Tropical Weather Shuts Down Work at Oil Spill Site
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
By: James Call

August 11, 2010 - A tropical depression is blowing strong thunderstorms through the northern Gulf of Mexico forcing crews to suspend work on a relief well to permanently shut down the Deepwater Horizon site. Forecasters say the tropical system is weakening but they still expect it to grow into Tropical Storm Danielle and come ashore in Louisiana. The Coast Guard and BP officials say high seas and strong winds from the storm could delay the completion of the relief well for up to three days. But work on the relief well has been successful so far and officials say it appears as if the cap on the blown well is holding.

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When the rig exploded, it released more than 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf.
However, officials say the cap on top of the busted well is holding. Florida Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole told the Governor and Cabinet that no oil has spilled into the Gulf since that cap was mounted on top and tests show it should hold.
“They were able to cement the well from the top, they’ve done their hydrostatic pressure test and it was shown to hold so we do have successful well kill from the top” Sole said “but they are going to continue with that relief well on the bottom to make doubly sure that we will never see anything else from this well again.”
BP is drilling a new well to pump mud and cement into the broken one from deep underground. Workers have about 30 feet left to drill, and plan to continue the effort once the storms pass.