Containment dome hovers over leaking wellhead, everything else hovers in the balance

The containment dome intended to cap the leaking oil wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico is hovering some 200 feet off the sea floor, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles announced at a press briefing just a few hours ago. But U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry capped any enthusiasm by stressing that such an operation has never been attempted at this depth, nearly a mile down. “It may or not work,” she said. Meanwhile, Audubon personnel across the region are hovering in a state of tense anticipation. “It is sort of this slow motion disaster down here,” said David Ringer, communications coordinator for Audubon’s Mississippi River initiative, who arrived in Louisiana earlier this week.

The plan is to sink the 98-ton containment dome into the soft mud surrounding the leaking wellhead, creating a seal. That should happen later tonight. Over the weekend, piping lowered from the Discoverer Enterprise, a massive drill ship stationed above, will draw the oil up through the dome to the awaiting ship. Despite balmy weather at the surface, temperatures on the seabed are about 43ºF. The piping will contain an outer layer through which warm water will be pumped down, an effort to keep gas hydrates in the oil from forming ice chunks, which could plug the pipe and create a potentially deadly situation for crew above.

BP brought in a team of 20 international experts to weigh in on the idea of whether or not the containment dome was a solution worth trying. One reporter asked if the idea had been “validated”.

“We don’t have an option of validating,” said Landry.

“We have never constrained ourselves to the (current) technology,” added Suttles. “We have stretched and strained ourselves to look for every option we can find, whether the technology exists today or we have to develop it today.”

In Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida, the worrying and waiting continues. Breton National Wildlife Refuge, a bird haven off the east coast of Louisiana was closed today because oil is washing ashore. Will the spill be contained to the at least several hundred thousand gallons of oil already released, or will potentially millions more be spilled? At this point, nobody knows for sure.

“We are stuck in a sickening waiting game,” wrote Ringer, in