By the CNN Wire Staff
May 20, 2010 -- Updated 1330 GMT (2130 HKT)
Washington (CNN) -- An effort to plug the ruptured oil well that is spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico may halt the leak when oil giant BP tries it Sunday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday.
"Everything is being done to make sure that happens," Salazar said Thursday on CNN's "American Morning."
"We have the best scientists in the world who are overseeing what is going on. So, we are hopeful that it will happen soon," Salazar said.
Even so, he said, there are no guarantees.
In the so-called "top kill" procedure, a large amount of heavy "mud" -- a fluid used as a lubricant and counterweight in drilling operations -- is inserted into the well bore. If that succeeds, the well will be cemented shut, officials said.
Until some effort succeeds at plugging the leak, the well almost certainly will continue to spew thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill came after an April 20 explosion aboard the drilling rig the Deepwater Horizon. The rig burned for two days and then sank, causing the ruptured pipe.
The incident has raised wide fears of an ecological disaster as syrupy, brown fingers of crude have started to seep into the Louisiana marshes. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said efforts have not yet stopped oil from reaching his state's coastline. Thicker, heavier oil than seen in previous days has blanketed some of the state's precious interior wetlands, he said.
Salazar said BP, which leased the rig from Transocean, has tried many techniques to stop the leaking, and the government will do everything in its power to hold them accountable.
"They're putting a lot of hope on that Sunday," he said. "We'll see if it happens."
Salazar said the best estimates are that 5,000 barrels a day are leaking into the Gulf, but that has been in dispute.
Steve Wereley, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, told "American Morning" on Thursday the spill is much larger. He said the leak could be as high as 20,000 to 100,000 barrels a day.
Salazar said it is difficult to "get a better, more accurate picture of that, because of the very harsh subsea conditions that they're operating" in. He said government agencies, such as the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have been trying to come up with an accurate figure.
"Our priority is to stop the well from leaking," he said.
"We will have a number that's true and accurate. We need that because we need to go after BP for the natural resource damages, but we also need to make sure that the American people know the complete story about how much oil has spilled. We will have that number."
Salazar said he and President Obama share Americans' frustration and anger. Salazar announced Wednesday that he launched a plan to restructure his department's Minerals Management Service, which has come under criticism because of the spill.
Under an order signed by Salazar, the agency will be reorganized into three divisions to split what he called the conflicting duties of regulating oil companies and collecting royalties from them.
"We inherited here what was a legacy of an agency that essentially was rubber stamping whatever it was that the oil and gas industry wanted," Salazar said. "We have been on a reform agenda from Day One.
"That reform agenda has included ethics standards, elimination of programs like the royalty in-kind program, moving forward with offshore wind energy and a whole host of other things. We will continue relentlessly on that agenda, and we learned the lessons from this terrible incident in the Gulf of Mexico."
At the same time, he made the point that such wells are an integral part of U.S. energy development. He said 36,000 wells have been drilled in the Gulf, with much domestic oil coming from there.
"We will move forward in a thoughtful way to make sure that production of oil and gas is done in the Gulf of Mexico in a safe way that protects the environment and protects the people."
Salazar said Obama has been talking about the need for a comprehensive energy plan that includes a range of sources, such as solar power and wind, with oil and gas as part of that portfolio.
"It's high time that Congress and the American people help us move forward with an energy framework that's comprehensive in nature," he said.
Meanwhile, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu plans to share details Thursday of a plan to get more oil revenue immediately sent to Gulf Coast states to help businesses and communities affected by the spill.
Landrieu, who has called the accident "one of the most pronounced ecological humanitarian disasters," wants almost 40 percent of oil revenue the federal government collects from leases in the Gulf Coast region to immediately go to the affected states.
iReport: Track the spill; Share stories
Under current rules, some of the money is not expected to reach the states until 2017. The oil disaster aid package that Landrieu will unveil will also consist of a series of amendments to strengthen the Obama administration's $118 million emergency spending bill.
Congress is expected to consider the bill next week, as BP still tries to cap the gushing oil. The company said Wednesday that efforts to contain and clean up have made a "measurable difference."
Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer for exploration and production, said at a news conference on Wednesday that the company is "very pleased" with the performance of an insertion tube that was put in place over the weekend to suck crude oil from the well and funnel it to a surface vessel.
The flow rate from the tube has reached 3,000 barrels of crude (126,000 gallons) and 14 million cubic feet of gas a day, Suttles said, adding that crews hope to increase those numbers in coming days.
Jindal called for the Army Corps of Engineers to approve an emergency permit to dredge sand from barrier islands to create sand booms as another line of defense.
"These are not tar balls; this is not sheen; this is heavy oil that we are seeing in our wetlands," Jindal said.
In Pass a Loutre in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, oil with a chocolate-syrup-like consistency lapped against reeds in a small area of marshland after creeping past booms and barriers.
"Everything that that blanket of oil has covered today will die," parish President Billy Nungesser said.
