BP Containment Dome at Spill Site

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – Crane operators lowering the 100-ton concrete and steel box over the leaking well pipes have to be precise, and it's never been done before. The container could cap the leak, or smash it wide open. So far, about 210,000 gallons of crude are pouring out every day.
BP executive Doug Suttles says one option being reviewed calls for plugging the leak with rubber and other materials.

"We don't want to do anything that could make the situation worse. The second option is to find a way to actually put another blow-out preventor on top of the existing blow-out preventor. That's also a very, very complicated task and also brings risk with it."

It's still unclear why the original blowout preventor failed.
For NPR News, I'm Eileen Fleming in New Orleans