British Petroleum continues to fail at plugging the Deepwater Horizon leak and it looks like that bad boy's gonna keep on gushing for some time
A top Obama administration official warned Sunday that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill might not be stopped until late summer after BP's latest attempt to plug the leak failed.
The "American people need to know" that it's "possible we will have oil leaking from this well until August, when the relief wells will be finished," said Carol Browner, the White House energy advisor.
Browner said on CBS that Energy Secretary Steven Chu and a team of scientists on Saturday essentially put a halt to BP's attempt to cap the spewing well through a process known as "top kill." The administration team worried that the increasing pressure from heavy drilling mud being forced into the well to seal it actually would make the leak worse.
The worst oil leak in U.S. history is now in its 41st day. It is sending 504,000 to 798,000 gallons a day into the Gulf of Mexico, according to estimates by a government panel.
Asked whether U.S. officials told BP to stop the top-kill process, Browner said, "We told them of our very, very grave concerns" that it was dangerous to continue building up pressure in the well. She said that company officials listened.
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