BP Top Kill Operation Planned to Plug Oil Leak; Grand Isle Mayor Weighs in on Outrage and Anger Over BP and D.C.; Cost of BP Oil Spill
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and thanks so much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning in what is a big news day. I'm John Roberts in New York. Good morning, Kiran.</s>KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, John, good morning. I'm Kiran Chetry. And we're here right along the beaches the Gulf of Mexico in Grand Isle, Louisiana. And really it's much of the same. Each day the locals here are waiting for something to happen. They either want to know from BP whether there's a plan for compensation. They want to know whether or not they're going to finally get that leaking well capped or stopped. And in the meantime they're suffering. This is prime shrimping season. All of the fisheries in this area are closed down, all of the fishing areas, all of the beaches. The mayor of Grand Isle told me around this time they'd be expecting right before Memorial Day weekend about 10,000 people to come to this town. They come to this area, use these waters. And all of that is effectively stopped. Meantime, the oil giant's "top kill" operation is poised to begin. You're looking at live video feed of the oil leak. It's at the bottom of the gulf and we'll be showing it to you all morning as BP attempts to inject thousands of pounds, 50,000 pounds of industrial mud into that spewing well in an attempt to stop it. And of course, the eyes of the world are on this operation. Hundreds of miles of coastline now covered with the crude. Wildlife and literally the way of life all in jeopardy. Now if the "top kill" doesn't work, the environmental disaster could continue as we've been talking about unchecked for months. Meantime, there is an enormous amount of pressure right now on BP where 37 days into this environmental disaster and a frustrated President Obama is blasting the oil company for its inability to plug the leak so far. He's going to be heading to the Gulf Coast on Friday to meet with locals and to see firsthand again the devastation. The president is also putting a stop to BP's plan to turn off the video feed of the leaking well which they wanted to do as this top kill operation started to get underway. The oil company announced last night that it would black out the pictures during the "top kill" operation, but the White House objected and BP backed down. And there's also some new information about the moment leading up to the explosion that triggered this leak last month. Clear warning signs that something was terribly wrong. Leaks and also pressure spikes in the well were all ignored apparently by BP. Meantime, about the dispersants, it's risky and there's a lot riding on the top kill attempt. But even if it works, it's still millions of gallons too late. And there's another very serious concern on Grand Isle and that is the chemicals being used to clean up the spill, the Corexit 9500 that we've been talking so much about. The federal government has told BP to cut back on it. BP has not done that. And many experts and people who fish these waters are worried that it may end up being more toxic than the actual sludge that's washing ashore. We have David Mattingly with us this morning to tell us more about the "top kill." Also Ed Lavandera on the dispute over the dispersant. Thanks to both of you for being with us this morning. And, Dave, let me start with you as we talk about this live camera. They're going to, I guess, do diagnostics today, this morning in just a few hours to see if it's all a go to attempt this risky operation.</s>DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. They started those diagnostics yesterday. And as of the last release from BP that came in overnight they are still continuing that. No word about when they plan to start that top kill. They wanted to start at dawn today. We haven't received that notice that says they've got the green light to do that. Those diagnostics are very important. They're dealing with this huge piece of machinery down there called the blowout preventer, and they were making sure that that device was still capable of handling this type of -- this type of operation. It's going to be a lot of pressure there putting through that device to push this oil back down. They're essentially trying to drown this well and those heavy fluids, so they have to make sure their equipment can take this pressure before they move forward.</s>CHETRY: This has been attempted and been successful in wells in the Middle East, right? But they've all been above ground? So at this depth, this has not happened before?</s>MATTINGLY: It's been successful but not 100 percent successful. They've had some failures on land, and they've tried this on land and they've had some success. They tried this in shallow water. They've had some success. They've never done this at a mile under the ocean. Every step they've taken through this entire step has been literally into unchartered waters.</s>CHETRY: And largely not successful from the containment dome to the top hat to trying to siphon it off on and on. Everything has sort of failed up until this point. Now explain to us just briefly how this "top kill" is supposed to work.</s>MATTINGLY: The way it's supposed to work they're pumping these heavy fluids into that blowout preventer. They're trying to create more pressure to counteract the pressure of the oil that's spewing out. So they're going to push that oil back down, so to speak, sort of drown this well and then they're going to put cement on top of it to temporarily hold that oil back until they come up with a permanent solution of drilling those relief wells. But let's put this in perspective. This is BP's best shot. And they're giving it a 60 percent chance of success. So they've been walking back anticipations of success on this just to make sure everybody is prepared and let everybody know, we don't know how this is going to turn out because we never tried it before.