Heat Wave Deaths; Climategate Scientists Cleared
GUPTA: You're looking there at the leak, oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for the 79th day -- 79 days. They have tried a giant containment box, top kill, top hat. They have been planning all week to hook up a third tanker to siphon off more oil, but choppy seas are stopping that from happening as well. The only real hope of a long-term solution lies in drilling relief wells into the bottom of the leaking one and killing it from below. You know, as a neurosurgeon, it's kind of annoying when someone says that something isn't brain surgery. In this case, though, it's close. And Tom Foreman is here with the latest -- Tom.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Sanjay. You know, this whole idea of drilling down through a mile of ocean water and then two miles of rock and sand and seabed, look at this when we dive down here and just contemplate what we're talking about. You're going through all of this, all in the hopes of hitting something about the size of a dinner plate. That's how big the leaking pipe is all the way down where they're trying to hit it. That's a massive technological challenge. So, what if they miss? Then what? Well, for starters, they can try again. Look at this. These are the relief wells coming in here that we have been talking about all this time. If they were to miss this with the one that's closest down here, they can try again. This drill can be repositioned, and they can take stab after stab at it, trying to get close, as long as the equipment holds up and there is hope that it might work. Then, let's say they actually made the intercept. This is what we're talking about. Again, the pipe itself would probably be only about this wide underneath there. They have got to intercept it and then penetrate it from the side, cutting in from the sides over here. Once they do that -- here is a measure of how difficult this is and how tough this pipe is -- the actual cut in could take a full week to accomplish. If they accomplish that, though, if that's done, then what you're going to see is the pumping of this heavy drilling fluid, or mud, we have talked about. It will come down from here, into the line, and, gradually, it will start stacking up in the line as it's pushed upward by the oil. As it stacks up, because it's so heavy, it will be pushing down. So, let's say that's not enough to stop it. Well, then, Sanjay, the option is, they look over here at the second line. They bring that second line in, and they try to bring in even more mud at a higher rate, pushing it in, increasing the rate to many, many, many tons. The belief is that, somewhere, they reach a stasis here. And the cuts off the flow of the oil, and it stops it. At least, Sanjay, that's the theory about the relief wells.</s>GUPTA: You know, I'm -- I'm a little scared to ask almost, Tom, but let's say that also fails to stop the flow. It's a fascinating description. But -- but what else can be done? Are there any other plans?</s>FOREMAN: If that doesn't work, there are other plans that they're working on right now, one of them that you mentioned a minute ago. Right now, we have been talking about this top hat sort of system, where they have a cap over the top of the blowout preventer down here, and they have lines that are coming up to ships up here that are taking this oil up and siphoning it off. They're capturing what they say is a pretty good bit from that right now. They are trying to bring in another ship here. They've been held up by the bad weather, but if they can get another ship in there, the idea is that they run another line up there. They're even talking about a tighter-fitting cap down here. If all of that works the way they wanted to, they think they could possibly get up to 90 percent collection of the oil as escaping. At least, that is their stated goal, Sanjay.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR: You know, those are remarkable graphics, and it actually really makes it quite clear, and I hate to be sort of the Thomas doubtful here, Tom. In the sake of completeness, if nothing works -- a lot of -- my friends have been asking this, and the leaks in the bottom just continue to expand to the point they cannot be controlled, what then?</s>FOREMAN: Yes. That seems, Sanjay, to be highly unlikely when you talk to scientists. Really, one of the few ways that could happen is if you have some kind of catastrophic failure down here where you ended up with multiple leaks out of the sea floor, and you simply couldn't do anything about it. That seems really unlikely. But if you have something like that happen and this simply gushed and gushed and gushed, the thing is, no one knows. The estimate of how much oil is in this reservoir vary from tens of millions of barrels to maybe a billion. So, sufficed to say if that remote circumstance came into being, you could look at years of oil spewing up into the Gulf like this, Sanjay. But, of course, we're very, very much hoping that won't be the case -- Sanjay.</s>GUPTA: All right. Yes. A lot of people optimistic right there with you as well. Fascinating stuff, Tom. Thanks so much. And Joe Johns is following some other important stories for us now. tonight as well, and he joins us now for the "360 Bulletin".</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sanjay, a 5.4 magnitude earthquake rattled Southern California. It was centered about 60 miles northeast of San Diego. No immediate reports of damage or injuries. Meantime, the heat wave, baking the northeast, has claimed at least two lives, the latest, a Baltimore resident. Two straight days of triple-digit temperatures has caused scattered power outages in many eastern seaboard states and made life miserable throughout the region. A teenage girl and a 20-year-old man are missing after a Philadelphia tourist boat flipped and sank when a barge hit it. Thirty-five people were rescued from the Delaware River, nine hospitalized for minor injuries. An independent panel has cleared a group of scientists in the so- called Climategate controversy. Skeptics had claimed a chain of e- mails and documents leaked in 2009 prove that global warming was a hoax. But in its report, the panel said the scientists had high scientific standards and did not manipulate their data. And here's one for you. "Paul," the psychic octopus, has scored again, predicting Spain would defeat Germany in today's semi-finals and it did. A 1-0 victory. "Paul" was 6 for 6 this World Cup. He calls matches by choosing between two containers of food, representing competing teams. You just have to wonder what on earth an octopus eats. Who knows?</s>GUPTA: It's a little creepy to look at.</s>JOHNS: I know.</s>GUPTA: You know, it got me thinking -- you're part of the best political team on television, maybe you could have that octopus help you with some of your game day call, Jeff.</s>JOHNS: Yes. And I bet he'd be a little bit better than some other people, present company not included.</s>GUPTA: The octopus correspondent (ph). Of course not, Jeff. Thanks so much. And next on "360," a high price for the cleanup. Oysters, they're dying. Oyster men say not because of the oil but because of how it's being kept away and the men who rely on this work. Their lives are being changed forever. We're going to take you straight out on the water. Also tonight, under arrest, a suspected serial killer who police say played a deadly cat and mouse game for 25 years. We got those details coming up.