By Allen Breed and Seth Borenstein
BP’s chairman defended his company’s safety record and said Sunday that “a failed piece of equipment” was to blame for a massive oil spill along the Gulf Coast, where President Barack Obama was headed for a firsthand update on the slick creeping toward American shores.
BP PLC chairman Lamar McKay told ABC’s “This Week” that he can’t say when the well a mile beneath the sea might be plugged. But he said he believes a 74-ton metal and concrete box — which a company spokesman said was 40 feet tall, 24 feet wide and 14 feet deep — could be placed over the well on the ocean floor in six to eight days.
McKay said BP officials are still working to activate a “blowout preventer” mechanism meant to seal off the geyser of oil.
“And as you can imagine, this is like doing open-heart surgery at 5,000 feet, with — in the dark, with robot-controlled submarines,” McKay said.
Continue reading Oil Spill Grows, With Little Success Stopping Flow
Related reading:
BP Moves to Fix a Leak as Obama Warns of Damage
The New York Times (3 May 10)
BP Says It Will Pay For Gulf Spill’s Cleanup
Yahoo Finance (3 May 10)
