(Photo: AP)
BILOXI, Miss. — BP’s incoming CEO said Friday that it’s time for a “scaleback” of the massive effort to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but stressed the commitment to make things right is the same as ever.
Tens of thousands of people – many of them idled fishermen – have been involved in the cleanup, but more than two weeks after the leak was stopped there is relatively little oil on the surface, leaving less work for oil skimmers to do.
Bob Dudley, who heads BP’s oil spill recovery and will take over as CEO in October, said it’s “not too soon for a scaleback” in the cleanup, and in areas where there is no oil, “you probably don’t need to see people in hazmat suits on the beach.”
He added, however, that there is “no pullback” in BP’s commitment to clean up the spill. Dudley was in Biloxi to announce that former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief James Lee Witt will be supporting BP’s Gulf restoration work.
Meanwhile, efforts to permanently plug the gusher hit a snag when crews found debris in the bottom of the relief well that must be fished out before crews can pump mud into BP’s busted well in a procedure known as a static kill.
The sediment settled in the relief well last week when crews popped in a plug to keep it safe ahead of Tropical Storm Bonnie. They found it as they were preparing for the static kill and now they have to remove it. They had hoped to start the static kill as early as Sunday, but removing the debris will take 24 to 36 hours and like push the kill back to Tuesday.
“It’s not a huge problem, but it has to be removed before we can put the pipe casing down,” retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government’s point man for the spill, said Friday.
After the static kill comes the bottom kill, where the relief well will be used to pump in mud and cement from the bottom of the busted well and hopefully cut off the oil permanently.
The well blew out April 20 when the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 workers and setting off the spill. It spewed between 94 million gallons and 184 million gallons into the Gulf before a temporary cap stopped the flow July 15. (FULL STORY)
