The way that they have killed the well is how it has been done since the beginning of the oil business. Pump high rates of a heavy fluid into the well to overcome the pressure of the flow and kill it.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

“I really don’t see what Obama should have done differently”

It’s a freaking scandal:

As Gulf oil spill worsens, Obama flies to San Fran to party with Getty Oil tycoons
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2521373/posts

How the White House destroyed the Gulf
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=157901
“ ... more than a week before any NOAA ships sailed ... o submersibles capable of dumping rock or concrete onto the spill and covering it over (like a cairn) were dispatched ... No submarines fired wire-guided ADCAP torpedoes ... Tom Strickland elected to go on vacation ... Talk was made of starting the oil on fire (not the best option, but better than nothing) and various measures suggested, but little was done. ... Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal [was stonewalled on] barrier islands ...”

Dem Congress Jumps Into Action… Will Quadruple Gas Tax After Gulf Oil Spill
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/05/dem-congress-jumps-into-action-will-quadruple-gas-tax-to-pay-for-oil-spills

[We’re to be punished for Obama’s failure]

Ted Turner: Gulf mess ‘GOD’s work... He’s sending us message’...
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/17/ted-turner-wondering-if-god-is-speaking-in-gulf-coast-spill
[Was Obama’s impeachable neglect of spill God’s work too?]

Professor dumped from oil spill team over writings
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2516982/posts
[Politics above a go-to-guy for solutions]

[PMAS]

It’s not that he didn’t help stop the leak, it is that he and his administration did NOTHING to contain the spill, ignored Gov.Jindal requests, didn’t send the NAVY that has clean up operations, didn’t send any of his administration for over 9 or 10 days — wise up buddy

[throwback]

You exaggerated a bit on the tax. Leftists know that's a charged word, and so it isn't used. Still, your text is creepily very Obamish.

[NavyCanDo]

“I really don’t see what Obama should have done differently”

Bobby Jindal who is still waiting for permits and environmental impact statements so he can add to the barrier islands would disagree.

[crusty old prospector]

Don’t really need it. A plug of a couple hundred feet is sufficient to hold it back but I am sure they will pump as much as possible. It is usually set through the drill pipe at varying depths but since that is not an option, they will just have a surface plug.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“The head of BP looked awful on TV last night. Like he’s been run over by a truck.”

He got run over by Obama..The “Mack” daddy.

[JimRed]

...damage to shore line was avoidable if promised equipment had been sent and permits given...

Requiring "permits" to start solving a problem is the height of idiocy.

[for-q-clinton]

Would that be like the GW victory lap after Katrina got done wrecking New Orleans? The real work now begins...cleaning up this mess.

[mikrofon]

It’s only a matter of time before the movie comes out (”Top Kill”)...

Is Tom Cruise available for the lead? Who can they get to portray The One (PTDH)?

[Redleg Duke]

That "Mission Accomplished presser" you are referring to was a sign that the carrier crew put on the island of the carrier, talking about "their" mission, not the whole damned war.

You are just parroting the disinformation that the LSM pushed in its attempts to undermine the Bush Administration.

[AFPhys]

If this has worked and I pray this is so, it will go down in history as one of the greatest engineering efforts since the Apollo 13 rescue. Nothing short of Herculean.

Well done, all.

Now, for the cleanup.

Followed by cause and corrective action

and all manner of Monday-morning quarterbacking....
followed by witch trials....
etc.

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I feel obligated to repeat and enhance your post.

Man alive, you just said it just the way I would have put it. I would only add one word "overkill" in front of "corrective action"

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

The other leaks are dowstream in the riser, this will seal them all. Think of a water hose with holes in it. If you seal it off at the faucet (BOP) you stop all the leaks.

[italianquaker]

The leak is not the big problem for odumbo. The cleanup will be and we know odumbo will screw that up