The Oil and Gas Journal, September 1, 2010, reports the removal of the Macondo well BOP is postponed to September 2, pending calmer seas. Thad Allen, National Incident Commander, is quoted as stating, "We do believe the risks are small, but we want to be prepared for all contingencies. There shouldn't be any hydrocarbon release into the environment."
To continue to work on the shut off well with the risk of re-starting the blow-out flow seems unconscionable, especially, without a provision such as that of www.dwoc.info on standby to capture the gushing hydrocarbon fluids, at the source, before they can contaminate the environment.
There was supposed to be a method for capturing and containing blow-out fluids, subsea, in a volume up to 100,000 B/D before any deepwater drilling was started. As exhibited by the massive amount of devastation to the environment caused by escaping oil and gas from the BP disaster presently there is actually no means for capturing the escaping fluids. There is no evidence of anything being done to rectify the situation.
No further work on the Macondo well should be permitted and all drilling in the Gulf of Mexico stopped until all of the existing safety rules and regulations are enforced.