They tried the cofferdam, now they’re on to the “top hat,” then they may try the weirdest one—the “junk shot:

It sounds to us like BP is now grasping at straws trying to outsmart the growing gulf coast oil spill. As their next plan of action engineers will shoot a pile of trash at high speed into the blowout preventer at the site of the leak on the ocean floor. Experts in the oil field call this maneuver the “junk shot”.

Let’s hope they don’t need to go that far.

• Some random info from the NOAA:

By the Numbers to Date:

• Personnel were quickly deployed and approximately 10,000 are currently responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife.
• More than 290 vessels are responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.
• More than 1 million feet of boom (regular and sorbent) have been deployed to contain the spill—and more than 1.3 million feet are available.
• Nearly 3.5 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.
• Approximately 325,000 gallons of dispersant have been deployed. More than 500,000 gallons are available.

And here’s a great graphic illustrating what they’re trying to do with relief wells. (They’ll take months to work at least.) Click for a really large picture: