BP Collecting Up to Half of Leak

In the first 24 hours after BP installed a new containment cap over the ruptured oil well, the company said it had collected 6,077 barrels, or 255,234 gallons, of oil. That means that between one-third and half of the oil that spewed out of the well Friday was collected. "Optimization continues and improvement in oil collection is expected over the next several days," BP said. Still, oil is arriving in greater quantity on the Florida coast, and could end up on the Eastern Seaboard this summer. "The long-term threat of this well will not go away until the relief well has been drilled, pressure has been taken off and the well has been plugged," said Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is coordinating the federal response to the spill.