Open Thread

by Mary

So they've decided that once they stop the spill, the demon well from hell will be closed off permanently.

"The right thing to do is permanently plug this well, and that's what we will do," said Doug Suttles, BP chief operating officer.

Too bad they didn't figure that out after their first failed well in this area.

This was the second attempt to drill a well in about the same spot. The first well had to be abandoned because the well had been drilled too fast (under pressure from BP to bring the well in quickly). Result: the rock fractured, causing loss of control of pressure in the well. Twenty-five million bucks down the drain, said BP to the crew. So they had to try again, in a rock formation known to be problematic.