be rescued. the effort includesing making sure they eat and sleep at regular times. the miners have been trapped for more than a month and may not be reached until christmas. and former jetblue flight attendant steven slater was in court today stemming from charges after that incident last month where he screamed at passengers and deployed the plane's emergency slide. the district attorney allowed slater to undergo a mental evaluation and counseling before deciding whether to seek jail time. now to the gulf, where investigators are waiting to get their hands on the largest piece of evidence yet, the 1 million pound blowout preventer. anne thompson the nbc's chief environmental affairs correspondent and she is live in new orleans. good day to you, anne. >> reporter: good afternoon, norah. the fbi has the blowout preventer in custody and it is slowly making its way to a nasa facility here in new orleans, where investigators will go over it, trying to find clues as to why the blowout preventer did