Why is this taking so long?

When I graduated from High School on June 6, 1982 I was planning on being an Engineer. I enjoyed math and physics at Worthington High School and was interested in continuing down that path. However my first serious Physics class at Carleton College disabused me of my notion of being an Engineer as a career occupation.

I shared that paragraph to state the obvious—I am not an Engineer.

However I do not understand why oil is still leaking in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil first started leaking there on April 20. Why haven’t the best engineering minds in our world been able to figure out how to stop the leaking of oil?

I understand that stopping oil from leaking from 5,000 feet below the surface of the gulf is an engineering challenge. But is this challenge any more complicated than the engineering challenge of drilling an oil well 5,000 feet before the surface? Given the environmental disaster that is taking place, wouldn’t someone have made some contingency plans about what to do if an explosion in the well took place?

My point is not to point fingers at British Petroleum, President Obama, the government, or any other person or corporation involved in this disaster.

However from my far-away vantage point it seems that someone has dropped the ball in solving this very serious problem.

I hope that the “Top Kill” procedure that B.P. has said it will try will work. All I can do is pray daily that something will be done and continue to ask the question, “why.” Why is this taking so long?