BP's Next Attempt : Top Kill Fails "What's Next ??"

Robert,Louisiana ( May 30 ) - With BP declaring failture in it's latest attempt to stop the uncontrolled gusher feeding the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the company is turning to yet another mix of risky undersea robot maneuvers and longshot odds to plug the blown-out well.
Six (6) weeks after the catastrophe began, oil giant BP PLC is still casting about for at least a temporary fix to the spewing well underneath the Gulf of Mexico that's foulimg beaches, wildlife and marshland. A relief well that's currently being drilled - which is supposed to be a better long-term solution - won't be done for at least two months. That will be in the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season, which begans Tuesday.
Crews on ships work on skimming and collecting oil in the Gulf of Mexico this weekend. BP officials said Saturday that the latest attempt to plug the source of the worst oil spill in U.S. history has failed.
President Barack Obama said it is "as enraging as it is heartbreaking" that the most ambitious bid yet for a temporary failed. BP said the procedure known as the "top kill" failed after engineers tried for three (3) days to overwhelm the crippled well with heavy drilling and junk 5,000 feet underwater. Now. BP hopes to saw through a pipe leading out from the well and cap it with a funnel-like device using the same remotely guided undersea robots that have failed in other tries to stop the gusher.
This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact we haven't succeded so far, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said Saturday. "Many of the things we're trying have been done on the surface before, but have never been tried at 5,000 feet." Suttles said BP is already preparing for the next temporary fix. The company plans to cut off the damage riser, and then try to cap it with a containment valve.The effort is expected to take between four and seven days. We're confident the job will work but obviously we can't guarantee sucess, Suttles said of the new plan. He said cutting off the damaged riser isn't expected to cause the flow rate of leaking oil increase significantly.
Experts have said that a bend in the damaged riser likely was restricting the flow of oil, so slicing it off and installing a new containment valve is risky. "If they can't get the valve on, things will get much worse," said Phillip Johnson, an engineering professor at the University of Alabama. Johnson said he thinks BP can succed with the valve, but added: It's a scary proposition."
News that the top kill fell short drew a sharply worded response from President Obama on Saturday, a day after he visited the Gulf Coast to see the damage first hand."It is as enraging as it is heartbreaking, and we will not relent until this leak is contained , until the waters and shores are cleaned up, and until the people unjustly victimized by this man-made disaster are made whole," Obama said.
Frustration has grown as drifting oil closes beaches and washes up in sensitive marshland. The damage is underscored by images of pelicans and their eggs coated in oil. Below the surface, oyster beds and shrimp nurseries face certain death. Fishermen complain there's no end in sight to the catastrophe that's keeping their boats idle.Word that the top kill had failed hit hard in fishing communities along Louisiana' coast.
Everybody's starting to realize this summer is lost, and our whole lifestyle might be lost," said Michael Ballay, the Manager of the Cypress Cove Marina in Venice, La., near where the oil first made land-fall in large quantities almost two (2) weeks ago. The top official in coastal Plaquemines Parish said news of the top kill failure brought tears to his eyes.
"They are going to destroy south Louisiana. We are dying a slow death here," said Billy Nungesser, the parish president. "We don't have time to wait while they try solutions. Hurricane season starts Tuesday."
My spin on this disaster: Our way of life is all but gone...I cannot see us bouncing back from this soon, it will affect the whole planet and with climate change , when can we hope for some relief? The oil saga continues...Stay tuned.