Free Republic

Very interesting.

AP news break via ABC News Radio that the top kill plug has failed and has not worked. Link to follow...

OK, what is the saw blade going to accomplish? At least it's clear water in this area.

HOUSTON — BP had to halt its ambitious effort to plug its stricken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday afternoon when engineers saw that too much of the drilling fluid they were injecting into the well was escaping along with the leaking crude oil.

British Petroleum and the federal government are both claiming victory today after an experimental process to stop the flow of oil from a blowout in the Gulf appears to have succeeded. The “top kill” process dumped mud into the broken pipe, effectively snuffing out the spewing of thousands of barrels of oil (via Instapundit): 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, Adm. Thad Allen, said Thursday morning.The so-called “top kill” effort, launched Wednesday afternoon by industry and government engineers...

COVINGTON, La. – An untested procedure to plug the blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico seemed to be working, officials said Thursday, but new estimates showed the spill has already surpassed the Exxon Valdez as the worst in U.S. history. A team of scientists trying to determine how much oil has been flowing since the offshore rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20 and sank two days later found the rate was more than twice and possibly up to five times as high as previously thought. The fallout from the spill has stretched all the way to Washington, where...

As of now, the oil has stopped: Adm Allen told US media the "top kill" procedure, which began on Wednesday, has pumped enough drilling fluid to block all oil and gas escaping from the well."They've been able to stabilise the wellhead, they're pumping mud down it. They've stopped the hydrocarbons from coming up," Adm Allen told WWL First News radio.It was the first positive official assessment of BP's latest attempt to plug the well, after previous efforts failed.BP has not yet commented in detail on the situation, saying merely that the operation was continuing.Adm Allen said there was still pressure...

May 10, Associated Press reports: A junk shot would be followed by cement to seal the leak and the technique is something company officials said they might try next week. The junk shot was not tried the next week, but 16 days later under the name of Top Kill. Right after President Obama allegedly screamed: “Plug the damn hole”. The Coast Guard approved the Junk Shot called Top Kill operation. The question folks will be asking while soaking in oil trying to rescue the US Gulf Coast is: What took you so long? Let’s take a look at the time...

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the top-kill was successful, and the oil leak in the Gulf is now contained. Now we'll get to see how the Obama administration mitigates the damage. So far their strategy has been to do nothing and blame George W. Bush, so I guess it's gymnastics time, as the Obamatons contort themselves and logic to figure out the next political angle on this disaster...

<p>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.</p>

Fox News Alert just read a wire that stated from the USCG that the "Top Kill" method is working.....BP expected to announce in a press conference shortly.

Rick Sanchez, hard hat and all, explains how the 'top kill' process works.

I have been monitoring the live feed of the "Top Kill" apparatus from BP.com and after about three hours there is a definite change of events down there. For the first couple of hours we could see several views of a very complex device rocking around in clear water. Now there is gushing of what I presume is the "mud" plumeing. We may get some incite as to progress soon.

The US Coast Guard has approved the use of the top kill method of capping BP’s well. There has been no time set to begin the procedure, but you can follow the video feed live from the ROV camera here (link). Note the moving wormlike object close to the pipe....