One oil leak capped; dome nears site

The Coast Guard says BP PLC has capped one of three leaks at a deepwater oil well, but the work is not expected to reduce the overall flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP officials have said that fewer leaks will make it easier to drop a containment box on the breach. The well has been spewing at least 210,000 gallons per day since an April 20 explosion at a rig 50 miles off Louisiana. (Source: AP via Washington Post, 05/05/10) The containment box should be arriving Wednesday in the form of a specially built giant concrete-and-steel box designed to siphon the oil away. Crews for contractor Wild Well Control were putting the finishing touches Tuesday on the 100-ton containment dome. BP spokesman John Curry said it would be deployed on the seabed by Thursday. (Source: AP via Mobile Press-Register, 05/05/10) In Gulfport, Miss., wildlife officials say that at least 35 endangered sea turtles washed up on Gulf coast beaches, but it's not clear what’s killing them. Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, said Tuesday necropsies had been completed on the turtles and found no oil. (Source: AP via WLOX-TV, 05/04/10)