BP's 'Top Kill' Fails; What is LMRP?; Latest and Greatest Videos Online
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This Memorial Day weekend, hail the size of softballs falls on Oklahoma. It's one of the viral videos we'll see in the 2:00 Eastern hour of the NEWSROOM. And should gay men be allowed to donate blood? At 4:00 Eastern, we'll look at the case for lifting the 27-year-old ban. At 5:00 P.M. eastern, the fragile Louisiana wetlands and the latest desperate efforts to save them from oil. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico today following the failure of top kill. BP spent three days trying to plug the huge oil leak with a mud-like mixture. Officials say the tactic did - did stop the oil, but only temporarily. Now, they will go back to an earlier approach of trying to cap the leak.</s>BOB DUDLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BP: We will put a cap on the top of this well. We'll do a sophisticated operation with robots and make a clean cut across the top of a piece of equipment down there called a lower marine riser package with diamond saws, and then we will lower down over that a cap to protruse (ph) it to the surface. We learned some things from the previous cap that we tried that created these hydrates that made it float, really, and this time we'll circulate warm sea water down around it to prevent that from happening. And our objective is to contain a majority of the oil and gas.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. We continue to cover this story from all angles. Josh Levs is standing by to explain BP's latest plan, Carol Costello is in Grand Isle, Louisiana, and Dan Lothian is with the president out of Chicago. So let's start with the administration's reaction to the latest developments. President Obama's top energy adviser Carol Browner said this is probably the biggest environmental disaster the country has ever faced. And, like other administration officials, she is voicing considerable frustration with BP Oil, including its early low ball estimates of the size of this spill.</s>CAROL BROWNER, WHITE HOUSE ADVISER, ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE: We were pressing them. I think what the president said in his press conference is that when we look back over the last 35, 38 days, we do realize there are some places where we could have moved more aggressively. One of them was asking for all the data which we needed to do these close (ph). But it is important for people to understand, BP has a vested financial interest in downplaying the size of this. We are on top of it. We have the best minds looking at it, and we're not just looking at a video. We're looking at satellite imagery, we're looking at what's actually being brought up through the risers into the boat that was there, and we will continue to monitor the situation. We want to know and the American people have a right to know how much oil is spilling.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Looking at it, but what can this administration do about stopping it? CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian is traveling with the president who is vacationing in Chicago. So, Dan, the administration appears to be putting more pressure on BP and talking about wanting to hear about more data but what, if anything, can this federal government do to help get to the bottom of stopping this gushing oil?</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That is the key question and I think that's the reason that you're hearing this word "frustration" thrown around so often is that there's very little that this administration can do beyond keeping pressure on BP and also overseeing the operation. You know, the administration has pointed out time and time again that technically BP is the best one to be able to handle this situation. They have the tools. They have the toys to go down and potentially get this capped down 5,000 feet. Now, what the administration is doing is providing, as the president has pointed out, as other administration officials have pointed out, providing the best minds that they have in the government to help. You've seen Secretary Chu, who was a part of that assessment effort as they were carrying out or gearing up for the top kill operation, and throughout that operation he was, there so you'll continue to see Secretary Chu engaged and then Secretary Salazar and other administration officials will be back in the gulf again this week. Again, the focus is to keep the pressure on BP, make sure that they're getting timely and accurate information and, of course< oversee the entire operation, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: And so, Dan, one other thing. The administration really appears to be pushing that narrative that gulf residents will not be abandoned, that ultimately the region will be made whole. How is it he can make that promise?</s>LOTHIAN: Well, you know, it's about the only thing that this administration can be certain of at this point. I mean, they say that BP will have to pay for all of this and for the administration, on its part, is trying to rally all of the folks there who really are very frustrated and angry, in some cases. And that's why you saw the president go to the gulf and make that assurance on Friday where he pointed out that even after the cameras are no longer rolling that the American government would still be there to make sure that everyone who has been impacted has been made whole. And you hear that same message echoed also by Secretary Salazar, who was saying that he believes that at some point this will be brought under control, that that area and the people there will be made whole as well. But I think, you know, to some people that's a lot of comfort for them, but others are still, again, frustrated and what they'd like to hear is not the words but that final, you know, say from the government that we have this capped. They want action. Words are good, but they want to see the action, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Dan Lothian traveling with the president there in Chicago. Appreciate that. All right, meantime, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the military isn't in the position to take over operations in the gulf. Earlier today on "STATE OF THE UNION", CNN's Candy Crowley asked Admiral Mike Mullen about the military's role in containing this leak.</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Whenever there's some big catastrophe, people want the military because they sort of see it as an efficient way to get things done. I know that you are there helping with the dispersant, getting that out and other activities. Do you see anything further that the military could do to be helpful?</s>ADMIRAL MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Well, we've worked hard since this incident was initiated and - at providing, right now, to 1,400 National Guard troops. But we're really responding to the requests. We're very much in a support role here. You've seen Admiral Thad Allen, who I think has been terrific as the incident commander, the incident lead, specifically, and we're putting every capability that we have. We've - we brought thousands of feet of booms in terms of being able to try to contain this, but it really is not for ours to lead right now because of the - the technical challenges, quite frankly. And, as best I've been able to understand, the technical lead for this in our country really is the industry and you can see obviously the challenges that they're going through to try to figure out how to - how to stop this thing.</s>WHITFIELD: So while the U.S. military had some deep sea capability, officials have said the military has no unique technology regarding offshore oil drilling. So now that we know about top kill and a junk shot, it's time to learn about what the oil folks are calling LMRP. It's the latest plan of attack to stop the gulf oil gusher. So let's bring in our Josh Levs who done a little digging for us. So explain, first off, what is this LMRP?</s>JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest step in the terminology we've had to become familiar with all too quickly throughout all of this, Fred. You know, when you hear the basic idea of what officials have been trying to do, on the face of it, it sounds pretty simple. Cap it off. Let's go to this video. This is what we're talking about, the lower marine riser package. When you look at the video that BP provides, the basic idea there is that something comes along and caps off the top of it, and that is what, obviously, you would want to see. Now, when it comes to how this would actually happen, though, it's going to be a little more complicated. Let's watch what they've provided. This is the video - this is the animation. This is what they're hoping to achieve. This cap comes along and blocks it off where the problem is. Now, let's come to the screen behind me because I have some images. They are going to show you how hard this is and what some of the big risks are. The first thing they need to do is they need to remove basically something at the blowout preventer, right here. So this is from BP. Let's take a look right here. What you have in this section, this remote operated vehicles that BP is showing, right over here, and it's basically going to come along and cut what looks like this pipe. This is using this - this basically hydraulic power to cut right here the blowout preventer. Then come over here to me with the (ph) right. After they've done that, they need to come over here and slice it off. Again, this little robot-looking thing is a remote operated vehicle. It would basically have to slice off all this before they can create a cap that you can then send the cap down on to create what looks like a stub for the cap. Basically, they get rid of that, then they get to this. I'll make it really big so we can see. If it works, if they manage to take off the parts they want to take off, then you will have what they say they're going for. You will have ultimately this right here, all right? That's what it looked like on top. And then you'll have the cap that comes along and goes on top of it. That's the goal. That's what they're going for. So, with that in mind, let's go back to that animation now. I want you all to see what we're talking about. It looks pretty simple. It looks pretty when we watch that video. But the trick is that they have to make sure that they are able to get off those pieces in the first place exactly as they want to in order to create that kind of stub that the cap can then fit exactly onto. And not only that, Fred, but even if that cap goes on as they want it to, it's not designed as a 100 percent seal. It's not a 100 percent seal. What it does, they hope it will block most of it from getting through, help control the flow, bring some of that oil off. And there's also another thing they need to do. They're going to use that tube to send down this stuff called methanol which can prevent ice crystals from growing. Ice crystals -</s>WHITFIELD: Right. That was the big problem in the first place in the (ph) dome.</s>LEVS: That's the -- it didn't work out with the dome, it didn't work out with the top hat, and the reason was you had these ice crystals that were blocking it from growing. So, Fred, all of that - then when they talk about risks, when I talk about how hard it is, they've never done this that low. That - those are the steps they have to go through in the hopes that the cap will ultimately fit and will ultimately work. So that is where we are right now.</s>WHITFIELD: And then we're talking about this new cap, another week before it's actually ready, right? So then what else are they doing in the meantime?</s>LEVS: It's four to seven days before they can even begin the process with that. Now, they've said what they'll also do, they're working on another blowout preventer. I think we've got a little video of that. But, basically, the blowout preventer is what the problem is. They're working on another one. It's 48 feet tall, 450 tons, this giant apparatus, and 5,000 feet underneath. So they're working on that as well. They're also working on relief wells, and, ultimately, what you want to see are some relief wells because what those can do, if they work, is draw out a lot of that oil, reduce the pressure on where all the problem is. You're basically sending the oil somewhere else into a relief well. But that's - Fred, what we're talking about could be August. It could be months.</s>WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh. All right, thanks so much. Josh Levs, appreciate that. We'll see you again later on this hour.</s>LEVS: Sure.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, coming to terms with an environmental catastrophe, a difficult challenge for everyone, but especially the people directly affected. Hear how one hard-hit community is coping now.