HOUSTON, (Reuters) – Tropical storm Alex slowed oil spill clean-up and containment work in the Gulf of Mexico and drove more petroleum into fragile Gulf wetlands and beaches yesterday, with any permanent fix to BP Plc’s ruptured deep-sea well still several weeks away.
More than 10 weeks into the crisis, oil continued spewing into the Gulf, clean-up success remained limited and a proposal by the Obama administration to halt all deep-water drilling for the next six months remained in limbo.
Washington’s attention has also been distracted by the recent firing of U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal as commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan and the fate of a huge financial reform bill.
This week nature added to the problems as Alex crossed the Gulf. The storm made landfall as a hurricane over northeastern Mexico well to the west of the spill site, but its high winds and rough seas thwarted plans by BP to expand the volume of oil it is siphoning from the well.
The bad weather also pushed more oil-polluted water onto the shoreline of the U.S. Gulf Coast and forced the halt of skimming, spraying of dispersant chemicals and controlled burns of oil on the Gulf surface for a third straight day.