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From Yahoo News Top Stories |
1 BP ‘dome’ carries hopes of averting oil catastrophe
by M.J. Smith, AFP
Wed May 5, 5:51 pm ET
PORT FOURCHON, Louisiana (AFP) – BP dispatched Wednesday a giant “dome” on a high-stakes mission to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, knowing failure would leave crude spewing into the sea for months and magnify the risk of an environmental catastrophe.
A crane lowered the 100-ton dome onto the “Joe Griffin” before the barge embarked on the 12-hour journey from Port Fourchon on the Louisiana coast to the epicenter of the disaster some 50 miles (80 kilometers) offshore. A white silo with a dome-shaped top that stands five stories high, it carries with it the hopes of coastal communities from Texas to Florida whose very way of life is under threat from the slick. |