Deepwater Horizon Response

The Deepwater Horizon Response website is a great source for status and progress by BP and the Coast Guard in dealing with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. They are also giving Twitter updates. In the evening of May 7th (3 hours previous to this blog post), they updated the news on the cofferdam to be used to contain the subsea oil leak:

Cofferdam Update - The cofferdam (containment dome) is currently hovering above the site as the surface is being prepped by ROVs. It will hover there until they are ready. They hope to lower to sea floor today, but they need to finish prepping the surface.

The cofferdam being lowered into the water:



Here is a picture of a controlled oil burn used to reduce the oil:

GULF OF MEXICO - Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Justin Sawyer observes a controlled burn from the deck of Mark and Jace, a contracted shrimping vessel assisting with oil recovery efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, May 5, 2010. The U.S. Coast Guard, working in partnership with BP, community volunteers, and other federal agencies, conducted the controlled burn to aid in preventing the spread of oil following the April 20 explosion on the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Deepwater Horizon. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffery Tilghman Williams.

And a video of an ROV capping one of the leaks.

Status of the oil spill itself is here. Should the leak be contained by the planned cofferdam, and the mitigation efforts reduce the spill work, the worst-case scenario will be averted and the impact on the coastline may end up being minimal.