</s>CHETRY: And so that means there's no timeline as to when we know if it's successful? They don't know at what stage of the operation they can start figuring out whether or not it's working?</s>MATTINGLY: Even when they start the top kill, they were saying it's going to take 10 hours, maybe more. So they don't know. They're trying to give themselves a lot of leeway here to learn as they go and to maybe make adjustments as they go.</s>CHETRY: And so as the hopes for a permanent solution ride on this operation is taking place, meantime, Ed, there's still a big debate and controversy over what they're using right now to break up this oil, the dispersant. Explain the latest on BP sort of thumbing its nose at the EPA when it comes to a, stopping it, and b, cutting down on using it.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot of frustration over the EPA. And essentially so people understand these dispersants are being sprayed on the surface of the water. But then about a couple of weeks ago they started spraying underwater at the site of the leak. And what it's supposed to do is break up the oil into droplets. And what environmentalists will tell you is that it doesn't make the oil go away, it just makes it essentially kind of harder to find.</s>CHETRY: Invisible, right?</s>LAVANDERA: Which is, of course, of great concern. We spent a little bit of time yesterday from the National Wildlife Federation. A scientist over there by the name of Doug Inkley and he was kind enough to spend some time with us. And he talked about what he worries about here not just in the coming weeks and the coming months, perhaps even years.</s>DOUG INKLEY, CERTIFIED WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST: What I'm concerned about here is that these dispersants are being applied a mile beneath the ocean at an experimental basis in quantities of the hundreds of thousands of gallons.</s>LAVANDERA: You get that sense, they just don't -- there's not enough science at this point to really understand how this works under water. EPA right now its scientists are checking out all of the different dispersants that are essentially viable options at this point. I don't think we've heard the last of this controversy.</s>CHETRY: Oh, yes.</s>LAVANDERA: There's still that struggle going on between BP scientists and the EPA scientists. And I think in the coming days if the EPA decides that the Corexit that they're using right now, they don't feel is a best option, I think we're going to see a big circle over that.</s>CHETRY: Right. And you know, a few of the locals that I had a chance to talk you yesterday including experts in fish and wildlife feel that they want to -- BP doesn't want the water to look oiled. And so it's getting dispersed far under, but the questions about whether or not it's having an impact on the very basics of the sea life, you know, the food chain is another question entirely and they're very, very upset about it. All right. We'll continue to follow that aspect as well with the "top kill" operation. Meantime, let's send it back to John. Also, one note we want to let you know about. Coming up in about an hour, we're going to be interviewing BP CEO Tony Hayward. He called the environmental impact of the spill modest before then backtracking on that. We're going to ask him why he's so much more confident than the government even that this "top kill" operation will work and why it took so much pressure to keep the cameras on during the operation -- John.</s>ROBERTS: All right, Kiran. All that just ahead. Meantime, new this morning, President Obama is sending up to 1,200 more National Guard troops to our border with Mexico. The White House also says he's going to request $500 million to beef up security there. Arizona Senator John McCain says that is simply not enough. The call for more border protection has been growing since Arizona's governor signed the state's controversial immigration law. The Feds say 89 deaths could be tied to unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles since the year 2000. Officials are still working to verify these new allegations. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has received 6,200 complaints alleging sudden acceleration in Toyotas over that same period. The FDA is investigating reports of seven deaths and hundreds of serious side effects related to Tylenol, Motrin and Benadryl drugs that were recalled earlier this month. The drug maker McNeil recalled 50 children's versions of the nonprescription medicines because of quality and safety concerns. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines now. Bonnie Schneider in the weather center in Atlanta. And how are we looking today, Bonnie?</s>BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, John, you may know this already being in New York. But it is looking hot out there. We are getting ready to hit some incredible numbers in the northeast, like 95 degrees in New York City. Wow. Now, note, the heat will come with its consequences. Big thunderstorms rolling through the northeast corridor from Philadelphia into New Jersey and New York certainly later today. We're also tracking low pressure off the southeast coast. This almost was Alex. But really in the end this is going to bring some rain to coastal sections of the Carolinas. But keep in mind the riptides will be high all the way from northern Florida up through the Virginia Beach area. We're also tracking severe weather in parts of the plains. We'll have a complete forecast coming up in just a bit.</s>ROBERTS: Looking forward to that. Bonnie, thanks so much. Next up on the Most News in the Morning, we're going to go back live to Grand Isle, Louisiana. We're going to talk with the mayor there about the impact that the oil spill is having. Nine minutes now after the hour.