relief well to go down there 18,000 feet. cement it shut. the government s estimate on that happening is still in august. shepard: if they are capturing all the oil in theory, we ought to be able to get an accurate flow rate, right? that makes sense. over the past 81 days the government estimates will then put in total three and a half million to 5 million barrels that have spilled into the gulf. but once you have all of this now being capped and contained. going to three surface ships. clearly you will be able to get finite barrels a day that they re collecting. the admiral says there will also be a much better clue. i would think that once we have the new capping device on, we should be able to get the most accurate flow rate to date and it will be based on the actual pressure in the well. admiral allen actually used the analogy of water hose. you put your hand on and feel that pressure. that s how they are actually going to finally get pinpoint on how much oil has been spill
stand by with my interview with admiral thad allen, revealing new information to us. you ll want to hear what he has to say. gulf coast residents clearly don t want oil and tar balls washing up on their beaches but they apparently don t want them in their back yards either. cnn s randi kaye takes a closer look at the controversy over where to dump the crude. reporter: if you ve been wondering where all that scooped up, onshore oil ends up, here s your answer. this is mississippi s pecan grove landfill. what cleanup crews gather onshore, tar balls, oiled sand, and vegetation, is hauled away and buried here. that even includes the cleanup crews gloves, suits, shovels, and rakes. anything that s touched oil. it s one of nine landfills bp has cut deals with across the gulf to dump all this stuff. so that must mean the communities are okay with it, too, right?
lost when the cap is remove and the series of step they propose to remove the current cap and put the new cap on and that is under review by our technical team and the decision to authorize to go forward is going to be made sometime tonight or tomorrow. and these are critical days and we will stay in close touch with you, admiral allen. good luck. thank you, wol 6. cnn s tom foreman is following all of this emt explain to the viewers what is involved in this delicate procedure. it is a difficult procedure, wolf. we show this graphic at the beginning to remind people where it is happening. this is a mile down in the ocean where the atmospheric pressure down there is tremendous. the water pressure and difficult, difficult place to work. here is what we are talking about and the admiral is describing. it is tricky. looking at the blowout preventer which we have been watching for days and days. that is where you see all of the oil spewing out. you have watched the video over and ov
all this coming out now, they ve got the plan, you ve heard it. do you think they can pull it off by monday? we sure hope so, they have been pretty slow in meeting their objectives so far, so i ll be happy if it s done any time next week. this would be wonderful if he could essentially stop the oil. anything before then would be wonderful. this is, we should make it clear to people, this is a stopgap measure until that relief well is up and running. ? absolutely, you re just collecting more of the oil that s coming out of the top of the blowout prevent ter and out of the sitsds of the blowout preventer, and any weather that comes in, that messes up this temporary solution. but i think admiral allen implies that they re getting close to having the relief well in place, it may be two weeks or a month, but it s getting close. this is a step in the right direction. people are so frustrated and
taking a drive to your favorite summer hot spot this weekend? it s going to cost you a little less. aaa says the average price at the pump is down four cents from a week ago. regular unleaded will cost you $2.70. mplgs and google s stock redirecting viz to sit fors in china to its hong kong based search energy. now here s a look at your top story this is friday. the coast guard says the oil gushing from the floor of the gulf could effectively be contained as early as monday. commander thad allen says crews will start replacing the containment can with a tighter one tomorrow. threw new anti-bodies that