BP officials announced that the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has finally been capped and area fishermen said the capped well is the best news they've had in 87 days.
NBC 4 spoke to two fishermen featured last week in the series of segments, "Stories from the Gulf." Both have been without work for several weeks because of the oil spill.
Thursday's news was some of the best they've heard since the April explosion that killed 11 rig workers and started the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
"I kinda got a good feeling about it. I like the way they got this new blowout preventer," said David Luke, who runs a harbor for shrimpers in Biloxi, Miss. "They're holding the pressure so far. The pressure is holding. It's not moving, but it could leak somewhere else. That's what they're worried about. Sfter 48 hours, it will be alright."
Just to the west of Mississippi, Jeff Blumfield runs a charter fishing business off Grand Isle, La. He said the cap is the best news since Wednesday.
"All the state waters are back open. They have proven that none of the fish are contaminated so on so forth and about 7 p.m. yesterday afternoon, they opened up.," Blumfield said.
Blumfield said he has gone inland to fish freshwater lakes since the oil spill closed ocean waters.
"I'm sure that everybody's elated just wish this would have happened 80-something days ago," he said.
For additional information, stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail Stories@nbc4i.com.
MORE: NBC 4 Local News | Local Crime News
NBC 4 SPORTS: Sports News, Video
NBC 4 POLITICS: Headlines, Interactives & Video
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement