GIANT DOME TO CAPTURE OIL

Gulf Coast residents and property owners are hopeful that a giant dome created by BP engineers will contain the oil which is currently pumping into the Gulf. Positive changes with offshore winds should also help to keep the oil off the shorelines.

BP engineers have begun constructing a giant dome that could be deployed to contain the spill in "six to eight days", the company's head of US operations said. The estimate is a much shorter time frame than the original two to four weeks.

It could be a major breakthrough in attempts to prevent the huge oil slick from wreaking enormous environmental and economic damage on the coast of Louisiana and other southern US states. US Coast Guard officials said the dome would be placed over the leak and instead of the oil leaking into the water column it would leak into this dome structure.

"The dome would capture or gather the oil and allow it to be pumped out of that dome structure," coast guard spokesman Prentice Danner said.

"If you could picture a half dome on top of the leak and the oil collects inside of this dome and is pumped out from there, that is the idea behind it."

Oil was originally forecast to hit the Alabama and Florida coast today, but wind and current shifts have pushed that forecast to later in the week. There are so many "What If's?" right now....weather, oil containment and dispersement. We continue to be hopeful that all these components will work together to form a positive result and that the oil will stay away from the shores.