Thaindian News

THEODORE, ALABAMA (BNO NEWS) — U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen on Saturday said that progress was made in effors to slow the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill off Alabama’s coast.

BP captured 250,000 gallons of oil in the last 24 hours, after a cap was installed on the well.

On Friday, BP cut off a portion of the riser before attempting to place a containment device over it in order to capture the leaking oil. Then the company placed the containment cap over the source of the leak. The cap has allowed BP to capture some oil and burn some gas at the surface.

“Even if successful, this is only a temporary and partial fix and we must continue our aggressive response operations at the source, on the surface and along the Gulf’s precious coastline,” said Admiral Allen.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama said in his weekly address that Washington is prepared for the worst. He said 17,500 troops were deployed to aid in the response, more than 20,000 people are currently working to protect waters and coastlines, and more than 1,900 vessels are in the Gulf assisting in the clean up.

At least “17 staging areas are in place across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida to rapidly defend sensitive shorelines. In short, this is the largest response to an environmental disaster of this kind in the history of our country,” said Obama.