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Feds to Remove Temporary Cap From Gulf Well

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ The federal government says it will start work Monday to remove the temporary cap keeping oil from gushing out of BP's blown-out Gulf well so that it can raise a key piece of equipment from the seabed.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man for the spill response, says engineers must remove the cap so they can raise the failed blowout preventer. The blowout preventer is considered a key piece of evidence in determining what caused the April rig explosion that unleashed the gushing oil.

Allen says the Department of Justice and other federal investigators are overseeing the work to remove the blowout preventer.

Allen says the goal is to drill the final 50 feet of a relief well beginning Sept. 7. The relief well has been called the ultimate solution to plugging the well.

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