Tensions are likely to grow if BP’s next effort to stop the spill — a “top kill,” which involves pumping in heavy fluids and is scheduled for Wednesday — does not succeed. That could be followed by another inventively named maneuver, a “junk shot,” that would clog the opening with materials that include golf balls and pieces of tire and rope. Or, more likely, BP would try to attach a new funneling device or lower a new blowout preventer on top of the 450-ton one that failed.
But if those measures prove ineffective, it may be August before the leak is stopped through the completion of a relief well, Allen said…
Since the oil rig exploded, the White House has tried to project a posture that is unflappable and in command.
But to those tasked with keeping the president apprised of the disaster, Obama’s clenched jaw is becoming an increasingly familiar sight. During one of those sessions in the Oval Office the first week after the spill, a president who rarely vents his frustration cut his aides short, according to one who was there.
“Plug the damn hole,” Obama told them.
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