we are getting off of here werks are all dead. ed lavandera joins us live from new orleans. good morning, ed. reporter: good morning, ken. those hearings from washington have the potential of being rather intense today as the company officials from all of the major players in this oil rig disaster will be showing up. you have executives from trans ocean which owned the oil rig. you have b.p. which was in control of the drilling operations. you also have halliburton which really hasn t been talked about as much as the other two companies. halliburton was contracted by b.p. to put in the cement plug, which is what was supposed to go into these wells to really prevent the escape of natural gas from rising back up to the surface, which many believe so far, which is what triggered this massive explosion, deadly explosion as well. what you are probably going to see here today, john and kiran, is the beginning of that blame
on that rise ir comir coming ou floor of the gulf of mexico. in the background, you can see that cloud of what we presume is oil coming from one of those risers as well. we do know from one government source that b.p. has oil leaks. we have talked to many environmentalists and scientists that say, being able to see the video might help independent sources to verify what s going on and gauge the cleanup process and the attempts to get this well under control are actually going. b.p. says that they have been more than open with government investigators about how they are conducting business under water there. critics say that really this is an attempt by b.p. to control the message and the image of this disaster. why do you think we haven t seen much of that video yet? if i had to guess, it is that b.p. doesn t exactly want the public to see what s happening. they want to control the message and the information. i think the public needs to see what s happening at the surface
cameras have captured extensive video images coming from the site of the leak 5,000 feet under water. cnn has asked bp repeatedly since the explosion for video of the leak. but company officials will only tell us they ll look into it. environmentalists and scientists say bp s unwillingness to share the video highlights a bigger problem with the company s response to the oil spill. the critics say that the lack of transparency about the extent of the disaster. aaron viles is with a group called the gulf restoration network, a group critical of bp s response to the oil spill. why do you think we haven t seen much of the video yet? if i had to guess, bp doesn t want the public to see what s happening. they want to control the message and information, but i think the public needs to see what s happening at the surface and sea floor. reporter: we asked again about releasing the video and they said they would look into it. they insist it isn t about
with the warm moisture from the gulf of mexico and that s when things fire. good to have you on the job for us today. thanks. whose fault is it? oil executives from four different companies including bp and halliburton will be called to capitol hill today. there are three hears on tap today. one in louisiana over the oil rig explosion that triggered that environmental disaster. before it was a disaster it was a human tragedy. the deepwater horizon rig exploded in a massive fireball. 11 of the 126 people on board at the time now presumed dead. last night i spoke to one of men who barely got out alive. when i first woke up, i woke up to an explosion, didn t know that s what it was. i kind of turned and set on the edge of my bed and i sat there and waited to see if there was another sound or what the deal was. and that was a lot bigger
ready to face congress, we re getting a look at the source of the leak. bp finally releasing the video three weeks after the oil regular explosion that triggered this environmental disaster. developing story out of one of the states dealing with the disastrous impact. many animal species are in jeopardy. you may think their wings could carry them from danger. rare birds are finding it hard to escape the wild sludge. wildlife expert are calling the situation catastrophic this morning. that s where rob marciano joins us live now. it s heartbreaking, the animals have no idea what is happening to them but they are covered in this oil. in some cases they could be back on the endangered list because of it. reporter: yeah, kiran, the brown pelican, state bird of louisiana and mainstay on the gulf of mexico recently came off the endangered list.