NOW WE WAIT

Pray this works and turn from sin. I don't care how crazy this sounds to most people but the root cause of this is us. We've turned from God. If, and it's a big if, "Top Kill" works, then treat this as a warning. And remember that even if it works the best case scenario is a big, dead chunk of ocean along with an economy and lives destroyed.

We can't go back to business as usual.

This Reuters report is very encouraging, at least upon first blush...

BP Plc Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said on Wednesday it appears drilling mud, not oil, was gushing from a ruptured undersea well six hours into an effort to halt a growing oil spill.

"What you've been observing coming out of the top of that riser is most likely mud," Suttles said at a news conference broadcast from a Louisiana command center. "We can't fully confirm that because we can't sample it. And the way we know we've been successful is it stops flowing."

Indeed, the underwater cam now looks completely different, muddy and not clear, basically.

Fingers crossed. It will be awhile before we have anything confirmed. (via @alea_)

UPDATE: A spokesperson at Deepwater Horizon Response would not confirm these rumors: "What they're looking for is monitoring that feed and the operation to see if the leak itself stops. At this time it's too early to call whether or not it's been successful."
Business Insider

"BP officials may know by Thursday afternoon whether the oil company's latest attempt to cap the runaway leak in the Gulf of Mexico is yielding results.

"I think we just need to take the next 24 hours and actually see what the results are," said BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles from Robert, Louisiana.

The operation, known as a "top kill," that began Wednesday afternoon was going according to plan, he said, with drilling mud being applied to the well at a rate of up to 65 barrels per minute.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, the federal on-scene coordinator, was equally reluctant to draw conclusions.

"While we're very encouraged by some aspects of this procedure, I don't want to express optimism until I know for sure that we've secured the well and the leak has stopped," she told reporters.
CNN

"If oil stops flowing to the surface in the Gulf of Mexico, BP officials will know that their latest effort to plug a blown-out undersea well off the Louisiana coast was successful.

BP PLC was pumping heavy mud into the leaking well, and executives said Wednesday night that there had been no problems so far. Still, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said engineers would not know until at least Thursday afternoon whether the latest remedy was having some success.

"The absence of any news is good news," said Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is overseeing the operation. He added: "It's a wait and see game here right now, so far nothing unfavorable."
CBS