BP's conflict of interest hobbles efforts to cap well.
BP is not just trying to cap the leak. THEY ARE ALSO TRYING TO SALVAGE THE WELL! If their only objective was to stop the leak, then why do they need a pipe going from the top of the containment dome into a tanker ship? Why would they care if this outlet for the oil got clogged up on their first attempt?
The truth is that they don't just want to stop the leak. They want to have a working well producing oil for them afterwards! This is a conflict of interest and it looks like it is about greed........again. This conflict of interest is getting in the way of stopping the leak.
We need the scientific, and in particular, the geological scientific community to weigh in on this. The problem is that most of the best geologists in the world work for oil companies, and they would be scared to say anything. But there must be some of them who are on our side.
What about some version of this idea? If you just wanted to plug a hole in the ground, you could start by laying down a large square of concrete over the hole. Then put another one on top of that. And another one. As they sink into the ground they will compress the sea floor, bend the pipe (the way a blowout preventer would have done if it had worked) and shut off the leak. Even if some oil leaked over the edges of these covers, they would slow the rate of flow. Do you think we just might possibly have the technology to make a big block of concrete and drop it on the ocean floor?
When this is all over, I bet the analysis will show that stopping the leak was nowhere near as hard as BP is making it out to be. The only reason it's so hard is because they are trying to do two things instead of one thing. Everyone seems to be deferring to the oil company "experts" on the possible solutions. But they all work for BP or some other oil vested interest. And they are being told to cap the leak AND save the well.
The media needs to expose this conflict of interest using unbiased experts from the scientific community. And the government needs to insist that BP pursue capping the leak AS THE SOLE OBJECTIVE.