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HARRY R. WEBER

Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. government said today the final plugging of BP's blown-out Gulf well will begin sometime after Labor Day.

Jeffrey Carter, an aide to the government's spill chief, told The Associated Press that the plan is to replace a failed piece of equipment called the blowout preventer first.

Then BP will finish drilling a relief well it can use to plug up the blown-out well with mud and cement from the bottom, a procedure known as a bottom kill.

Carter said that if everything goes as planned, the final plugging will begin after Sept....