It’s a small victory, but BP reports that it successfully sawed through the ruptured oil pipe in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico today, the first critical step to their new containment dome strategy.
Initial attempts to cut the pipe with a diamond-tipped blade failed, and the company had to settle for severing the pipe with shears, resulting in a rougher cut (which in turn will mean a less secure fit for the containment dome).
We’ll see just how effective that cap will be within the next 24 hours, when BP attempts to lower it down to the rig with their new pipe-within-a-pipe strategy later today or early tomorrow. [CNN]
