By Miles Wolf Tamboli - Talk Radio News Service
As heavy storms brew in the Gulf of Mexico, National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen reports that drilling will halt on the relief well that may finally put an end to the months-long BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill until the weather system has passed.
The Development Driller III, which has drilled to within about thirty feet of the crippled Macondo well, will disengage from the well itself but will remain onsite through the storm. Allen told reporters that the joint command had expected to complete the relief well on Thursday or Friday of this week - “this could potentially delay the final portion of the relief well for two to three days.”
The response team does not expect the storms to reach hurricane status, but are executing safety measures “as a precaution.”
In the meantime, the team, “will continue our aggressive search for oil that’s onshore in the marshes, to make sure we’re being responsive to the oil that does appear.”
“As we near the completion of the relief well, we’ll kind of assess where we’re at because we are moving into a new phase, where we’ll be focusing on locating any oil that remains out there - surface or subsurface - focusing on cleanup, and starting with the long-term recovery issues, and making sure that BP maintains their commitment,” said Allen.