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Monday Morning Meta Madness

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Weekend News Digest

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 BP rushes new plan to stem Gulf oil leak

by Allen Johnson, AFP

Sun May 30, 12:48 pm ET

ROBERT, Louisiana (AFP) – BP engineers scrambled Sunday to implement another high-risk plan to stem the devastating Gulf oil spill now being described as likely the worst environmental disaster in US history.

Hours after the British oil giant acknowledged failure in its “top kill” attempt to plug the underwater well, company officials said it could take a week to implement the next bid — placing a cap over the leak.

“Right now we are going to a containment operation,” BP Managing Director Bob Dudley told CNN’s “State of the Union” program of the latest attempt to deal with the ruptured well nearly a mile (1,600 meters) under water.

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Bid to plug oil leak continues amid uncertainty

by Karin Zeitvogel, AFP

2 hrs 58 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – Engineers pushed forward with efforts to plug a disastrous Gulf of Mexico leak Saturday as locals and officials crossed their fingers that the untested “top kill” process would work.

A day after President Barack Obama visited the region for the second time since the oil spill began in April, energy giant BP could offer little but assurances that the bid was ongoing, but that it was too early to judge its success.

“It’s not a nice little black and white operation and they’ve got to take it as it comes,” said Robert Wine, a spokesman for the British firm.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Obama visits oil spill zone, ‘top kill’ results awaited

by Tangi Quemener, AFP

2 hrs 28 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – US President Barack Obama arrived in Louisiana Friday to view the oil spill response amid suspense over the latest bid to cap the massive leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

A day after he pledged to take responsibility for stopping and cleaning up the disastrous spill, Obama was in the region for his second visit to assess the situation.

Meanwhile, a US official cited progress in BP’s efforts to plug the leak, but the energy giant warned it would take two days to determine the measure’s success.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Oil stops gushing from Gulf of Mexico well

by Karin Zeitvogel, AFP

Thu May 27, 10:29 am ET

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – BP has stopped the oil gushing out of a ruptured Gulf of Mexico well, US officials said Thursday, but cautioned it was still too early to declare victory in the five-week disaster.

“They’ve been able to stabilize the wellhead, they’re pumping mud down it. They’ve stopped the hydrocarbons from coming up,” said Coast Guard chief Thad Allen, who is coordinating the US government’s battle against the oil spill.

He told local radio WWL First News that BP “had some success overnight” but cautioned the British energy giant was “in a period of kind of wait and see right now where they see how the well stabilizes.”

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 BP starts ‘top kill’ operation to stop oil leak

by Allen Johnson, AFP

35 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – BP on Wednesday launched a complex, risky deep sea operation to cap the Gulf of Mexico oil leak, under huge pressure to get it right this time and stop the five-week-old gusher.

Shortly after winning final approval from US officials for the procedure to go ahead, the British energy giant announced the maneuver dubbed a “top kill” had begun at 1800 GMT.

But after several previous failed attempts to cap the oil, BP boss Tony Hayward has already downplayed hopes of success, cautioning such a procedure has never been tried before at such depth and against such pressure.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Long odds that BP’s desperate ‘top kill’ will plug oil leak

by Stephane Jourdain, AFP

1 hr 13 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – BP on Tuesday readied an ambitious plan to smother a ruptured underwater oil pipeline in heavy drilling fluid and cement, although company officials conceded that the “top kill” procedure has long odds for success.

BP’s top officer downplayed the likelihood that the desperate effort will succeed in actually sealing the pipe, which is spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude into the Gulf each day.

“If it was on land we would have a very high confidence of success, but… we need to be realistic about the issues around operating in a mile of water,” BP CEO Tony Hayward told reporters on Monday.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Pressure mounts on BP ahead of ‘top kill’

by Stephane Jourdain, AFP

25 mins ago

GALLIANO, Louisiana (AFP) – US officials piled pressure on BP Monday ahead of a make-or-break operation to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil leak, as fragile shorelines and rare birds became smothered in more thick crude.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, pleading for sand barriers to be constructed to protect the coast, recounted grim tales of birds unable to fly because their feathers were fused together by oil.

“The Brown Pelican, our state bird. Several months from being removed from the endangered species list,” Jindal implored at a press conference alongside top US government officials in the small town of Galliano.

Weekend News Digest

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Anger mounts as oil blackens Louisiana marshes, beaches

by Stephane Jourdain, AFP

41 mins ago

VENICE, Louisiana (AFP) – Anger mounted Sunday as heavy oil blackened Louisiana’s marshes and beaches and efforts to cap the oil which has gushed into the Gulf of Mexico for more than a month ran into more delays.

Initially scheduled to begin on Sunday, BP’s latest attempt to plug a leak in a ruptured pipe 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) below the surface, the “top kill”, is not expected to get under way until Tuesday at the earliest.

As crews used robotic submarines to position equipment to inject heavy drilling fluids into the well and then seal it with cement, the amount of oil being suctioned up by a mile-long insertion tube slowed to 1,360 barrels a day from the previous average of about 2,100.

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

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1 Obama forms spill commission as oil mess spreads

by Stephane Jourdain, AFP

2 hrs 22 mins ago

GRAND ISLE, Louisiana (AFP) – President Barack Obama unveiled a commission Saturday to probe the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as the growing environmental catastrophe hit Louisiana’s fragile wetlands.

With the federal government facing accusations of lax supervision of the lucrative offshore oil drilling industry, Obama vowed to hold Washington accountable and warned that the future of the industry hinges on assurances such a disaster would not happen again.

He also sharpened his tone against the three firms involved in the spill — BP, Transocean and Halliburton.

Afternoon Edition

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1 Louisiana marshes hit by Gulf oil slick

by Clement Sabourin, AFP

Thu May 20, 6:47 pm ET

VENICE, Louisiana (AFP) – Crude oozed Thursday into US wetlands, prompting furious Louisiana officials to accuse BP of destroying fragile marshes beyond repair and leaving coastal fishing communities in ruin.

With some of the worst fears of environmental disaster being realized in the marshlands of the Mississippi Delta, BP was also forced to concede it had underestimated the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.

The British energy giant had always maintained only 5,000 barrels — or 210,000 gallons — of crude was gushing each day from a pipe ruptured when its Deepwater Horizon rig exploded one month ago and sank.

Afternoon Edition

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1 Florida fears deepen as oil enters the Loop Current

by Clement Sabourin, AFP

Wed May 19, 1:11 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – Oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill is being picked up by a strong ocean current that will take it to Florida in days and possibly on up the Atlantic coast, experts warned Wednesday.

The Loop Current has started sweeping leaking crude from the giant slick off Louisiana towards Florida’s popular tourist beaches and fragile coral reefs, threatening a whole new dimension to the unfolding environmental disaster.

Scientists laid out a worst-case scenario in which the oceanic conveyor belt would see the first oil wash up in Florida in as little as six days, before carrying it up the US east coast and even into the Gulf Stream.

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