Oil Spill Cleanup Halted as Storm Approaches

(July 23) -- Work at the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster had come to a standstill before the storm slammed into the Florida coast today with 40 mph winds, sparking fears that the cap may not hold in the storm.

The oil company halted drilling on a relief well that's burrowed within 5 feet of the undersea source of America's worst-ever oil spill Thursday as Bonnie swirled toward the site. Oil rigs were evacuated and cleanup vessels pulled out.

"We're all in agreement that we need to put this equipment where it can be best maintained and safe for following use," Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is leading the federal response to the disaster, said in a press conference Friday.

Allen said he remains "haunted by the specter of flying over New Orleans on the 6th of September as a federal official, looking down on New Orleans, to a parking lot of buses that were flooded and not used for evacuation because they were not moved in time."

A political storm brewed over the disaster today as well, when a rig worker who survived the April 20 explosion told a government panel that the emergency alert system on the Deepwater Horizon had been purposefully disabled before the rig caught fire, so as not to disturb the sleeping crew in the event of a false alarm.

"They did not want people woke up at 3 a.m. from false alarms," Michael Williams, the rig's former chief electronics technician told the six-member panel investigating the disaster, according to a report in The New York Times.

Williams, who according to The Washington Post is an ex-marine who escaped from the burning rig by jumping into the Gulf of Mexico, said the alarm did not go off when the explosion set off the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Meanwhile, officials prepared for Tropical Storm Bonnie, which could reach the Gulf of Mexico by Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency and told Bloomberg News he may call for voluntary evacuations of coastal towns later today.

BP said on its website today that the relief well was "temporarily suspended because of potentially adverse weather."

The federal government has ordered off the water nearly all boats working on the oil spill's cleanup and containment, while a 150,000-pound cap remains affixed atop the damaged well, leaking slightly. Officials said they plan to keep the cap in place, monitoring it from afar via underwater cameras, and hope it can weather the storm.

"Some of the vessels may be able to remain on site, but we will err on the side of safety," retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration's point person, told CNN Thursday night.

The bad weather means BP's operations to plug the well permanently will be delayed by 10 to 12 days, depending on the storm's path, BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells said in a conference call late Thursday with reporters in Houston, according to The New York Times.

That means the relief well won't reach the blown-out well's base deep under the sea floor this weekend as planned, and operations to plug it permanently won't be completed until at least mid- to late-August.

Workers began packing up their equipment Thursday ahead of the storm's arrival. "While this is not a hurricane, it's a storm that will have probably some significant impacts; we're taking appropriate cautions," Allen told reporters in Mobile, Ala. His comments were carried by several news agencies.

Today is the eighth consecutive day the cap has remained on the damaged well, as cautious engineers monitor pressure readings to avoid a spike and possible rupture. They've been re-evaluating every 24 hours, but Allen said government scientists are now comfortable with BP's monitoring methods, to allow the cap to stay on through the storm.

A BP contractor monitoring the cap, Charles Harwell, said he's confident as well. "That cap was specially made, it's on tight, we've been looking at the progress and it's all good," he told The Associated Press after his ship returned to Port Fourchon, La.

Since oil flow from the top of the blown-out well was halted a week ago Thursday, the volume of crude on the gulf's surface has decreased so much that skimmer vessels are having a hard time finding large pools of oil to clean up, the Houston Chronicle reported. Wind and rain from the approaching storm could also break up oil on the gulf's surface or drive it onto nearby beaches and into marshlands, Allen said.

Another operation that's been delayed by the storm is the so-called "static kill," in which engineers plan to pump heavy mud-like drilling fluids into the blown-out well's containment cap, and then seal it with cement. It's similar to another tactic, the "top kill," which failed in May because oil was still gushing strong out of the well then. BP hopes it'll work this time, with the cap keeping most of the oil inside the well.

Wells told reporters Thursday that Allen has approved the "static kill," but BP must wait until the storm passes before attempting it. It's still not a permanent fix though, and the well will be plugged for good only via the relief well nearby.

The relief well, dubbed Development Driller III, has been drilled down to within 5 feet of the damaged well, before work was called off. Crews had to withdraw the drill bit late Thursday and install a temporary plug to protect it during the storm, Wells said, according to Bloomberg.