By Paul Adams Posted 07.15.2010 at 4:16 pm 7 Comments

After installing the new cap on the broken Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, and then fixing a last-minute crack in the cap, BP has announced this afternoon that, for the first time since April, the flow of oil from the well has completely stopped.

An integrity test on the 75-ton cap is underway, to make sure it will continue to hold back the flow until a permanent solution is in place.

Over 150 million gallons of oil are estimated to have flooded into the Gulf of Mexico since the blowout on April 22.

[CNN]

7 Comments

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elstrobk
07/15/10 at 4:38 pm

FINALLY!

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GTO
07/15/10 at 5:08 pm

Thank God. But we are not out of the woods yet, or the ocean for that matter

--GTO--

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ender7718
07/15/10 at 5:36 pm

What? Do they want a friggin cookie? It's been 3 damn months, the billions of gallons of crude in the gulf is bad enough, not to mention the chemical dispersant they used that's banned in Europe. The Gulf will not return to normal for a friggin century, thanks BP for cutting corners, you suck.

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neuenkir
07/16/10 at 1:59 am

Now all that remains to be seen is if BP will actually pay back everyone for their lost incomes. I doubt it, personally. I can almost hear the legal battles for what a "valid claim" is already. You have to admit, if BP is going to cut safety corners, why wouldn't they try and cut legal ones as well?

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zajhein
07/16/10 at 2:26 am

It seems everyone acts like BP did this on purpose and has to suspect and accuse them of every bad thing like a convicted criminal. It was an accident, as in not done on purpose. Just because you want something to direct your hatred at you shouldn't blame an entire company. One corner was cut that wasn't up to safety guidelines that were accepted by the mms doesn't make them the most evil company to exist.

And no, I'm not saying that it isn't horrible that it happened, but making snippy comments and acting indignant on a comment board only shows how immature you are.

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twobrain
07/16/10 at 3:33 am

Hey popsci did the use the cemented cap Idea I was describing on another story you listed about a month ago. If so woohoo glad to help if not woohoo for finally solving the issue regardless.

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NeoN247
07/16/10 at 12:17 pm

Its all well and good saying that pointing out the blame doesnt make it better but maybe someone can learn from such a blatant disregard for safety.

Such a huge company undertaking such risky operations should have fail-safes already in place in case something of this magnitude happens, rather than scrambling around for a month trying to figure out a viable way to fix the problem.

This is great news tho, about time too.



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