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Breaking: “Top kill” worked !! (BP Engineers succeed in stopping oil flow in Gulf of Mexico)
Hotair ^ | 5/27/2010 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 05/27/2010 12:05:47 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

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 in Houston, has pumped enough drilling fluid to block all oil and gas from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well is very low, but persistent, he said.

Once engineers have reduced the well pressure to zero, they will begin to pump cement into the hole to entomb the well. To help that effort, he said, engineers are also pumping some debris into the blowout preventer at the top of the well.

That’s pretty good timing for today’s presser, but undeniably just great news altogether. It verifies a more or less speculative solution that apparently was the last guess at stopping the oil. “Top kill” had worked at much shallower depths in the past, but so had the bell cap process, too, which turned out to be unsuitable for 5,000 feet.

However, the trouble may not yet be past. The ship pumping the mud has run out of material; a second ship is on the way. The shell of mud may still blow open from the upward pressure, but that could be resolved by more applications of “top kill.”

Now all that is left is the cleanup — and that will take much, much longer than plugging the leak did. Expect this to drag on for months and perhaps years.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bloggers; bp; deephorz; energy; oil; oilspill; topkill
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To: Will88

Try and educate yourself on how this “Top kill” mud pumping operation is supposed to work. There is a a link up stream that tells how it works.


101 posted on 05/27/2010 1:02:08 PM PDT by wordsofearnest (Brad Ellsworth is giving Indiana a twofer.)
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To: FootBall

Yes but it beats the hell out of what was happening yesterday.


102 posted on 05/27/2010 1:03:35 PM PDT by wordsofearnest (Brad Ellsworth is giving Indiana a twofer.)
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To: tobyhill
Obama put himself in this corner and now if he tries to take credit for the “hole being plugged” then he should be asked, if he's so smart why didn't it happen from day one?

I see your point and agree. Also, now little "o" gets to take credit for the disaster about to hit the Gulf states...and it will be bad.

103 posted on 05/27/2010 1:03:58 PM PDT by ScreamingFist
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To: houeto
BP has in no way declared this a success yet.

Yep, and I've getting slimed from several directions for pointing out this thread provides nothing new, that the Admiral Allen story is from early this morning.

And I can't get anyone to provide new, recent links to support what most everyone here wants to believe.

Premature celebration on the part of many, I'm afraid.

104 posted on 05/27/2010 1:04:13 PM PDT by Will88
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To: colorado tanker
Well, betcha this just went from a BP to an Obama operation.

Future Headline: Obama Wins Second Nobel Prize

105 posted on 05/27/2010 1:04:44 PM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: Will88

Still an improvement from over 24 hours ago.


106 posted on 05/27/2010 1:05:16 PM PDT by wordsofearnest (Brad Ellsworth is giving Indiana a twofer.)
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To: wordsofearnest
Try and educate yourself on how this “Top kill” mud pumping operation is supposed to work. There is a a link up stream that tells how it works.M

Try providing links where: 1. BP has declared that the effort is a success. 2. That someone other than Admiral Allen has declared a success.

107 posted on 05/27/2010 1:07:08 PM PDT by Will88
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To: Will88

If you would like to read just a little, say on this thread alone, you will have seen way back in post 52 that until they pump cement the well is not sealed. How’s that for “real time” reporting?


108 posted on 05/27/2010 1:07:25 PM PDT by ScreamingFist
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To: Drill Thrawl

That is very funny....and accurate!


109 posted on 05/27/2010 1:07:58 PM PDT by my small voice (A biased media and an uneducated public is the biggest threat to our democracy)
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To: Southnsoul

Yep, that’s why I’ll believe they stopped ALL leaks when I see with 100% certainty that they have stopped ALL of the oil that is leaking.


110 posted on 05/27/2010 1:09:03 PM PDT by mojitojoe (banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Will88

Nobody has called this a success, but it is definitely an improvement.


111 posted on 05/27/2010 1:09:58 PM PDT by wordsofearnest (Brad Ellsworth is giving Indiana a twofer.)
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To: wordsofearnest; Will88
Try and educate yourself on how this “Top kill” mud pumping operation is supposed to work.

The operation will not be considered successful by BP until it is concrete plugged. That has not happened yet. Many things could still go wrong. Keep praying for now.

People are jumping the gun with this declaration of success.

Not trying to be negative. Hell, I live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, 5 miles inland. Just trying to be honest.

-houeto.

112 posted on 05/27/2010 1:10:38 PM PDT by houeto (Get drinking water from your ditch - http://www.junglebucket.com/Jungle-Bucket-1.htm)
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To: wordsofearnest
Still an improvement from over 24 hours ago.

Lol, and what official made that statement?

Unless someone can provide links, we'll have to conclude that most on this thread are guilty of jumping to conclusions before BP, or anyone in any official capacity has declared this a success, other than Allen early this morning.

I still hope it's true, but no one is providing any substantiation of it.

113 posted on 05/27/2010 1:10:46 PM PDT by Will88
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To: SeekAndFind
Bless our great president, he actually did it!!! Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Next stop...MOUNT RUSHMORE!!!!

114 posted on 05/27/2010 1:11:01 PM PDT by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
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To: Will88

You’d argue with a post.


115 posted on 05/27/2010 1:12:20 PM PDT by wordsofearnest (Brad Ellsworth is giving Indiana a twofer.)
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To: Deb

” Next stop...MOUNT RUSHMORE!!!! “

Oh??

When did Mount Rushmore start leaking???


116 posted on 05/27/2010 1:15:30 PM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: WOSG; Apparatchik

PS. Sorry for being cranky over the satire. It’s just too close to MSM reality to be funny to me. I anticipate CNN reporting breathlessly on how O’s words made BP snap-do...

I decided to lighten up with jokes at Charlie shapeshifter Crist’s expense. That make me feel better. Cheers.


117 posted on 05/27/2010 1:17:00 PM PDT by WOSG (OPERATION RESTORE AMERICAN FREEDOM - NOVEMBER, 2010 - DO YOUR PART!)
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To: ozzymandus
Well, the man can walk on water.

If you'll notice, he always has those "halos" around his head...

118 posted on 05/27/2010 1:17:05 PM PDT by Cyropaedia ("Virtue cannot separate itself from reality without becoming a principal of evil...".)
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To: wordsofearnest
Nobody has called this a success, but it is definitely an improvement.

Lol, is that a fact? I guess you missed the title of the thread, and most of the celebratory posts that followed? Said thread title here:

Breaking: “Top kill” worked !! (BP Engineers succeed in stopping oil flow in Gulf of Mexico)

I'm afraid, understandably, that everyone wanted it to be true, so not many searched for new information, beyond what had been available since early this morning.

I think we're all still waiting for some more recent information, and maybe there will be good news.

119 posted on 05/27/2010 1:19:33 PM PDT by Will88
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To: WOSG

No worries - the real and undeserved adulation of this empty suit of a president makes me sick, too. We have to anticipate what the leftist media will do and pre-empt it with satire. We all know he did nothing to resolve the crisis (even the “boot on the throat” thing is a joke), and we have to call attention to it.


120 posted on 05/27/2010 1:21:31 PM PDT by Apparatchik (If you find yourself in a confusing situation, simply laugh knowingly and walk away - Jim Ignatowski)
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