GULF COAST OIL SPILL DISASTER

BP engineers finished pouring cement into the top of company’s stricken Gulf of Mexico oil well yesterday, the final step of a the static kill to plug the gusher. Once that cement hardens, engineers will begin pumping more mud into the bottom of the well through one of two relief wells being drilled nearby. That will ensure the well is sealed for good.
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Transocean Ltd., the owner of the doomed Deepwater Horizon oil rig, had safety problems on at least three other Gulf of Mexico platforms prior to the April 20 explosion that spawned the BP oil spill. According to a report in The New York Times, those concerns prompted Transocean to commission risk management company Lloyd’s Register to investigate the safety culture of its North American operations just a month before the disaster.
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BP says a “static kill” operation to shut down its gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well is working. According to MSNBC, BP says the well is now in a “static condition”, meaning the flow of oil is being held back.
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Scientists tapped by the federal government to establish the flow rate for the BP oil spill now say about 4.9 million barrels of oil has been unleashed by the disaster. The new number, which averages out to about 62,000 barrels per day, exceeds all previous estimates.
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BP may begin a process as early as tonight that could end the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill once and for all. According to The Washington Post, engineers are preparing a two-pronged “kill” shot by which they will pump heavy mud into the well in the hopes of pushing the oil back into it source rock, 2 1/2 miles underground.
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Scientists have raised yet another alarm about the dispersants BP has used in unprecedented amounts to break up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. According to GulfLive.com, researchers have found an oil and dispersant mix beneath the shells of post-larval blue crabs. The discovery is one of the first signs that the BP disaster is impacting the Gulf of Mexico food chain.
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