A giant underwater funnel

Giant Dome for Gulf Oil Leak

Excerpt:

Crews for contractor Wild Well Control were putting the finishing touches Tuesday on the 100-ton containment dome. A barge at about midday would haul the contraption to the spot 50 miles offshore where a mile-deep gusher from a blown-out undersea well has been spewing at least 210,000 gallons of crude a day into the Gulf for two weeks. BP spokesman John Curry said it would be deployed on the seabed by Thursday.

It's the latest idea that engineers from oil giant BP PLC were trying since an oil rig the company was operating exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers. It sank two days later, when the oil started pouring into the Gulf. BP is in charge of the cleanup and President Barack Obama and many others say the company also is responsible for the costs.

BP capped one of three leaks at the well Tuesday night, a step that will not cut the flow of oil but that BP has said will make it easier to plug the gusher.

''It doesn't lessen the flow, it just simplifies the number of leak points they have to address,'' Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley said.

Comment: Photo here (right side of the page). If I understand this correctly (layman's terms): they will place this dome over the top of one of the leaks and then have a giant pipe convey the oil to a surface collection point.