‘Significant step’ toward oil capture reported as Obama to visit Gulf again

The U.S. Coast Guard official overseeing the BP oil spill response
said Thursday that the company had made a “significant step forward”
in its latest effort to contain the leak.

Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander, said BP was able
to cut through a riser pipe and will soon attempt to move a
containment device into place that is designed to capture oil from the
ruptured undersea well. The company hopes to do that today.

{mosads}Progress in the “cut-and-cap” effort comes as President Barack Obama
prepares to make his third trip to the Gulf Coast — and his second in
a week — since the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig
that touched off the spill. The White House said he will visit
Louisiana on Friday to assess the latest efforts.

BP was able to cut off the riser pipe Thursday using giant
remote-controlled shears after a diamond saw become stuck the day
before. Allen acknowledged that the resulting cut is more jagged than
officials had hoped, which could make it more difficult to achieve a
firm seal around the pipe.

Allen said it was unclear how much oil might still leak after the
containment structure to funnel oil to the surface is in place. It
could be close to none if they are “lucky,” he said.

“The amount of oil that might get through that seal is something we
are just going to have to determine as they put this thing down over
the riser pipe and get the best fit they can,” Allen told reporters at a
briefing outside New Orleans.

Allen also acknowledged that rough weather in the Gulf this summer
could disrupt the oil capture operation while the more permanent
solution — relief wells being drilled by BP — is readied.

“Until the relief well is done and the well is capped we are still
going to be at some risk of exposure to weather, even if it is not a
hurricane — heavier weather could force us to stop doing certain
operations,” Allen said. The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1.

He noted that officials are exploring the use of larger platforms that
can sustain heavier weather, but added, “At some point we need to face
the possibility that [under] a certain storm condition, we would have
to stop the containment-recovery operation and get those resources off
there for safety purposes.”

The first of the relief wells is on target for completion in
mid-August, Allen said.

The announcement of another Gulf visit by Obama underscores White
House efforts to counter political attacks on the strength of his
response to the spill.

White House officials have been emphasizing, whenever they can, that
they are in control of the response.

“It is important, I think, for people to understand that BP cannot do
anything without the administration’s agreement, and so if an idea is
put forward that our brain trust, our scientists, are not comfortable
with, they are told that. They do not proceed,” White House climate
and energy adviser Carol Browner said in a National Public Radio
interview that aired Thursday morning.

Allen said federal scientists are investigating whether there are
large plumes of oil under the water — something BP has questioned.

“We have had some anecdotal reports from research vessels from
universities of dense plumes or what they believe to be plumes under
the water,” he said. “We are in the process of taking samples and
trying to figure out what they are.”