Capped Oil Well Finally Offers Hope

Capped Oil Well Finally Offers Hope
BP announces that the flow of oil has been stopped, for now
BY ALEXANDRA DIPALMA

After 85 days, British Petroleum (BP) has managed to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. A tight-fitting cap was lowered onto the well last week. The cap, a stack of pipes and valves, weighs 75 tons—more than the weight of 18 elephants. On Thursday afternoon, the last of the cap's valves was closed, and the gushing oil was stopped.
"It's a great sight," said BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Settles. But the catastrophe is not over. "It's far from the finish line," Settles warned. "It's not the time to celebrate."
Temporary Solution
After trying everything from robotics to stuffing the leak with mud and golf balls, the sealing cap system is the first successful measure in a series of failed attempts to contain the oil.
In the hours since the flow of oil has stopped, BP has kept a close eye on the sealed well. BP senior vice-president Kent Wells said that test results have been positive. Four underwater robots searching the sea floor have found no signs of new leaks.
Scientists will continue to study pressure readings from the cap. So far, the pressure has continued to rise inside the cap, indicating that the oil is being contained rather than leaking out from somewhere else.
Far from Over
While the success of the sealing cap system is encouraging, it was "just one step in a multistep process," said Wells. Since May 2, BP had been drilling two relief wells that are expected to permanently stop the flow of oil. The drilling has been put on hold to avoid complications, but there are plans to start again soon.
The relief wells are intended to stop the gushing oil for good. They will plug the original leak and then be pumped full of mud and cement to permanently seal it. BP officials say that the relief wells will not be complete until mid-August.
In the Rose Garden on Friday, President Obama said that the capped oil well is good news, but cautioned the public to stay alert. "Everybody feels like we're done, and we're not," he said. "I don't want us to get too far ahead of ourselves."
Max- Oil leaks are bad for the marine mammals, and the oil leak has continued for almost 3 months! There may be about hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil has leaked to the sea. But it finally stopped for using some other big things, and it solved the problem! Maybe the cap’s pressure will be too big for the gushing oil, and will break and let the oil keep gushing. So it’s not to the finish yet! A few weeks later, the USA will have a permanent cap to seal the oil, and the old cap will be removed. After the oil stopped gushing, the cap had been normal and no leaks were found. So the USA can relax because the oil leaks had stopped! From sealing the leak with some small things, to using some things that are very big, they finally made it. But I still think this leaking time is too long, so next time when they have another oil leak, maybe they can use this way faster, or not, they need to think of another way! I think the BP must think of another way to avoid oil leaks and stop them quickly, so they can protect marine life.