Greets and saluts from the NYC metro area, which is again baking in the midst of an ongoing heat wave that will probably last through the weekend. I see that BP is again bobbing and weaving about what the deal is with the cap and possible leaks. It’s also contemplating something called a static kill, which sounds suspiciously like the top kill that failed miserably a while back.

The sooner those relief wells get done and can then pump in the concrete to kill the well, the better.

Oh, and it once again points out the folly of being pennywise and pound foolish. By saving a few bucks by cutting corners to get this well done in the way it was, BP was hoping to save money and time. Instead, it will cost them tens of billions before it’s over.

Many engineering and technological breakthroughs have come through disasters - whether it’s things like building and bridge collapses, oil tanker disasters (requiring double hulls, better containment, etc.), and we can only hope that the engineers figure out better ways to shut down wells that blow out like this one other than praying and wishful thinking. It means prepositioning equipment that can deal with these kinds of disasters. It means better BOPs and a whole raft of technologies that can skim oil from waters that aren’t completely still (aka everywhere other than in the safe environment of a lab).