The “top killing” began Wednesday afternoon — a procedure BP hopes will finally plug the open well that has leaked at least 7 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for more than a month. Mud and cement are being pumped into the well to stop the flow of oil and possibly seal the leak.

BP officials say there’s a 60 percent chance the procedure will work, but it may take up to two days to find out.

Miles away from the action, the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service held joint investigative hearings in Kenner, La., to find out what caused the explosion. Doug Brown, chief mechanic on the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded April 20, testified on Wednesday.

Brown told a six-member panel that 11 hours before the rig exploded, a BP official overruled drillers from Transocean, the company that owns the rig. Brown said the BP official wanted to use seawater instead of drilling mud to plug the well until it was ready for production, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Drilling mud is a manufactured claylike mixture used to exert pressure on the pipe and prevent oil and gas from escaping from the top. Using seawater, which is lighter than the mud, allowed gas to escape, igniting a fire, according to documents from the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Capt. Carl Smith, a former Coast Guard captain serving as an expert witness for the panel, said using seawater made no sense.

“That’s something you learn at well control school,” Smith said. “If you’re circulating fluid, you need to monitor how much is going in and how much is coming out. If you get more fluid out than in, it’s an indicator that something’s going on.”

Hearings will continue through Saturday.

BP said its response to the oil spill has cost the company more than $750 million so far. The company has hired more than 20,000 people to assist with the cleanup efforts as contractors, subcontractors and boom laborers, said John Curry, BP spokesman.

The company said 25,000 claims for damages have been filed so far, and 12,000 claimants have received about $29 million in payments.

Meanwhile, the state is threatening to take over the handling of the cleanup, saying it is dissatisfied with the federal government’s slow response and BP’s inability to stop the leak. However, the state has minimal experience managing disasters of this magnitude.

As Louisiana’s frustrations mount, the number of people who have lost jobs because of the spill is adding to the state’s unemployment rate. Louisiana labor officials estimate nearly 18,000 jobs have been lost in manufacturing, construction and the petroleum industry already, and unemployment will continue to rise as a result of the oil spill.

Louisiana also fears its natural wildlife and multi-million-dollar seafood industry could be destroyed for years to come, the Associated Press reported.

President Barack Obama is expected to arrive in Louisiana on Friday to review the status of the cleanup efforts continuing along the coast. He will address a Department of the Interior review of offshore drilling. The department is expected to suggest stricter protocol and inspections for the oil industry.

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