BP Confident It Can Contain Gushing Oil
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. From CNN Center, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It's May 16. I'm Kate Bolduan.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Acosta. We're both in for T.J. Holmes....</s>BOLDUAN: We are.</s>ACOSTA: ...this morning. Thanks for starting your day with us. BP officials have been working overnight in an effort to stop the massive oil spill in the Gulf. And they're trying a new tactic, using a mile-long pipe to try and siphon out the oil. We will go live to the Gulf to get the very latest.</s>BOLDUAN: Plus, the lone survivor of that plane crash in Libya is waking up in his home country this morning. His aunt and uncle are taking care of the 9-year-old boy. Both of his parents and his brother were - were killed. We'll tell you how he's doing right now. But first, a look at the headlines this morning. The Red Cross will start evacuating women, children and the elderly form that spreading protest in Bangkok, Thailand. Today, more flames, gunfire and chaos. After three days of this, the government reports at least 25 dead. A curfew is planned. The U.S. State Department says it will evacuate all non-emergency personnel. It also warns U.S. citizens against traveling to Thailand. And some airports in Ireland are closed this morning because of, yet again, ash from that volcano in Iceland. Heathrow and Gatwick in England could also see disruptions early into the week. British Airways says it'll advise passengers on its website. And check out the view from the shuttle Atlantis. Majestic. Absolutely beautiful. Atlantis will dock with the International Space Station around 10:30 Eastern Time this morning. For several days, experts have tracked some space junk in the area, but say it doesn't pose a threat to the ISS. It should pass within six miles though, which is still pretty close for space standards.</s>ACOSTA: It sure is, Kate. And a lot of people watching that oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico this morning are asking, is today the day BP finally gets a handle on the growing environmental threat? The oil giant was hoping to start siphoning oil last night from the pipe. Plans were to insert a tube into the pipe and pump the oil nearly a mile to a ship on the surface. No word yet on whether that is working. At the same time, BP says it looks like its plan to use chemical dispersants at the source of the leak is working. That according to the company. And while those efforts are playing out, the folks who work and live on the Gulf Coast are keeping a very close eye on the waters. Here's what you can see from the air. Ribbons of oil stretching for miles. BP says it's 210,000 gallons a day, but some experts say it's a lot more than that. All that oil threatens the Gulf's delicate ecosystem, as well as people's jobs. Reynolds Wolf joins us live from Biloxi, Mississippi this morning. And Reynolds, we've been talking this since the very beginning. The Gulf is famous for the shrimp down there. How concerned are those shrimpers, Reynolds?</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, they're very concerned. I mean, you know, as you mentioned, this is - this is big business. We're talking - it goes to a tune of about $2.45 billion a year in the Gulf Coast. And Mississippi is no exception; it definitely is huge business here. Now - but let's give you some bad news first. And the bad news is that eight percent of the federal Gulf waters are closed. That is the bad news. The good news, that means 92 percent happen to be open. Now, here in Mississippi, for the time being, things are pretty good. They have been testing along the coastline, the barrier islands. No trace of oil for the time being. But you can't just look at the oil; you also have to protect the marine life. Well, by checking the marine life, you actually have to go out and - you actually take some samples. We were lucky enough to go out with the state of Mississippi's Department of Marine Resources to actually see how they get these samples. Here's the story.</s>WOLF: Well, I'm coming to you from Biloxi, Mississippi. And we're about to get onboard this vessel, and we're about to head out to sea. This is Mike Brainerd. Mike, what is today's mission?</s>MIKE BRAINERD, SHRIMPER: We're going to be going out to the Mississippi Sound and doing some testing on the shrimp to see what the average size is. And this will be used to get ready to open up our shrimp season.</s>WOLF: OK. Good deal. Let's get to it. OK, I think we're going to speed up a little bit. Hold on. Now, where exactly are we headed, specifically?</s>BRAINERD: We're going to check - our Station 3, which is in the Biloxi Channel.</s>WOLF: Has the oil spill been a huge concern for you?</s>BRAINERD: It's definitely a concern, but it's - as of right now, we've been very fortunate, and the oil hasn't gotten into our waters. So we're just going ahead and planning like it's going to be a regular shrimp season, and hoping that we will have a shrimp season, so - and of course, we got planes up there, you know, monitor every day to see where the oil actually is and how far it is from our shores.