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By Colleen Long and Matthew Daly, Associated Press Writers

      NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Oil and gas are leaking from the cap on BP's
ruptured oil well but the cork will stay in place for now, the
federal government's point man on the spill said Monday.

      The leaks aren't "consequential," retired Coast Guard Adm.
Thad Allen said, relieving concerns that they are a sign the cap is
creating too much pressure underground. That could mean the cap
that's stopped oil since Thursday would have to be opened.

      Allen said BP could continue testing the cap, meaning keeping it
shut, for at least another 24 hours. He said BP must keep
rigorously monitoring for any signs that this test could worsen the
overall situation.

      If there was a quick rise in pressure, the well would be vented
immediately to keep from creating leaks deep underground, Allen
said.


      Allen repeated Monday that the next step wasn't clear.


      "I'm not prepared to say the well is shut in until the relief
well is done. There are too many uncertainties," he said.


      The concern all along - since pressure readings on the cap
weren't as high as expected - was a leak elsewhere in the well
bore, meaning the cap may have to be reopened to prevent the
environmental disaster from becoming even worse and harder to fix.
    


  With the newly installed cap keeping oil out of the Gulf, this
weekend offered a chance for the oil company and government to
gloat over their shared success - the first real victory in
fighting the spill.

      Instead, the two sides have spent the past two days disagreeing
over what to do with the undersea machinery holding back the
gusher.

      "We had some concerns ... about commitments that BP had made
that we did not feel that they were adequately living up to in
terms of that monitoring," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs
said. "That was dealt with last night on a call that lasted late
into the evening."

      The apparent disagreement began to sprout Saturday when Allen
said the cap would eventually be hooked up to a mile-long pipe to
pump the crude to ships on the surface. But early the next day, BP
chief operating officer Doug Suttles said the cap should stay
clamped shut to keep in the oil until a permanent fix.

      The company very much wants to avoid a repeat of millions of
gallons of oil spewing from the blown well for weeks, watched live
across the country on underwater video.
     


 If the valves are kept closed, as BP wants, it's possible that
no more oil will leak into the Gulf of Mexico. Work on a permanent
plug is moving steadily, with crews drilling into the side of the
ruptured well from deep underground. By next week, they could start
blasting in mud and cement to block off the well for good.

      But the government is worried that the cap on the well is
causing oil and gas to leak out elsewhere, which could make the sea
floor unstable and cause the well to collapse.

 That's why federal
officials want to pump the crude to ships on the surface. That
would require opening the well for a few days to relieve pressure
before the pipes could be hooked up, letting millions more gallons
of oil spill out in the interim.
      

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Environmental News

Oil is leaking from the cap on BP's ruptured
oil well, but federal officials intend to leave it in place for
now.

Feds: Oil, gas leaking from cap on ruptured well

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