to implement the static kill procedure and late last night, just 89 hours into the procedure, word got out that it was working and huge that is great news, down in the gulf of mexico. the mud was actually heavy enough and was pumped at a rate strong enough to overcome the pressure of the oil trying to escape from that leaking oil well. today, he ll decide whether or not to move forward, with the pumping cement down the same choke line, a decision that he could make sometime today. regardless of the decision, though, bill as you said, he s already made it extremely clear, that he wants those two relief wells completed because that in his words is the end all, be all, for the ongoing environmental disaster. bill: i think this is the most intriguing story of the week, 75% of the oil is gone and have the cleanup workers done that good of a job, the dis percent sent. what is it. reporter: all of the above, earlier today, carol browner,
now, within the next 24 hours, admiral thad allen could decide whether or not to actually pump cement down that same choke line. bp says in doing so that will seal this leak for good. but admiral allen has already made it extremely clear, shepard, that he wants bp to continue drilling those two relief wells that work should be complete within the next two weeks, shep. shepard: kris gutierrez dock side in louisiana tonight. kris, thanks. new challenge to build islamic center in downtown manhattan near ground zero. the city commission refused to landmark the building that currently stands on the site. unanimous vote. that cleared the way for developers to tear the building down and replace it with a community center that would indeed contain a mosque. today a conservative group founded by the group pat robertson challenged the commission s decision arguing the panel violated certain policies when it refused to grant landmark status. remember, the build something two blocks or so from
that water. as we know it keeps reappearing. national incident commander admiral thad allen has the option of pumping cement down the same choke line to seal this thing for good according to b.p. but admiral allen says whether or not he chooses to do that, he wants b.p. to continue drilling the two relief wells. that could be complete within the next two weeks. bret? kris gutierrez live in empire, louisiana, tonight. thank you. back in washington, the word is now out. two house members not so fast on the vacation plans. house member spread out all over the world are making travel arrangements to come back here to washington. national correspondent steve centanni is here to tell us why. good evening. good evening. well, you know, august is the slowest month of each year on capitol hill. the senate begins its summer recess this week. the house already left town. but this year there is a bit of a twist. the house is coming back. that is because the senate today finally overcame repu
at that point, they ll begin to pump mud into the choke line, and the horizon blowout preventer. it will start at one barrel per minute and move that up to two barrels her minute. there s going to be a very low rate of injection into the well because we don t need to do it in a higher rate as we did with the top kill because there s pressure back on the well with the capping stack. we don t know exactly how much mud will be pumped in. it will depend on the condition of the well itself. there are three areas that need to be filled, the drill pipe, the casing itself and the area outside the casing to make sure neither gas nor hydrocarbons come up through that. we don t know the exact condition of the well. usually there is no way to enter the anulus from the top but if the seals are compromised, it might be possible to put mud into the anulus.
pumping mud and then cement into the busted well. allen describes what happens if the static kill goes forward. at that point, they ll begin to pump mud into the choke line, and the horizon blowout preventer. it will start at one barrel per minute and is move that up to two barrels per minute. there is going to be a very low rate of injection into the well, because we do the not need to do it at a higher rate as the top kill, because there is a pressure back on the well with a capping stack. we do not know exactly how much mud will be pumped in. it will depend on the condition of the well itself. there are three different types of areas that will need to be filled with mud. biologists are celebrating a success in the effort to save sea life threatened by the oil disaster. they released one-day-old turtle hatchlings overnight. they were hatched at a space center facility. look at those guys.