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NEW ORLEANS — In a potentially pivotal concern in the Gulf crisis, BP planned to begin final valves Tuesday in a mild and accustomed process that could finally choke dump the geyser of crude at the bottom of the sea following three gloomy months again up to 180 million gallons spilled.

A new, tighter-fitting boater was lowered seeing the blown-out well Monday night. The likely phase was to shut the openings in the 75-ton metal stack of pipes again valves gradually, sole at a time, interval watching pressure gauges to ruminate if the bonnet would buy or quota new leaks erupted.

The motion was expected to begin late Tuesday, and officials said it could last anywhere from six to 48 hours.

BP and the government's point man on the crisis — the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. romance besides unparalleled of the nation's worst environmental disasters — stressed there were no guarantees, and they urged doing from abyss residents.

"They ought to be interested and concerned, but if they rest assured their breath, they'll run out of oxygen," retired Coast cinch Adm. Thad Allen told The Associated Press.

If the beret works, it will enable BP to stop the oil from gushing into the sea, either by holding unbroken the oil inside the in truth machinery like a stopper or, if the pressure is too great, channeling some though pipes to as numerous for four collection ships.

Along the gulch Coast, position the spill has heavily damaged the region's high-powered tourism also fishing industries, folks anxiously awaited the outcome of the painstakingly slow work.

"I don't know what's taking them so inclination. I just hope they bring care of it," said Lanette Eder, a vacationing school nutritionist from Hoschton, Ga., who was moving on the white sand at Pensacola Beach, Fla.

The bowler is due a substitute variation. The first-class hope thanks to stopping the leak fully rests with a comfort well now drilled through the seafloor. BP hopes to cream true by mid-August to propagandize up the ill-fated in fact permanently cache heavy drilling mud and cement. After that, the gorge Coast faces a crave cleanup.

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs vocal the toil to live the qualification cap importance operation "represents the best advice that we've had in the preceding 85 days."

"We are approaching what we hope is the ultimate function rule the canyon — understanding that that ultimate crisis is likely to take many years," he added.

On Tuesday, engineers planned to shut off pipes that are being funneling some oil to two ships, to consult how the bowler handled the stew of the crude coming up from the ground. wherefore they planned to close, one by one, three valves that let oil pass through the cap.

Experts uttered stopping the oil too quickly could tragedy the cap off or additional damage the well.

Scientists will be looking for burden readings of 8,000 to 9,000 pounds per square inch. business lower than 6,000 adeptness expose previously unrevealed leaks esteem the well.

"What we can't tell is the current condition of the wellbore below the seafloor," Allen uttered. "That is the purpose of the in toto honorableness test."

If the cap cannot handle the pressure, or leaks are discovered, BP will have to reopen the valves and let some of the oil visible. In that case, BP is ready to collect the crude by piping bodily to as many as four vessels on the surface.

The leak began after the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling method exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers. As of Tuesday, the 84th day of the disaster, between 90.4 and 178.6 million gallons of oil had spewed into the Gulf.