Lowdown At Midnight: Late Night Rendezvous in the Gulf

Oil Spill Video: Wednesday update May 5, 2010

The video above describes the loading of the containment vessel and the beginning of its transport to the spill site. It should arrive on site at midnight, when it will be lowered slowly to cover one of the two remaining leaks.

The latest news on the oil spill

Responders conducted a controlled burn of some of the oil slick today, continued setting booms, and adding dispersants.

Favourable weather continues to hold the oil offshore. The wellhead continues to leak oil at near 200,000 gallons per day. If the containment domes are successful, roughly 85% of that -- or 170,000 gallons a day -- will be recovered, and only about 30,000 gallons a day will continue to float to join the pre-existing oil slick.

At that point, remotely operated undersea vehicles (ROVs) will attempt to place a new blowout preventer over the gushing pipe, to stop the flow entirely. If successful, with the flow stopped, BP will continue drilling the ongoing relief well and begin drilling a second relief well within 2 weeks, when the third rig is in position.

While the news media as a whole has been ghoulishly longing for massive environmental and commercial destruction along the Gulf coast and beyond, people who solve problems have been working to limit the damage as much as possible.

The Obama - Pelosi regime has been re-energised by the tragedy, determined to speed ahead with plans to shut down the fossil fuels industry of the US as much as possible. And the lawyers -- the lawyers are salivating at the prospects of years of lawsuits. Naturally, such vultures are hoping for as much ongoing tragedy as possible.