NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Tropical Storm Bonnie left crews working to plug the Gulf oil gusher a little memento that is expected to push their work back about a day.
Crews found debris in the bottom of the relief well that ultimately will be used to plug the leak for good, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Friday. The government's point man on the spill said the sediment settled in the relief well last week when crews popped in a plug to keep it safe ahead of Bonnie.
"It's not a huge problem," Allen said, but removing the debris will take 24 to 36 hours and likely push a procedure known as a static kill back to Tuesday. Earlier that work had been expected to begin late Sunday or early Monday.
The static kill involves pumping mud, and possibly cement, into the blown-out well through the temporary cap that has kept it from leaking for more than two weeks. Then comes the so-called bottom kill, in which cement pumped in from below the leak using the relief well will plug the gusher for good. The better the static kill works, the less time it will take to complete the bottom kill.
The blown-out well could be killed for good by late August, though a tropical storm could set the timetable back.
After an April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers, BP's blown-out well gushed an estimated 94 million to 184 million gallons of oil before the temporary cap stopped it July 15.
There are signs that the era of thousands of oil-skimming boats and hazmat-suited beach crews is giving way to long-term efforts to clean up, compensate people for their losses and understand the damage wrought. Local fishermen are doubtful, however, and say oil remains a bigger problem than BP and the federal government are letting on.
Others contend the impact of the spill has been overblown, given that little oil remains on the Gulf surface. Bob Dudley, who heads BP's oil spill recovery and will take over as CEO in October, rejected those claims Friday.
"Anyone who thinks this wasn't a catastrophe must be far away from it," he said in Biloxi, Miss., where he announced that former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief James Lee Witt will be supporting BP's Gulf restoration work.
Relatively little oil remains on the surface of the Gulf, leaving less for thousands of oil skimmers to do. Dudley 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."
