New Gulf Oil Spill Will Take 10-12 Days to Cap, Coast Guard Says

(July 29) -- When it comes to the oil spills of 2010, sometimes it feels as if we're taking one step forward, two steps back.

After initially announcing that the Barataria Bay oil spill might be contained this week, U.S. Coast Guard officials now say that the year's second spill in the Gulf of Mexico will take an estimated 10 to 12 days to stop.

Wild Well Control of ~~Harlan~~ Harahan, La., the company contracted to shut off the gushing rig in Bayou St. Denis, announced that the additional time is needed to stop the oil from flowing into the shallow gulf waters off the coast of Louisiana, The Times-Picayune reports.

The spill began Tuesday when a tugboat collided with the abandoned wellhead, and an oily sheen now covers more than six square miles of Barataria Bay, the Coast Guard said this week. What is unknown, however, is the exact amount of oil that has flowed into the water (and will continue to for at least 10 more days).

Meanwhile, BP and Coast Guard teams are preparing to begin their static kill attempt to permanently seal the Deepwater Horizon rig on Saturday.

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