Hopes pinned on Sunday attempt to stop Gulf oil leak
May 20,2010: An effort to plug the ruptured oil well that is spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico may halt the leak when oil giant BP tries it Sunday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday.
"Everything is being done to make sure that happens," Salazar said Thursday on CNN's "American Morning."
"We have the best scientists in the world who are overseeing what is going on. So, we are hopeful that it will happen soon," Salazar said.
Even so, he said, there are no guarantees.
In the so-called "top kill" procedure, a large amount of heavy "mud" -- a fluid used as a lubricant and counterweight in drilling operations -- is inserted into the well bore. If that succeeds, the well will be cemented shut, officials said.
Until some effort succeeds at plugging the leak, the well almost certainly will continue to spew thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill came after an April 20 explosion aboard the drilling rig the Deepwater Horizon. The rig burned for two days and then sank, causing the ruptured pipe. Read More...
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