Crucial oil spill evidence raised to surface as failed BOP replaced Saturday (slideshow/video link)

Saturday, the blowout preventer (BOP) that failed on the Macondo well on April 20 was lifted to the surface and replaced with a new one. The former BOP is considered key evidence in the investigation into exactly what went wrong and how, and will be used to hold appropriate parties accountable in the legal investigation.

The Associated Press was the only news organization to ride out to sea and report and photograph this auspicious occasion as it happened.

Then at 10:23 EST Saturday night, retired US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen issued a simple statement via the Deepwater Horizon Response communications team:

"The damaged blowout preventer (BOP), along with the lower marine riser package (LMRP) cap, have been removed from the Gulf of Mexico and are currently on board the Q4000. The BOP is considered evidentiary material, and is now under the supervision of the Deepwater Horizon Criminal Investigation Team and FBI Evidence Recovery Team."

Earlier in the day, AP writer Harry Weber reported on a delay hoisting the BOP because of the development hydrates -- ice-like crystals -- which had been found on the beleaguered BOP. This was not an unusual development considering that such crystals can form when gases such as methane mix with water in cold temperatures, under high pressure.

Operations were allowed to finally continue, and a crane lifted the BOP, offering investigators their first chance to scrutinize it, according to the AP. It took nearly 30 hours to lift the 50-foot, 300-ton contraption from a mile beneath the sea. The five-story high device cut through the water's surface just before 7:00 p.m. CDT, looking remarkably intact.

Allen, discussing to reporters how the new BOP was swapped as every care was taken to ensure the old one was monitored by authorities, said "We have continued to conduct surveillance with ROVs [remotely-operated vehicles] and sensors that are actually on the well head. Development Driller II has placed a new blowout preventer on the well head. They are flushing fluids through the blowout preventer and they are replacing the riser pipe..."

Referencing the old BOP and the cement that previously was put through in the static kill, Admiral Allen announced that he was very pleased  that the replacement BOP "does not constitute a threat to the Gulf of Mexico at this point but we need to finish the work related to the relief well and the plug and abandonment which will need to [be done to] move forward."

FBI agents were among the 137 people aboard the Helix Q4000 vessel, taking photos and video of the device. They will escort it back to a NASA facility in Louisiana for analysis.

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To read the entire transcript of yesterday's media call from National Incident Commander Thad Allen, please click here.

For an audio transcript of the call, click here.

Click here for a link to US Coast Guard video.