</s>WOLF: How important are these little animals, these little shrimp, to the people that live here?</s>BRAINERD: I mean, it's - it's very important. It's a big part of culture here in. And Biloxi used to be the shrimp capital of -- of the</s>U.S. WOLF (voice-over): We're now at a shrimp bed just off Deer Island, Mississippi. Biologist Bill Richardson lowers his net and raises his hopes for a good sample. Richardson says conditions are perfect right now for shrimp to grow, but worries that any oil in these waters could put the season in jeopardy.</s>BILL RICHARDSON, BIOLOGIST: And it's kind of like a garden out here for them to grow.</s>WOLF (on camera): Pristine conditions make pristine, shrimp?</s>RICHARDSON: Yes. Yes. Exactly.</s>WOLF: How does this guy look? Pretty healthy?</s>RICHARDSON: Oh yes. All he needs is some batter on him.</s>WOLF (voice-over): Fishermen aren't the only ones who closely follow the work of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. (on camera): Yum. Yum. Yum.</s>WOLF (voice-over): Dolphins know an easy meal when they see one. (on camera): Here you go. (voice-over): The Mississippi shrimping season could be a few weeks away. Opening day depends on the sample these biologists take back to headquarters, and the efforts of other agencies working to keep the oil from spreading.</s>RICHARDSON: We've got some brown shrimp and some white shrimp. We'll take the - these back to our lab and measure and weigh them.</s>WOLF (on camera): Bill, do you like what you see?</s>RICHARDSON: Oh yes, definitely. This looks very good. I - I hope the oil stays away so our fishermen can - can get involved in some of this.</s>WOLF: Now, Mississippi isn't the only place that has been conducting tests like this. And they've been conducting like this over in Mississippi. And not just Mississippi, rather, but in Louisiana for mussels. I have no doubt that these tests will also be in places like Alabama and perhaps even off the Florida coastline. Everyone watching, and again, hoping for the very best when it comes to this giant oil slick and its impact, possibly, on fishing. Let's send it back to you in the newsroom.</s>ACOSTA: And Reynolds, you know, just seeing that dolphin swimming up for a little free sample there, maybe wonder about, you know, something that we don't really have our hands on yet, and that is what's happening in the - in the depths, the deep parts of the Gulf of Mexico. I mean, we - we haven't seen the oil wash ashore, so that means it's just spewing and pumping and - and - and filling up the Gulf with just gallons and gallons of oil. And I guess the big question is, what's happening to the ecosystems at - at very depths of the Gulf?</s>WOLF: And, you know, that is a great question. That's one of the big concerns that the - many environmentalists have been having when it comes to that dispersant they've been putting on the oil as it's been coming out of that giant leak. As it's just been venting out, they've been using the dispersant. And what you're talking about dives right into their biggest concern. So it really - again, there - there are a lot of questions out there. Some people are saying that it's a good thing, what's happening down below, keeping that oil away from the surface. Others say that you're just making a bigger problem for the marine life that you're specifically talking about. So again, no easy answers for the time being.</s>ACOSTA: Yes, there are sure not. Reynolds Wolf, thanks - thanks for keeping an eye on it. Appreciate it. Talk to you soon.</s>BOLDUAN: So Jim and Reynolds were talking about it there, and BP estimates that ruptured pipe is spewing 210,000 gallons of oil a day. A Purdue University mechanical-engineering professor though believes the leak is much larger, almost 3 million gallons a day. CNN's Brian Todd asked the BP official about that.</s>BOB DUDLEY, BP: Well, that's not - that's not what our experts, multiple experts, not only from BP and the industry say. This crude is - is what's called a light sweet crude. It has lots of gas. And when it comes out, it expands very rapidly, a little bit like bubbles in a soda pop. So it's very difficult to look at it and say that it's - that the volume will be much higher. We certainly don't see that at the surface, and no satellite photographs, which are fairly accurate, in terms of where the crude is coming out. And you mentioned the thickness of the crude. A lot of it evaporates very quickly. That - that number is not anywhere close to anything that we - we think. We - we believe today, best estimates, rough, 5,000 barrels a day.</s>BOLDUAN: And in another development, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sent a letter to BP's chief executive. They want BP to confirm it will not ask taxpayers or the government to pay for the spill and economic impact. And a remarkable story of survival in the middle of a major tragedy we want to tell you about.</s>ACOSTA: Yes, this is amazing. A hundred and three people died when a plane went down in Libya. But one young boy survived. He is - this morning, the 9-year-old now known as the "miracle survivor" is back in his home country as people around the world watch his recovery.