earlier in week, tony hayward, ceo of b.p., had meeting of government officials in abu dhabi. that stirred up chatter that they re looker for middle eastern buyers or investors. b.p. says they re not up for sale, but amid this, concern in some quarters obama administration hit b.p. so hard the stock dropped so much we re forcing british petroleum to become another mideast oil company. is it in the best national security interest? after all, b.p. is currently one of the biggest suppliers of our imported oil. by the way, we get 64% of the oil from sources outside of this country. here with us, is peter morisi, and kate gordon, vice president of energy policy at the center for american progress. thank you for joining us this saturday. start with you. are we pushing b.p. too hard and is this company in such bad shape it needs to go to
is entitled to is intended to provide a tighter fit over that pipe coming out of the well. the problem is when they cut the pipe, it was an imperfect cut, a jagged cut so the existing cap was only able to contain at best about half of the oil leaking out of it. with this new, custom fitting cap, they re hoping to contain all the oil leaking out of the well as interim solution while they continue to dig the two relief wells which will be the permanent solution, only then, only once they complete those two relief wells will they be able to pump mud and cement into the leaking well and permanently plug that leak, kelly. kelly: we were talking a few moments ago how it could get worse before it gets any better. and that s primarily because of the process of switching the caps, more crude is expected to spill into the gulf. how concerned are authorities monitoring the spill? yeah, and it s kind of like you shake up a soft drink
would be harvesting alligator eggs and they are indeed doing that although egg production, a little lower or a little slower than usual. this may have more to do with the long and unusually cold winter that they experience. but they re worried about the long-term impact of the oil moving ashore. they ve had a rough go the past few years, last year they were grappling with the tough economy in years prior and the hurricane moving the salt into the marshes and the alligators moving further inland. as more oil moves ashore and into the marshes is that going to kill alligators, reduce egg production or going to drive alligators even further inland? a lot of uncertaintities. they were hoping to recover this year, but now with the oil spill, they face an uncertain future. kelly: yeah, quite a few of the wild life would certainly face an uncertain future at this point in time. jonathan, we thank you for
it looks like it will get worse so it can get better. admiral thad allen signed off on a plan by the b.p. enger noose to remove the containment cap that is catching half the gushing oil and replace it with a cap that could theoretically get it all by monday. however, for a couple of days the well will be allowed to gush unabated. jonathan serrie is following the developments and joins us from grand isle. reporter: thad allen, national incident commander, said he signed off on the b.p. plan because of the long-term potential to capture much more oil than the current system is capable of doing. the new cap is designed to provide a tighter fit over the imperfect and jagged cut in the well pipe. if the installation goes as planned, it could potentially capture all of the oil that is spewing from the wellhead and funnel that oil to ships on the surface.
on b.p.? clearly they have responsibility here, but is a weakened b.p. in our best interest? absolutely not. the obama administration is just enforcing the current laws. this is b.p. s mistake. b.p. is spending money, up to $3 billion so far, just to cap the well. b.p. has to spend the money to clean it up. what the obama administration is doing is enforcing the laws on the books that just hold b.p. responsible for what it has already done. this is all on b.p. do you think we should continue drilling in the gulf? i think we have to continue drilling at the moment, because we need oil for our current energy mix. i think we need to look seriously into the future, though, at how to change that mix and diversify the mix to move off of oil and become less dependent. brian: but b.p. is one of the biggest providers of imsported oil. isn t it better to have a british company helping us out? we have great relations with the british. when the middle eastern companies in the past have b