event we and i would urge us all to remember we re operating in an environment where there is no human access and the only parameters we have are a video presentation and any remote sensing that we can do out there. so while all of that dos and ultimately we ll have to know the extent of the spill for damage assessments and other things. as far as a current response we re on top of everything on the surface and doing a great job so you don t have the impacts here. that needs to continue, but as far as how we re conducting the response, that can run its course and we re attacking it as if it was a much larger spill anyway. let s get an update on how to stop the leak. david mattingly joins us live from new orleans. so what is bp actually doing that we know of, david? fredericka, what they ve got in place right now that they re going to try first is an insertion tube. they lowered all of the pieces to the bottom of the ocean yesterday and today they ll try to put that insertion tube
let s talk about estimates. we first thought it was 1,000 barrels and then we thought it was 5,000 barrels. frankly, whether it was one or five or 10 or 15, our mobilization of resources are for something far beyond that because we re always prepared for a catastrophic event. so we ve not been constrained in our planning, resources or tactics by the flow estimates and i would urge us all to remember we re operating in an environment where there is no human access. the only parameters we have are a two-dimensional video presentation. so while all of that goes on and ultimately we ll have to know the extent of the spill for natural resource damage assessments and other things. as far as a current response, we re on top of everything on the surface and we ll deal with it offshore so you don t have the impacts here and i think that needs to continue and as far as we re conducting the response, we re attacking this as it was a much larger spill anyway. would it surprise you if it was more
i ve been doing this over 30 years, no human access at the point of discharge. that s different. bp, it s been almost four weeks now and there s been failures. learning what we learned about what went wrong before the explosion, do you trust them in acting in a timely fashion? in my view, they have been relentless. we understand the stakes. bp is rolling in new tactics. this hasn t been done. this is an aggregation of scientific support in the houston area, british headquarters, unprecedented. it s included department of energy. secretary salazar and chu down there. breakthrough was gamma ray
two-dimensional video and remote sensing. we have to deal with the oil on the sufshts and we re dealing with that in every way possible, skimming, on-site burning and some evaporates. jon meacham. admiral, what is the historical analogy here? what was the first thing you asked to be briefed on? was it santa barbara, the valdez, which is obviously different? has there been any experience that we have had that can in any way shed light on what we should be doing? well, that s a terrific question. the first time i heard about the event was literally minutes after it happened. i got a call at home when they had the explosion. this started out as a very serious search and rescue case. we tragically lost 11 people. when you re trying to get your mind around this problem, which is very, very difficult, i think you feed to think about the fact we re dealing with a source of oil with no human access. everything is being done through remotely-operated vehicles. i ve said on many occasions,
five or ten or 15 or mobilization of resources has been for something far beyond that, we re always prepared for a catastrophic event. so we have not been constrained in our planning or resources or tactics. by the flow estimates. and i would urge us all to remember, we re operating in an environment where there is no human access. the only parameters we have are two-dimensional video presentation and, remote sensing we can do down there and while it goes on, ultimately we have to know the extent of spill for natural resources damage assessments and other things but as far as this current response, we are on top of everything, and doing a great deal to break the slick up and deal with it offshore so we don t have impacts here and needs to continue but as far as how we re conducting the response that can run its course and we re attacking as if it was a much larger spill, anyway. would it surprise you if it was more. i m not sure. like i said, we don t have access down there and one