‘Top Hat’ Attempt to Stop BP Oil Spill

BP’s second attempt to halt the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon incident has begun in Port Fourchon.
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‘Top Hat’ Attempt to Stop BP Oil Spill
5/12/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/99052326.jpg" alt="A small pollution containment chamber, known as the top hat, is lowered into water by the vessel Viking Poseidon May 11, in the Gulf of Mexico. The chamber is to be maneuvered over the leak on the seabed May 12, 2010 in an attempt to contain the BP oil sp (U.S. Coast Guard/Patrick Kelley via Getty Images)" title="A small pollution containment chamber, known as the top hat, is lowered into water by the vessel Viking Poseidon May 11, in the Gulf of Mexico. The chamber is to be maneuvered over the leak on the seabed May 12, 2010 in an attempt to contain the BP oil sp (U.S. Coast Guard/Patrick Kelley via Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1819997"/></a>
A small pollution containment chamber, known as the top hat, is lowered into water by the vessel Viking Poseidon May 11, in the Gulf of Mexico. The chamber is to be maneuvered over the leak on the seabed May 12, 2010 in an attempt to contain the BP oil sp (U.S. Coast Guard/Patrick Kelley via Getty Images)
BP’s second attempt to halt the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon incident has begun in Port Fourchon. On Monday, May 10 workers brought to the oil spill site the containment chamber, known as the “top hat.”

Top hat, built by the Wild Well Control Inc. (WWC) is the second, smaller containment chamber BP will use to try to contain the oil.

The containment chamber was loaded onto the deck of the motor vessel Gulf Protector at WWC Inc., later the same day. The following day, top hat was lowered into the Gulf of Mexico by the motor vessel Viking Poseidon.

World Wildlife Fund, which calls the oil leak, “One of our nation’s greatest environmental disasters,” has requested that the Obama administration “create a high-level independent commission to examine all of the factors related to the gulf oil disaster.” Furthermore, the conservation nonprofit requests that, “Until an independent commission can thoroughly examine the factors related to the gulf disaster, no new drill bits should be allowed in U.S. waters.”

If these requests were to be implemented, this would mean that Shell’s new drilling off the coast of Alaska, planned to start July 1, would be halted until further notice.