Hey, Maybe This Cap Will Work

Let’s not get too excited here, but word on the street—fine, word in several major news outlets on Tuesday—has it that BP was about to try out yet another cap designed to maybe, possibly contain the oil hemorrhaging into the Gulf of Mexico. But this is only a test.  —KA

The New York Times:

Kent Wells, a senior vice president of the company, said a pressure test, in which valves on the cap would be closed, shutting down the leak for the first time since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in late April, would probably start later Tuesday and last for 6 to 48 hours.

Mr. Wells said at a briefing in Houston that the installation of the new cap was completed Monday evening, ahead of schedule. “It really went extremely well,” he said. “But we know that the job’s not over yet.”

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AP / Patrick Semansky

If the cap doesn’t work, at least we have help from these people, who came all the way from California to join the cleanup in the Gulf, where they were photographed on Monday.