Relief well is last best hope to contain gusher
BP says it has backup plan if relief well doesn't kill gusher, but ideas don't equal guarantee
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Companies:BP plc.Harry R. Weber and Michael Kunzelman, Associated Press Writers, On Monday July 5, 2010, 12:57 pm EDT
HOUSTON (AP) -- The relief well being drilled in the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico is BP's confident hope for a solution to stop the gusher fouling the region.
But what if it doesn't work?
At the very least, oil would continue to spill while workers try something else. The British company says it is developing "backups for the backups," but they're short on details.
The relief well is on track to be completed in August, but it's a complicated task. They have to tap into a target the size of a dinner plate thousands of feet below the ocean floor. A second relief will be a backup.
All the while, the threat of a hurricane disrupting the work remains.