New Containment Cap Reaches Oil Well

A new containment cap has just moved into position atop the ruptured oil well beneath the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and officials are taking a wait-and-see attitude about the new equipment, MSNBC reports. "Until we have the cap on, securely fitted in place, and know it's operating per the design, we have to recognize this is a complex operation," BP's COO said today, the 83rd day since the explosion that set off the worst environmental disaster in American history.

The new cap, which is tighter than the device it replaced, will undergo tests expected to take 6 to 48 hours, which will determine whether the well is still leaking in other places. "'At this point, there have been so many ups and downs, disappointments, that everybody down here is like, 'We'll believe it when we see it,'" said a charter boat operator. Earlier today, the Interior Department issued a revised deepwater drilling ban that will expire by Nov. 30, BusinessWeek reports.
(More BP stories.)