Recent Items  Guest Post: “Top Kill” Has Failed  Posted on by
Washington’s Blog  Here’s the scoop: BP’s attempt to stop the
oil spill using the “Top Kill” method has failed.  How do I
know?  Well, as the New York Times notes:   Indeed, BP stopped
pumping “mud” for more than 16 hours (the material gushing out
of the leaking riser didn’t stop during that time).  Basically,
BP has failed in trying to drive enough “mud” down the well to
provide enough weight to tamp down the oil gushing out. It
didn’t work.  Indeed, BP’s “re-starting” Top Kill really means
that Top Kill Version 1.0 was tried and failed, and now BP will
try Top Kill Version 2.0 – adding “junk” to the mix.  Unless BP
can get very lucky and plug the holes with miscellaneous junk,
Top Kill 2.0 won’t be any more effective than Operation
Sombrero.  As the Guardian explains:  Doug Suttles, BP’s chief
operating officer, insisted that the operation was going to
plan, but admitted: “What we do know is that we have not yet
stopped the flow.”   And the Guar