"Imagine (this oil) on top of a turtle or on top of a frog," he said as he held a stalk of reed that coated his hands in oil.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/20/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29
May 20, 2010 -- Updated 1330 GMT (2130 HKT)
Washington (CNN) -- An effort to plug the ruptured oil well that is spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico may halt the leak when oil giant BP tries it Sunday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday.
"Everything is being done to make sure that happens," Salazar said Thursday on CNN's "American Morning."
"We have the best scientists in the world who are overseeing what is going on. So, we are hopeful that it will happen soon," Salazar said.
Even so, he said, there are no guarantees.
In the so-called "top kill" procedure, a large amount of heavy "mud" -- a fluid used as a lubricant and counterweight in drilling operations -- is inserted into the well bore. If that succeeds, the well will be cemented shut, officials said.
Until some effort succeeds at plugging the leak, the well almost certainly will continue to spew thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill came after an April 20 explosion aboard the drilling rig the Deepwater Horizon. The rig burned for two days and then sank, causing the ruptured pipe.
The incident has raised wide fears of an ecological disaster as syrupy, brown fingers of crude have started to seep into the Louisiana marshes. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said efforts have not yet stopped oil from reaching his state's coastline. Thicker, heavier oil than seen in previous days has blanketed some of the state's precious interior wetlands, he said.
Salazar said BP, which leased the rig from Transocean, has tried many techniques to stop the leaking, and the government will do everything in its power to hold them accountable.
"They're putting a lot of hope on that Sunday," he said. "We'll see if it happens."
Salazar said the best estimates are that 5,000 barrels a day are leaking into the Gulf, but that has been in dispute.
Steve Wereley, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, told "American Morning" on Thursday the spill is much larger. He said the leak could be as high as 20,000 to 100,000 barrels a day.
Salazar said it is difficult to "get a better, more accurate picture of that, because of the very harsh subsea conditions that they're operating" in. He said government agencies, such as the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have been trying to come up with an accurate figure.
"Our priority is to stop the well from leaking," he said.
"We will have a number that's true and accurate. We need that because we need to go after BP for the natural resource damages, but we also need to make sure that the American people know the complete story about how much oil has spilled. We will have that number."
Salazar said he and President Obama share Americans' frustration and anger. Salazar announced Wednesday that he launched a plan to restructure his department's Minerals Management Service, which has come under criticism because of the spill.
Under an order signed by Salazar, the agency will be reorganized into three divisions to split what he called the conflicting duties of regulating oil companies and collecting royalties from them.
"We inherited here what was a legacy of an agency that essentially was rubber stamping whatever it was that the oil and gas industry wanted," Salazar said. "We have been on a reform agenda from Day One.
"That reform agenda has included ethics standards, elimination of programs like the royalty in-kind program, moving forward with offshore wind energy and a whole host of other things. We will continue relentlessly on that agenda, and we learned the lessons from this terrible incident in the Gulf of Mexico."
At the same time, he made the point that such wells are an integral part of U.S. energy development. He said 36,000 wells have been drilled in the Gulf, with much domestic oil coming from there.
"We will move forward in a thoughtful way to make sure that production of oil and gas is done in the Gulf of Mexico in a safe way that protects the environment and protects the people."
Salazar said Obama has been talking about the need for a comprehensive energy plan that includes a range of sources, such as solar power and wind, with oil and gas as part of that portfolio.
"It's high time that Congress and the American people help us move forward with an energy framework that's comprehensive in nature," he said.
Meanwhile, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu plans to share details Thursday of a plan to get more oil revenue immediately sent to Gulf Coast states to help businesses and communities affected by the spill.
Landrieu, who has called the accident "one of the most pronounced ecological humanitarian disasters," wants almost 40 percent of oil revenue the federal government collects from leases in the Gulf Coast region to immediately go to the affected states.
iReport: Track the spill; Share stories
Under current rules, some of the money is not expected to reach the states until 2017. The oil disaster aid package that Landrieu will unveil will also consist of a series of amendments to strengthen the Obama administration's $118 million emergency spending bill.
Congress is expected to consider the bill next week, as BP still tries to cap the gushing oil. The company said Wednesday that efforts to contain and clean up have made a "measurable difference."
Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer for exploration and production, said at a news conference on Wednesday that the company is "very pleased" with the performance of an insertion tube that was put in place over the weekend to suck crude oil from the well and funnel it to a surface vessel.
The flow rate from the tube has reached 3,000 barrels of crude (126,000 gallons) and 14 million cubic feet of gas a day, Suttles said, adding that crews hope to increase those numbers in coming days.
Jindal called for the Army Corps of Engineers to approve an emergency permit to dredge sand from barrier islands to create sand booms as another line of defense.
"These are not tar balls; this is not sheen; this is heavy oil that we are seeing in our wetlands," Jindal said.
In Pass a Loutre in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, oil with a chocolate-syrup-like consistency lapped against reeds in a small area of marshland after creeping past booms and barriers.
"Everything that that blanket of oil has covered today will die," parish President Billy Nungesser said.
"Imagine (this oil) on top of a turtle or on top of a frog," he said as he held a stalk of reed that coated his hands in oil.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/20/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29
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