The latest word on effort to plug the BP offshore oil well using the “Top Kill” procedure is that the effort is continuing, but the company has not determined whether it is working, or that it won’t work. According to a report in the New York Times, BP will continue with the procedure. The report suggested that BP used a “Junk Shot” last night which “involves pumping odds and ends like plastic cubes, knotted rope, and golf balls into the blowout preventer, the five-story safety device atop the well.” The “Top Kill” procedure continues at this time, and will continue until the spill is plugged following which cement will be used to seal it, or the procedure will be stopped, and BP will move on to its next procedure, which is in place.

Within the past hour BP announced (in a conference call with the White House) that the “Top Kill” procedure is not working to stop the oil flowing into the Gulf. About 19 million gallons have spilled in the waters of the Gulf. BP will now move to cap the well with a new procedure that, according to BP, is ready to go.

This procedure involved lowering a cap to placed over the well to collect the oil, and then siphon it to the surface. There is also the possibility that it will take until August to stop the spill, and this would be accomplished by the drilling of one or two relief wells. This was the method that eventually stopped the 1979 Ixtoc I oil well spill off the coast of Mexico, which was the world’s largest accidental oil spill to date.  By the time the Ixtoc I was stopped, 139,832,000 gallons had spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.  The BP spill could exceed the 1979 spill. If it takes until August, it is possible that more than 60 million gallons will spill into the Gulf.  But this figure is based on a conservative estimate of about 400,000 gallons per day being spilled.  Some scientists estimate it could be 1 – 2 million gallons per day.

The impact on the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Coast beaches and communities has been enormous. Here are some photographs from the Boston Globe (The Big Picture: News Stories in Photographs). If you click on the previous link it will take you to more than three-dozen images of the Gulf oil spill.

Oil Slick from the BP Gulf Oil Spill

Booms used to cordon off the oil

The impact on wildlife is staggering. Here a pelican beginning to lift off, is covered with oil.

Beach clean up will require thousands of relief workers.

Oil can be easily scooped up out of the Gulf waters.