News

By Eileen Fleming

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – BP executive Doug Suttles says that after flying over the oil spill with the Louisiana governor, he's certain that the slick is smaller.

"Our efforts offshore are making a big difference now. The combination of the riser insertion tube with using dispersants and other tools this is probably the smallest amount of oil I've seen on the surface since the effort began."

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – BP executive Doug Suttles says the gusher could be tapped by next week, if the operation called a "top kill" goes as planned.

"If that's successful we would be bringing this incident to a close"

That remark at a briefing later solicited this response from Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry.

" I think it caught all our eyes when Doug Suttles said if we get this top kill we're done. We are not done. We are so this is a this is an enormous response."

By Eileen Fleming

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – Secretary Salazar is visiting various emergency response stations throughout the Gulf Coast, from wildlife rescue centers to the Coast Guard headquarters outside New Orleans. Salazar will be consulting with Energy Secretary Steven Chu and others Sunday afternoon.

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry says officials will make information available that shows how closely the underwater oil is monitored.

"We have a pretty good handle on the oil we're dealing with. We have a very good handle on the oil we're dealing with. Both at the source, through the water column and on the surface. And as it hits the shoreline, and we're tracking it constantly."

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – BP will try again to insert a pipe inside the leaking one on the seabed. Company Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles says the first attempt failed to connect the mile-long pipe to the surface ship that could take the oil diverted from the spill.
Secretary Salazar says the government is doing all it can to help BP.

By Eileen Fleming

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu says floating barriers are on hand in case oil makes its way north to the salt-water lake. It's actually an oval estuary connected to the Gulf 70 miles to the south. Landrieu says the region needs the nation's help in making sure off-shore drilling is safe.

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – Landry says attacks on the millions of barrels of oil spilling into the Gulf are successfully keeping it offshore.

"The vast majority of the Gulf Coast has seen no landfall from this spill. BP teams continue to respond to very sporadic reports of tar balls, ribbons of emulsified oil."

But Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal says those globs of oil could be a sign of much more on the way.