Top Kill Working for Now (Again)

BP has fired off its “junk shot” and resumed pumping heavy fluid into the spewing Deepwater Horizon well, which appears to have staunched the flow of oil, Adm. Thad Allen, who's in charge of overseeing the spill for the Coast Guard, said today on Good Morning America, though he added that the flow could resume. He said something strikingly similar yesterday, and sure enough, they later had to suspend the so-called “top kill” process.

BP CEO Tony Hayward said in a TV interview this morning that top kill was “going pretty well according to plan,” but still only gave it a 60% to 70% chance of success, because it's never been tried in such deep water. The junk shot was deployed last night, with its huge amounts of actual trash—including shredded tires, golf balls, and rope—pumped into the blowout preventer as a bridge intended to strengthen the mud, the New York Times explains. (More British Petroleum stories.)