down into the relief well through the static kill process. one thing we ve learned in the last 24 hours listening to briefings from both bp and thad allen, there are a lot of variables in this. yesterday during a technical briefing one of the top executives for bp, kent wells, talked about this static well perhaps being the end-all/be-all of this process. they hopes static kill kills this well once and for all and that the relief well that s being drilled as part of the bottom kill procedure is sort of just that last part of this sort of poking the dead guy with the stick to make sure the well is completely killed. at this point we re all sort of waiting to see if static kill is going to get under way. another thing we should mention, just a little note that came from our weather folks at cnn overnight that a tropical system may be developing out in the caribbean that could potentially adversely affect conditions out at the deepwater horizon site
they hope to have that test finished within the hour. they ll take a couple of hours to look at the data, and sometime this afternoon start the data kill process, which involves pumping heavy mud down into the well and pump it from the top and seal it off. they re going to start very slow slowly, a barrel or two a minute. they think it will take a 6 1rks 63 hours to get it all down into the mud. but they do hope to know well before that whether it s working. there s some debate as to what working means. bp thinks it could be the final solution. the relief well would be to verify that the static kill works. admiral thad allen seems to maintain that the relief well is the ultimate solution. work on the relief well expected to be done sometime in mid-august. contessa. kristen, thank you very much. a group of farmers is asking that tom vilsack be fired.
there was nothing rare about them granting these exemptions. there s been a lot of talk about these things, you use them because yes, it does disperse the oil. a lot of people are saying we can t find oil to skim. maybe the dispersants worked but a lot of people worry what is it doing to the environment. the longlasting effect. we might not know that for some time. reynolds wolf is in new orleans on this day 104 and reynolds, good morning to you once again. this could be a big week this week as it comes to trying to finally kill this well. reporter: that s right. you know, guys, we don t really see the light at the end of the tunnel but we see something looming and it sure looks favorable. we re looking at possibly the two end capping procedures. we have the cap of course the containment cap but the kill process, static kill and bottom kill. static kill might take place in the coming days but the bottom kill will take a couple days. or weeks perhaps to the end of the month.
in fact, fred and the commander do that every single day. they map out what they see and put the resources where the oil is. ok. thank you very much. ma am, i m sorry. we have to go. very sorry. well, that was the man in charge to b.p. s reaction to the disaster in the gulf. he was saying that he is confident that the relief well, where they ll pump cement and mud into a second well by the end of this month, he thinks we ll succeed in permanently shutting that well. he also defended b.p. in dealing with the dispersants issue. very controversial. criticizing b.p. and the government where they bumped dispersants into the gulf. they are monitoring that. the static kill process to begin on tuesday. julie? all right, eric. we want to resume a controversial debate on whether lying about your military service should be considered
the details. good saturday morning, anne. what s the issue now? reporter: well, alex, blame this one on tropical storm bonnie. as it passed over the gulf, it created a situation where some debris got stuck in the bottom of that relief well, the first relief well that is so close to the out of control well. so crews are trying to clean out that debris. they hope by monday night maybe tuesday to start the static kill process. it s the first. as crews prepare to run the final section of pipe in the relief well, bob dudley, bp s soon to be ceo tries to reassure a suspicious gulf coast. we have had good news offshore. you will know that. but that doesn t mean we re done. we ll be here for years. reporter: at his side former fema director james witt will assist bp in the long-term