Reply #72: That's what I'm thinking.

[backscatter712]

Top kill involves pumping drilling mud into the blowout preventer to snuff the gusher.

There's a huge amount of pressure from the gusher going through the BP, and now they're going to add to the pressure by pumping in the drilling mud, and they'll have to use a huge amount of pressure if they want to get enough mud into the BP and the well to do the job.

If they overdo it, they could blow up the BP, which would be Bad. At that point, the only thing that could possibly stop the gusher will be the relief well, which won't be finished until August.