Administration pushing BP to boost oil recovery, swap caps.
The CBS Evening News (7/8, story 4, 3:00, Couric) reported, “On day 80, nearly three months into the spill, the White House told BP to speed up the containment operations. The company is already trying to hook up a third ship to siphon the oil and the Obama Administration wants it to put a new cap on the gushing well while the weather’s still good.”
The New York Times (7/9, Broder) reports, “With a weeklong window of favorable weather opening in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration is pressing BP to move quickly on two operations that could double the amount of oil captured from the gushing well. An oil recovery ship known as the Helix Producer, capable of capturing up to 25,000 barrels a day, has been waiting near the crippled well for more than a week, unable to connect to the well because of high winds and waves from Hurricane Alex.” The Times notes that the hurricane also “delayed deployment of a new, tighter-fitting cap for the well that not only will be able to capture more of the spewing oil but could potentially shut down all oil releases from the well.”
AFP (7/9) says Adm. Thad Allen “wrote to BP managing director Bob Dudley saying that after talks to be held in Houston on Friday the British energy giant must hand over ‘detailed plans and timelines’” regarding “its next steps in the fight to stop the…spill.”