It may be temporary but the new containment cap successfully halted the oil leak starting at 3:25 p.m. today. It’s been 87 days and 120 million gallons of oil that has spewed into the waters of the Gulf.  BP will now monitor the oil pressure to see if the containment cap is successful. If the pressure high, that’s a good sign that the cap is containing the oil.  If it is low, this could mean there are other breaks in the pipes and oil is escaping somewhere else under the sea floor. Testing will take 48 hours.

July 13: Current size of spill in comparison to areas of Virginia

If all goes well, all of the oil, 35,000 to 60,000 a day, would be captured on four collection ships beginning in the next week or two. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Ann Hohenberger, The Garden Club of Gloucester