Busted Pipe Blocked BP's Blowout Preventer

The flow of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico could have been stopped—but for a single piece of mangled drilling pipe that got in the way, according to contractors who examined BP's raised blowout preventer. As oil began gushing from the Deepwater Horizon rig in April, a section of drill pipe buckled from the force, blocking the blowout preventer's giant shears from closing the well, the Los Angeles Times notes.

The next Coast Guard hearing on the spill will address the new information. Meanwhile, after new patches of oil were spotted this weekend along 30 miles of Louisiana coast, a new cleanup began. But that oil wasn’t linked to the BP disaster, says a Coast Guard rep; it resulted from a separate leak that has now been plugged. (More BP oil spill stories.)