Article by Dane Ludolph
After nearly three months of continuous oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico, BP announced they have a test cap in place to stop the leak and provide enough time to replace the damaged well. BP Vice President Kent Wells said that oil stopped flowing into the water at 3:25 p.m. ET and the federal Joint Information Center confirmed that the flow had stopped as well.
The current measure in place is intended to keep oil in the well or funnel it to ships until the new well is complete. This has been the most optimistic solution to the spill which happened back on April 20th on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 people.
If the cap does not hold, BP has added to its siphoning capacity and claims to be able to siphon up most, if not all, of the oil starting next week. Relief efforts will play a big part in the environmental recovery. Telemarketing hotlines, volunteer groups and environmental organizations are all generating funds and contributing to response efforts.
This has been the greatest advancement in handling the oil spill, which is now one of the greatest environmental catastrophes in U.S. history. Now a 48 hour waiting period begins to see if the cap can hold against the tremendous pressure of the oil flow.
Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said at a news briefing that oil stopped flowing into the water at 2:25 p.m. CDT, after engineers gradually dialed down the amount of crude escaping through the last of three valves in the 75-ton cap.
Although this is a temporary solution until the relief wells are built, it is a step in the right direction and will decrease the amount of crude oil currently flowing into the Gulf. There needs to be even more support from various public, corporate and government entities. Conducting B2B telemarketing, social awareness campaigns and environmental response movements are a few options to help with relief efforts.
No comments:
Post a Comment