ON THE GULF OF MEXICO - A 100-ton concrete-and-steel box
plunged toward a blown-out well at the bottom of the sea Friday in
a first-of-its-kind attempt to stop most of the gushing crude
fouling the Gulf of Mexico.
Douglas Peake, the first mate of the supply boat that brought
the box to the site, confirmed he had received a radio transmission
from the nearby vessel lowering the device that it would be in
position over the well soon.
The transmission said undersea robots were placing buoys around
the main oil leak to act as markers to help line up the
40-foot-tall box.
A crane had lowered the box about 4,000 feet underwater before
dawn Friday, with another 1,000 feet to go, Coast Guard Petty
Officer Shawn Eggert said.
Once the contraption gets to the seafloor, underwater robots
will secure it over the main leak at the bottom, a process that
will take hours. If the delicate procedure works, the device could
be collecting as much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the
Gulf and funneling it up to a tanker by Sunday. But it's never been
tried so far below the surface, where the water pressure is enough
to crush a submarine.
"We haven't done this before," said BP spokesman David
Nicholas. "It's very complex and we can't guarantee it."
Oil giant BP PLC is in charge of cleaning up the mess in the
Gulf. It was leasing the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon when it
exploded 50 miles offshore April 20, killing 11 workers and blowing
open the well. An estimated 200,000 gallons a day have been spewing
in the nation's biggest oil spill since the Exxon Valdez disaster
in Alaska in 1989.
The containment box will not solve the problem altogether. Crews
are still drilling a relief well and working on other methods to
stop the leaks.
The quest to stop the oil took on added urgency as it reached
several barrier islands off the Louisiana coast, many of them
fragile animal habitats. Several birds were spotted diving into the
oily, pinkish-brown water, and dead jellyfish washed up on the
uninhabited islands.
"It's all over the place. We hope to get it cleaned up before
it moves up the west side of the river," said Dustin Chauvin, a
20-year-old shrimp boat captain from Terrebonne Parish, La.
"That's our whole fishing ground. That's our livelihood."
The crew of the semi-submersible drilling vessel Helix Q4000
waited hours longer that expected to hoist the contraption from the
deck of the Joe Griffin supply boat because dangerous fumes rose
from the oily water. Joe Griffin Capt. Demi Shaffer told an
Associated Press reporter aboard his boat the fear was that a spark
caused by the scrape of metal on metal could cause a fire. Crew
members wore respirators because of the fumes.
But the crane lifted the containment box from the deck and into
the Gulf after 10 p.m. CDT, dark oil clinging to its white sides as
it entered the water and disappeared below the surface.
The technology has been used a few times in shallow waters, but
never at such extreme depths.
The box - which looks a lot like a peaked, four-story outhouse,
especially on the inside, with its rough timber framing - must be
accurately positioned over the well, or it could damage the leaking
pipe and make the problem worse.
BP spokesman Doug Suttles said he is not concerned about that
happening. Underwater robots have been clearing pieces of pipe and
other debris near where the box will be placed to avoid
complications.
"We do not believe it could make things worse," he said.
Other risks include ice clogs in the pipes - a problem that
crews will try to prevent by continuously pumping in warm water and
methanol - and the danger of explosion when separating the mix of
oil, gas and water that is brought to the surface.
"I'm worried about every part, as you can imagine," said David
Clarkson, BP vice president of engineering projects.
If the box works, a second one now being built may be used to
deal with a second, smaller leak from the sea floor.
Meanwhile, a huge oil slick is floating in the Gulf, and
residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are
anxiously waiting to learn when it might come ashore.
Oil from the spill is extending west around the Mississippi
Delta, according to a radar image taken Wednesday night by a
Canadian satellite. That extension looks like a finger reaching out
from the main patch, imaging expert Hans Graber of the University
of Miami said Friday.
The main oil slick has been shifting to the northwest,
encroaching on Chandeleur Sound, which lies between the delicate
Chandeleur Islands and Mississippi Delta wetlands, he said.
Meanwhile, a federal judicial panel in Washington has been asked
to consolidate at least 65 potential class-action lawsuits claiming
economic damage from the spill. Commercial fishermen, business and
resort owners, charter boat captains, even would-be vacationers
have sued from Texas to Florida, seeking damages that could reach
into the billions.
"It's just going to kill us. It's going to destroy us," said
Dodie Vegas, who owns a motel and cabins in Grand Isle, La., and
has seen 10 guests cancel.
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