Gulf spill may be ‘one of the most significant oil spills in US history’
By ALLEN JOHNSON
April 28, 2010 – 11:00AM The Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster will develop into one of the worst spills in US history if the well is not sealed, the coast guard officer leading the response has warned. BP, which leases the Deepwater Horizon platform, has been operating four robotic submarines some 1500 metres down on the seabed to try to cap two leaks in the riser pipe that connected the rig to the wellhead. But the best efforts of the British energy giant have yielded no progress so far, and engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome that could be placed over the leaks as a back-up plan to try and stop the oil spreading. Time is running out as a huge slick with a 965km circumference, seen in satellite images released by NASA, has moved within 34km of the ecologically fragile Louisiana coast despite favourable winds. The US authorities said they were considering a controlled burn of oil captured in inflatable containment booms floating in the gulf to protect the shorelines of Louisiana and other southern states. ”I am going to say right up front: the BP efforts to secure the blowout preventer have not yet been successful,” Rear Admiral Mary Landry told a press conference on Tuesday, referring to a 450-tonne machine that could seal the well. Asked to compare the accident to the notorious 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster, Landry declined but said: ”If we don’t secure the well, yes, this will be one of the most significant oil spills in US history.” …
