After hitch, cap back on gusher

NEW ORLEANS — Oil had spewed uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico for much of the day Wednesday before engineers reattached a cap being used to contain the gusher and direct some of the crude to a surface ship.

The logistics coordinator onboard the Discoverer Enterprise, the ship that has been siphoning the oil, said that after more than 10 hours, the system was again collecting the crude. The crew member, speaking from the bridge of the ship, said the cap was placed back on the gusher about 8 p.m. CDT. He asked not to be identified by name because he was not authorized to provide the information.

BP later confirmed the cap was back in place, but said it had been hooked up about an hour and half earlier. The coordinator said it would take a little time for the system to “get ramped back up.”

Engineers earlier had to completely uncap the broken oil well after an undersea robot bumped into machinery being used to collect the spilled fuel.

Most recently, the system, which has been in place since June 4, was sucking up about 690barrels an hour, crude that spewed back into the Gulfon Wednesday unabated. At that rate, it could mean about 6,900 extra barrels escaped into the water before the system restarted. Another ship was still collecting a smaller amount of oil and burning it on the surface.

A barrel equals 42 gallons.

BP engineers removed the cap after the mishap because fluid seemed to be leaking, creating a possible safety hazard because of the flames above, and they were concerned icelike crystals might clog it.

The latest problem with the nine-week effort to stop the gusher came as thick pools of oil washed up on Pensacola Beach in Florida and the Obama administration sought to resurrect a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling.

In court papers, the Justice Department said it has asked a judge to delay a court ruling by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans that overturned the moratorium. The Interior Department imposed it last month after the disaster, halting approval of any new permits for deep-water projects and suspending drilling on 33 exploratory wells.

Under the worst-case scenario, as much as 2,500 barrels an hour - 60,000 barrels a day - is flowing from the site where the offshore rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers.

Bob Dudley, the BP managing director who took over the spill response from his company’s chief executive officer Wednesday, had said earlier that engineers expected to replace the cap in less than a day.

“It’s a disruption, and the crew again did exactly the right thing because they were concerned about safety,” he said. “It’s a setback, and now we will go back into operation and show how this technology can work.”

When the robot bumped into the equipment just before 10 a.m., gas rose through a vent that carries warm water down to prevent icelike crystals from forming in the machinery, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.

Crews were checking to see if the crystals, called hydrates, had formed before attempting to put the cap back on.

In May, a similar problem doomed the effort to put a bigger containment device over the blown-out well. BP had to abandon the four-story box after the crystals clogged it,threatening to make it float away.

Meanwhile, pools of oil washed up along miles of national park and Pensacola Beach shoreline and health advisories against swimming and fishing in the once-pristine waters were extended for 33 miles east from the Alabama border.

“It’s pretty ugly, there’s no question about it,” Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said.

The Obama administration was plotting its next steps Wednesday on the drilling halt. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement that within the next few days he would issue a new order imposing a moratorium that eliminates any doubt it is needed and appropriate.

“It’s important that we don’t move forward with new drilling until we know it can be done in a safe way,” he told a Senate subcommittee.

But Salazar said the new ban “might be refined.”

He said the order, which is still being developed, could include provisions to allow drilling in areas where reserves and risks are known rather than in exploratory reservoirs.

Attorneys for the oil-field services companies that sued over the moratorium filed court papers accusing the Obama administration of ignoring Feldman’s decision. They said Salazar’s comments about a new moratorium have had a chilling effect on the resumption of drilling.

Several companies, including Shell and Marathon Oil, said they would await the outcome of any appeals before they start drilling again.

BP said Wednesday that Dudley has been appointed to head the new Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, which is in charge of cleaning up the spill. He takes over from BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward.

In Washington, Republican Rep. Joe Barton will retain his position as the top Republican lawmaker on the House Energy and Commerce Committee after expressing remorse to his fellow GOP lawmakers for his apology to Hayward.

House Minority Leader John Boehner said Barton apologized to his colleagues at a closed meeting Wednesday for “in his words, his poor choice of words.”

A House Republican aide confirmed that Barton, a Texan in his 13th term, would not lose his position over his remarks to Hayward.

“He retracted the statement last week and apologized,” Boehner said. “I think that the issue is closed.”

During a congressional hearing last week where Hayward testified, Barton apologized to the BP executive for the White House getting the oil company to commit to a $20 billion Gulf Coast relief fund. Barton calledit a “shakedown.”

Barton later apologized for the apology to BP. Still, GOP leaders had threatened to launch a process to strip Barton of his seniority on the powerful panel.

Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed BP claims documents, after its chairman, John Conyers, said the company has not complied with requests to provide information on its payments.

In Florida, dozens of workers used shovels to scoop up pools of oil that washed up overnight, turning the sand orange.

Tar balls have been reported as far east as Panama City, Fla., and heavier oil is predicted to wash ashore farther east along the coastline in the coming days. Oil has also washed up on beaches in Alabama and coated wetlands in Louisiana.

Also Wednesday, the Coast Guard’s Allen said two people working with the overall response efforts had died. One was the operator of a vessel assisting the cleanup in Gulf Shores, Ala., who was found dead on his docked boat. The other person died in a swimming-pool accident. Neither death appeared to be directly related to specific duties in the effort, Allen said.

Stan Vinson, the coroner in Baldwin County, Ala., said the man found dead on his boat was William A. Kruse, 55, of Foley, Ala. He was a charterboat captain hired by BP.

Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Leff, Curt Anderson, Melissa Nelson, Harry R. Weber, Matthew Daly, Ann Sanner, Jim Abrams, Larry Margasak and Frederic J. Frommer of The Associated Press and by Liz Robbins, John M. Broder, Henry Fountain and Dana Beyerle of The New York Times.