BP Plc sought to stem the damage from a giant oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico with technology,welding torches and money on Tuesday as crude kept spewing from an offshore oil well deep in the Gulf of Mexico that ruptured almost two weeks ago. The British oil company,under pressure from Washington to limit the damage,said it will try containing the crude with a massive metal,funnel-like structure. BP said it has offered the Gulf Coast states whose shores could be soiled with oil millions of dollars to move forward with recovery projects. The looming ecological and economic disaster has started to fuel high-level opposition to the Obama administrations push to open more waters to offshore drilling to bolster energy security. The White House has said the spill could force President Barack Obama to rethink plans to open more waters. The incident has brought into sharp focus the thorny politics of balancing U.S. energy security with protecting the environment and industries that depend on it,like fishing. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pulled his support for expanded drilling off his states coast,citing the Gulf spill. His about-face came after he had called for more oil drilling off Californias coast to raise money for the state government,which faces a $20 billion budget shortfall. Oil prices and stocks of BP and other companies involved are being affected as the oil leaks unchecked into the Gulf following the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig,which killed 11 workers. The slick is estimated to be at least 130 miles (208 km) by 70 miles (112 km),or about the size of the U.S. state of Delaware. It threatens shipping,wildlife,beaches and one of the most fertile U.S. fishing grounds. ITS LOOKING GRIM People are pretty devastated, said Bill Butler,co-owner of the marina in the town of Venice,Louisiana,known for commercial and recreational fishing. Its looking grim if you look at the TV,but you have to have optimism about the future. Efforts to prevent the slow-moving mass from washing ashore in parts of four states have been hampered for days by choppy seas and high waves in the Gulf,but forecasts suggest calmer conditions in the next few days. BP has been working to plug a leak nearly a mile (1.6 km) under the waters surface as oil escapes at a rate estimated at 5,000 barrels a day. The company said it expects to transport a 98-tonne,40-foot (12 meters) iron box,and associated equipment,to the well site this week. It is designed to channel oil through a pipe to the surface where it can be collected on a barge. In theory,the system should collect 85 percent of the oil gushing from the sea floor,but BP has never deployed the structure at a depth of 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) and cannot guarantee that the effort will pay off. Asked if he was confident it would work,BP spokesman John Curry said: We sure hope so. If not,we will keep trying other options until something does work. Company officials also said BP is releasing $25 million each in block grants to Louisiana,Mississippi,Alabama and Florida to jump-start recovery projects. The funding can be used for numerous expenses such as vessels for hire. BP has spent several years working to burnish its environmental image. It now faces a public relations nightmare as well as intense pressure from the Obama administration to get the situation under control. Tony Hayward,BPs chief executive,and Lamar McKay,BP America president,met on Monday with top Obama administration officials including the energy,interior and homeland security secretaries and the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,to discuss coordinated response efforts. On the weekend it started a relief well that could cap the well,it said. Still,this operation is expected to take two to three months to complete. Pursuing more domestic energy to reduce dependence on OPEC nations remains one of the industrys top initiatives. We realize fully that there is an impact from this incident. Im not trying to belittle that, said Sara Banaszak of the American Petroleum Institute industry group. Im trying to say that when you look at the whole picture within which this incident has occurred there are still benefits from producing these fuels at home."
