‘Static Kill’ Worked

After gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for 107 days, BP’s oil well has finally been closed. The “static kill” procedure has been deemed a success, and BP has now finished pumping cement into the well—which means fishing waters will slowly be reopened and the slick will eventually disappear. BP completed cementing the well at 5:15 p.m. EST, far earlier than expected. BP and U.S. authorities now move ahead with the drilling of a relief well, which will intersect the damaged well in mid-August and signal the final nail in the BP oil spill’s coffin. The oil slick—5 million barrels of goo—is about 75 percent gone, having been evaporated, dissolved, sucked up by boats, dispersed or eaten by microbes.