Cedar Key, Florida (CNN) -- Two weeks after BP plugged its damaged oil well in the Gulf of Mexico with cement and mud from above, the next step in the process to permanently shut down the apparatus is in limbo as scientists gauge the risks posed by pressure inside the well.





"Our first goal is to do no harm," Thad Allen, the government's point man in the Gulf, said in a teleconference Wednesday.





The procedure the first week of August was called a "static kill." The timeline for the next step -- the "bottom kill" -- is unknown, as scientists try to determine which of two methods would work best to mitigate the pressure issues, Allen said.





Crews could remove the capping stack that sealed the oil in the well on July 15, then replace the well's blowout preventer with a new one stored on the nearby Development Driller II in the Gulf.





The other option would require BP to devise a pressure-relief device for the current capping stack.





Once crews get their marching orders, it will take them about four days to prepare, drill the final 50 feet of a relief well and intercept the main well. Then, the "bottom kill" process of plugging the well from below will begin. Allen said Wednesday cementing will require another several days.





Allen also told reporters that seafood coming from reopened Gulf fishing waters is safe to eat.





"There's no problem with Gulf seafood. It's being tested more than any other seafood out there right now," Allen said.





National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco echoed Allen's comments about Gulf seafood, saying that where water may still be tainted, no fishing is allowed.





"Twenty-two percent of federal waters in the Gulf remain closed because we have not yet determined it's safe" to eat seafood from there, Lubchenco said in the same teleconference.  She added that scientists are continuing to conduct testing in the areas that have reopened.





Wednesday is the last day that BP will accept claims from people and businesses affected by the Gulf oil disaster.  After that, the oil giant will direct people to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, led by attorney Kenneth Feinberg.





Feinberg is charged with independently administering the $20 billion escrow account established by BP to compensate for damage caused by the Gulf disaster.





At a town hall meeting in Houma, Louisiana, Wednesday morning, one woman accused Feinberg of working for BP, accidentally referring to him as "Mr. BP."





"This facility is going to be much more generous, much more efficient, and much quicker than BP," Feinberg responded. "If anyone here thinks I am not independent and am merely an arm of BP, don't participate. It's a voluntary program."





Feinberg promised that eligible individuals who submit a claim would get a check in 48 hours and eligible business claims would be paid in no more than seven days.





But he acknowledged that he'd have to earn the trust of fishermen and others who say they've received conflicting information about the oil spill response from BP and various government agencies.





"There is only one way that I will earn your trust," Feinberg said Wednesday, "and that is paying the claims."





Others at the town complained that income they've received from BP for helping respond to the spill would be deducted from their payments, pointing out that those who stayed home would be eligible for more money.





"There are very few people that I've met here in the gulf that are in emergency situations, desperate to pay their mortgages and put food on their tables that have not sought other work, other employment," Feinberg told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Wednesday in response to such grievances.





BP, which said Tuesday it has paid $368 million in claims so far, will continue to handle claims by government entities.





On Tuesday, a major environmental watchdog group called for more stringent testing of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico, where the fall shrimping season began this week. The state of Alabama just
What did Jane Lubchenco explain? What did Thad and Lubchenco say? What do they stress about gulf seafood?
"Twenty-two percent of federal waters in the Gulf remain closed because we have not yet determined it's safe" to eat seafood from there, "Our first goal is to do no harm," is safe to eat.
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