BP's top kill effort fails to plug Gulf oil leak (OBAMA OIL SPILL GETS WORSE!)

Townhall.com ^ | Saturday, May 29, 2010 | By BEN NUCKOLS

[USALiberty]

BP admitted defeat Saturday in its attempt to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil leak by pumping mud into a busted well, but is readying yet another approach after repeated failures to stop the crude that's fouling marshland and beaches.

BP PLC Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the company determined the "top kill" had failed after it spent three days pumping heavy drilling mud into the crippled well 5,000 feet underwater. More than 1.2 million gallons of mud was used, but most of it escaped out of the damaged riser.

[USALiberty]

WHEN WILL OBAMA ACT? My GOD! It's like he WANTS that oil slick! Is this his "punishment" for the God-fearing, patriotic red states?

[ColdOne]

Makes one wonder!

[al baby]

What if BP just says to hell with it we are going home ?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Why is mud expected to be able to plug the well? I’d think it would need something like quick setting cement.

[Kenny]

Can it be stopped? I’m more than a little worried by this.

[FlingWingFlyer]

To heck with it. Let's just go back to trying to pass "Cap'n Tax" so we can finally control the weather over the entire planet.

sarc/off

[HiTech RedNeck]

that’d stune bummer’s beeber!

[nagdt]

Never let a crisis go to waste!

[HiTech RedNeck]

It’s spewing a highly valuable resource. Surely someone, if not BP, could figure out a way of catching it all as it comes out.

[humblegunner]

WHEN WILL OBAMA ACT? My GOD!

What do you expect him to do? He knows nothing about this stuff.

You would prefer his incompetant ass to be involved WHY?

[Keli Kilohana]

Instead of trying to plug the leak with golf balls, they should have used ACORNS.

[ArmstedFragg]

They wouldn't do it on their own, but a couple more of those “enraging” comments and the temptation's going to be strong to say, “okay, Ace, you're so smart, you fix it”. The whole interaction between the people who have the skills to solve the problem (one way or another) and the government representatives whose primary skills are taking credit, ducking responsibility, and pretending to be in charge, has a plethora of “Atlas Shrugged” parallels.

[Kenny]

It’s spewing a highly valuable resource. Surely someone, if not BP, could figure out a way of catching it all as it comes out.

I thought the same thing, usually where there's large sums of money involved, someone finds a way.

Scary though to see how much damage this is causing with no end in sight.

[ArmstedFragg]

Why is mud expected to be able to plug the well

The weight of the mud counters the pressure from below, pushing the column of oil back down the well. Cement follows once it stops flowing.

[steve86]

The mud is a real dense and heavy mixture of chemicals and barite. But they couldn’t get enough down the well to hold the hydrocarbons down.

[Gene Eric]

I understand the cement cannot be poured until flow is suppressed or suspended.

I think they should first collapse the pipe and drop down tethered steel mesh nets of solid heavy material.

[annieokie]

He can go down and SIT his imcompetent ASS on that hole. Put his ass where is mouth is, he CAN make the ultimate sacriface for the good of the people. sarc/

[ArmstedFragg]

The author’s editorial comment notwithstanding, the sipper was actually pretty effective, given the time it was in use and the riser leaks ahead of where it was working. The LMRP will capture a large part of the flow, if they can get it attached.

[Irish Eyes]

Loved it when obama took full responsibility of the oil spill.( when he thought that it was under control) Watch him weasel out of this one.

[humblegunner]

Sorry, I’d rather this were left to professionals.

The farther Obama stays from the process, the better.