Page 20 - Dinner Plate News Today

Plate by green mashed potatoes. basically you take cooked peas, put them in a blender or food processor, or if you want creamier mashed potatoes but a little chicken broth in there. kick this up. boom. that gives you a nice -- ill turn that off. that will give you a nice green color. mix that with your mashed potatoes. >> that looks so appetizing. >> doesnt it? you get these wonderful green mashed potatoes to go along with your traditional corned beef. >> your st. paddys day theme, and your vege...

They get to that point they hit a target about the size of a dinner plate. when they punch through that is when they are going inject a combination of mud and cement and at that point, the well will be dead but looks like it will be next weekend, this coming weekend when they will finally get to this procedure. >> all right. meanwhile, we are hearing more about these scams that are happening to residents. is this a new one from the others that we have been hearing about, people posing as bp work...

Depression number five. it brought rainfall there. and we have other delays due to interesting developments that took place yesterday. there was a tell conference with the retired coast guard admiral thad allen. the problem is, before we get to one measure, he is issuing a order to bp to conduct tests about the pressure inside the well to make sure its safe to proceed with the bottom kill and the relief well procedure. and then that can be done monday and tuesday, and if the results are favorabl...

Exactly they would plan on doing then. what measure bp would have after that. once he is satisfied with that, the game plan is to continue with the relief well. it is an amazing feat, if you think about it, 17,000 feet down. 2 1/2 miles and the target theyre trying to hit is the size of a dinner plate. its an amazing endeavor. they are going to finish the testing on monday or tuesday in terms of pressure, but then at that point it could take from four days to even 90 hours to continue the drilli...

How confident should americans be that this crisis is coming to an end, do you think? >> in the sense that it is a one-two punch, first we cap the top, then we choke the bottom. thats how you kill this monster. so far we have success in cap being the top, and in a few weeks well know whether we can choke the bottom. so remember we never get it on the first try. were drilling three miles under the surface of the water. were trying to hit a dinner plate from that distance. you never make it on the...

Irreversible damage, unquote, and make the leak much worse. >> however, i mean, the -- even if thats the case, thats still only for a finite period of time because the killing of the well, the drilling of the relief wells is still happening. >> thats right. thats the gold standard. relief wells almost always work. however, they never work on the first try. so dont get your hopes up. when they try to hit that dinner plate at a distance of three miles below sea level, they may miss in which case y...

The end in sight, possibly the beginning of the end in sight. this as the obama administration responds to a judicial repeal of its drilling moratorium with a new moratorium. but we begin with the new capping effort. the new cap painstakingly lowered throughout the day, as we mentioned, lowered the last 40 feet into place just a short time ago. if all goes according to plan, phrases that have been repeated for the last 2 1/2 months, it will be latched shut tonight with testing to follow, ending ...

A sure bet? >> reporter: i dont know expert we spoke to said yes. the tricky part is when will it work. he says its like hitting a target the size of a dinner plate while drilling through a mile of rock. if you miss you have to keep trying to hit the target nearly 18,000 feet below the water service. a relief well stopped a blowout 150 miles off australias coast. there you see video. it took a whole month and five tries to finally hit the right spot. in case this doesnt work or takes too long, o...

Second, safety. relief wells can blow out just like an exploratory well, so opponents say requiring them would double your risk of an accident, like the one were seeing in the gulf right now. one professor of petroleum engineering told us, well, do you require a we levy well for the relief well, where does it end, don? >> where does it end? you know what, patricia, everyone seems to be betting that relief well will stop whats going on in the gulf of mexico. but is that really true? is that -- sh...

Long-term solution relies on drilling relief wells and killing it. as a neuro surgeon, its annoying when someone says it isnt brain surgery, but its close. tom foreman is here with the details. tom? >> thanks, sanjay. drilling down. look at this as we dive down here and contemplate what were talking about. youre going through all of this, all in the hopes of hitting something about the size of a dinner plate. thats how big the leaking pipe is all the way down where theyre trying to hit it. thats...