BP `pleased with progress' -- but makes no promises
7/13/2010

PENSACOLA -- Hopes that BP would finally cap the crude oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico by Monday were dashed when company officials announced Sunday that it could take at least six more days to secure a new replacement cap over the spill's source.

Until then, oil continues to stream into the Gulf at full force after robotic submarines were able to remove the old, leaky replacement cap on Saturday. The removal was the first step in making way for a new, tighter-fitting cap.

``We're pleased with our progress,'' BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells told reporters Sunday.

With no cap to stop the oil from shooting out of the sea bed, an estimated 1.5 million to 2.5 million gallons of the thick black crude continues to stream into the Gulf each day. That's adding to the 88 million to 174 million gallons of oil federal officials estimate to have been released into the Gulf's waters from Texas to Florida since the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

Wells said BP must continue to run tests to determine whether the new cap will be able to withstand the tremendous pressure of escaping oil.

The new, sturdier cap weighs more than 150,000 pounds and has flexible pipes that are intended to funnel oil up to ships on the surface. The cap removed on Saturday, collected about 1 million gallons of the oil released each day. The new cap system -- designed to collect 2.5 million to 3.4 million gallons a day -- would be able to capture most or all of the oil being released.

``We've tried to work out as many of the bugs as we can. The challenge will come with something unexpected,'' Wells said Sunday.

Even when the cap is in place, U.S. Coast Guard officials warned it would not be the final solution.

Work continues on drilling two relief wells that will pump heavy drilling mud and cement below the broken well head to plug the oil site completely. The first well is expected to be completed by mid-August, according to BP officials.

``It's not just going to be, you put the cap on, it's done. It's not like putting a cap on a tube of toothpaste,'' Coast Guard Spokesman James McPherson said.

As good weather allowed around-the-clock work to continue at the rig site off Louisiana, in Florida former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and Gov. Charlie Crist toured several Panhandle beach communities from Panama City to Pensacola on Sunday.

Graham was in the Panhandle on a fact-gathering mission as part of his new role as co-chair of National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon and Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.

The seven-member commission, formed by President Barack Obama, has been tasked with presenting a report on the cause of the oil rig explosion. The group has six months to explore the causes of the explosion that claimed the lives of 11 oil rig workers. They will also make recommendations to avoid similar environmental calamities in the future.

``We're trying to get a sense from the ground of the situation being faced by the four affected states,'' Graham told a group of almost 40 elected officials and protesters gathered in Pensacola.

After the meeting -- filled with gripes about BP's slow payment of claims to those effected by the spill -- Graham fielded questions from almost 30 protesters who crowded into the chambers of the Santa Rosa Authority Building.

Wearing gas masks, many of the protesters held signs that read ``Paradise Lost'' and ``BP = Bird Poison.''

``Plug the hole already,'' lifelong Perdido Key resident Mary Sanko said before the meeting. She held a sign that read ``Plug the Damn Leak!''

``They keep saying it's just a matter of days, but at this point it's one day too many,'' said Sanko, 52. ``I'm thinking of putting a class-action lawsuit against BP for all the youth who will no longer get to enjoy the beach.''

Graham said Sunday's trip was the first of several. His high-profile visit precedes a Monday stop in Panama City by first lady Michelle Obama. She is expected to address residents and local business owners along that city's award-winning beaches, which have since been fouled by tar balls dotting the white sand.

Wildlife continues to be threatened as the sludge streams in the Gulf. Forty-five pelican chicks rescued from Louisiana's coastal waters were sent to Miami on Sunday for further treatment.

The young birds, ranging from 5 weeks to 10 weeks old, were being treated at the Fort Jackson Bird Rehabilitation Center in Buras, La. They were transferred over the weekend to the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station at 1279 NE 79th St., Miami, and will remain there until they can fly and be released into the wild.

BY LAURA FIGUEROA

Source: The Miami Herald