Remember the BP oil leak? Work on permanent fix resumes month later

Despite the magnitude of the BP’s oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the topic is seeing fewer headlines now as general buzz and search traffic on it declines. It isn’t an imminent threat now, but the true fix to the problem is not yet in place and the company’s primary impediment is weather. A tropical storm forced BP to stop the drilling of a relief well on August 10, and it just resumed.

Right now the only thing stopping a continuation of the massive leakage is a cap of cement near the top of the original well. Not especially comforting, but according to BP the only way to fix the situation is to finish drilling a relief well that will redirect pressure away from the problem site. As with any other well drilling though, this new relief well comes with its own set of risks.

Large fluctuations in pressure caused BP to install a protective sleeve over the relief well. It’s at a depth of over 3 miles and “. . . is less than 50 feet vertically and 4 feet horizontally from the original well,” according to CNN. Common sense may question why BP is drilling another opening so close to the original but like the government we have to rely on their expertise.

And even though the federal government has taken personal responsibility for this recovery, it’s questionable how unbiased they are given how extensive BP’s resources are and how powerful it’s lobbying efforts can be.

As the investigation continues it will be interesting to understand how the disaster could have been prevented, especially as the true costs of the leak are still being realized. Much of the ecological damage is irreversible in the short term – humans and wildlife alike will need to adapt in permanent ways.