Low Five! Using remote control submersible robots, BP has finally managed to put a cap on a leaking drill pipe lying on the Gulf floor about 5,000 feet deep. However, the victory was muted by the fact that the maneuver will not actually reduce the amount of oil being released from two other leaks, which are currently spilling an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day. Still, a BP flack tells the Times that this "does enable to us to make progress, to winnow down the focus from three leaks to two." But this thing could get even worse before it gets better.
During a closed door meeting with Congress yesterday, a BP executive conceded that the well could conceivably spill as much as 60,000 barrels a day of oil, 10 times the current estimated flow. But "help" is "on the way": By the end of this week, BP is expected to lower a 98-ton, four-story structure called a containment dome over the worst leak, "capturing the gushing oil and funneling it up to a rig waiting at the surface." Awesome, a new oil rig.
