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US Watches Top Kill, Waits

Millions captivated by the spillcam look for progress

By the Associated Press

Posted May 29, 2010 6:15 AM CDT

(AP) – Two days after BP began a risky effort to plug its gushing oil well, company officials said the operation was going as planned but offered few details, leaving it up to the millions glued to its "spillcam" to speculate whether the top kill was working. Most experts saw incremental progress at best, though some said the muddy brown color of what's escaping the pipe was a good sign.

That "may in fact mean that there's mud coming up and mud coming down as well," which is better than oil coming out, says one expert. Another suggested leaking drilling mud meant the top kill had had "a slight but not dramatic effect." But for ordinary Americans, the spillcam "made me wonder how I use energy and if this situation could teach us how much energy we use ourselves," says an Indianapolis man who has been checking every hour or so since before the top kill started. "It felt like a historic moment."

Drilling mud escapes the broken pipe on the gushing oil well early today. BP started pumping heavy mud into the well Wednesday and said everything was going as planned.
Drilling mud escapes the broken pipe on the gushing oil well early today. BP started pumping heavy mud into the well Wednesday and said everything was going as planned.   (AP Photo/BP PLC)
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It's the unknown that's killing us. We don't know if it's going to be six months or six years before we get back to normal, if ever. All we can do is pray. - Billy Ward, resident of Grand Isle

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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 15 comments
SETexasLiberal
May 29, 2010 11:51 AM CDT
If we can get past the political blame game, this will be an historical moment when we finally resolved to wean ourselves off our carbon-based energy dependence. "Remember the Gulf" next time you throw away plastics or fill up the SUV.

Copyright 2012 Newser, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.

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