capping out of all that oil gushing into the gulf of mexico. workers have managed to insert a four-inch tube down to the spill site, capturing some of the leaking oil and pumping it to a ship on the surface of the gulf. after weeks of bad news, they re calling it a positive step forward. we ran the they call it the riser insertion tube tool. and they ran it last night and started to get oil up to the surface into the drill ship. then we had a small problem and the tool came out of the riser, but they got that reinserted this morning and as we speak, there is oil going into the drill ship. so we need to get a bit more time with it to see how effective it can be, but it is working. cnn s david mattingly covering this story from the very beginning. david, is this the real deal or is it spin? what s going on here? reporter: it is the real deal in the sense that they re finally able to siphon some of that leaking oil up to the surface vessel and keep it out of the gulf of mexico. bu
bp says it s expecting the latest attempt to be the one that does the trick. capping out of all that oil gushing into the gulf of mexico. workers have managed to insert a four-inch tube down to the spill site, capturing some of the leaking oil and pumping it to a ship on the surface of the gulf. after weeks of bad news, they re calling it a positive step forward. we ran the they call it the riser insertion tube tool. and they ran it up night and started to get oil up to the surface into the drill ship. then we had a small problem and the tool came out of the riser, but they got that reinserted this morning and as we speak, there is oil going into the drill ship. so we need to get a bit more time with it to see how effective it can be, but it is working. cnn s david mattingly covering this story from the very beginning. david, is this the real deal or is it spin? what s going on here? reporter: it is the real deal in the sense that they re finally able to siphon some o
capping out of all that oil gushing into the gulf of mexico. workers have managed to insert a four-inch tube down to the spill site, capturing some of the leaking oil and pumping it to a ship on the surface of the gulf. after weeks of bad news, they re calling it a positive step forward. we ran the they call it the riser insertion tube tool. and they ran it last night and started to get oil up to the surface into the drill ship. then we had a small problem and the tool came out of the riser, but they got that reinserted this morning and as we speak, there is oil going into the drill ship. so we need to get a bit more time with it to see how effective it can be, but it is working. cnn s david mattingly covering this story from the very beginning. david, is this the real deal or is it spin? what s going on here? reporter: it is the real deal in the sense that they re finally able to siphon some of that leaking oil up to the surface vessel and keep it out of the gulf of
that could soon see oil. the idea is have the local fishermen on board to respond to the area of concern because they know the waters best. that s the way it should be. our people devised the plan and implemented the plan. b.p. is saying the right thing. execution will be important. reporter: meanwhile, b.p. efforts to contain the spill have moving forward. overnight, robotic submarine managed to cap one of the three leaks. but b.p. says it did little to slow the estimated 210,000 gallons leaking into the gulf each day. you have the same amount of oil coming out the two as you did the three but makes us easier to fight the fight. reporter: it s entering the second week and the solution is capture oil with the concrete and dome structure that should be at the spill site tonight but could take 45 hours to lower it 5,000 feet to the seabed and connect a series of pipes to funnel the oil to another vessel. this collection method has never been attempted in water
the gulf. they went so far as to call it, quote, an essential component. two years later after complaints from the oil industry, mms determined it wasn t so essential saying it would be too costly and ineffective, never mind the fact that bp is required to use it on rigs in two other countries. let s load up. reporter: stewart smith is an environmental attorney who has won dozens of case with the oil industry and is representing fishermen put out of work because of the deep water horizon disaster. we flew over the spill site with him. that s the slick. a it s all over here. it looks like a river, but it s not. reporter: mms and bp down played the possibility of a major oil spill. in an initial exploration plan bp called a spill, quote, unlikely. so when bp sought permission to drill the deep water horizon site, mms agreed and went along with it and gave the company a, quote, categorical exclusion from a more strenuous environmental impact study.