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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

BP and Halliburton officials knew about cement flaws used to seal the bottom of a BP well before it exploded. Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

Federal officials confirmed that BP has permanently sealed the well at the site of the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion, The Sun Herald reported yesterday.

BP officials used a cement plug to seal the well 2.5 miles below the sea floor. Officials contained the well in mid July with a temporary cap; however, the blowout had to be sealed from the bottom for officials to declare it permanently sealed. Approximately 206 million gallons of oil have gushed into the gulf since the explosion.

Gov. Haley Barbour released a statement yesterday claiming that his administration will continue to evaluate the oil disaster’s economic and environmental impact on the Coast.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.