football fields. authorities believed it was built by one of the major drug trafficking cartels operating in mexico. on the u.s. side, the tunnel, as it gets closer and closer to the exit point in san diego, it actually gets a lot smaller. so what was probably 4 1/2 feet is now maybe well, about 3 1/2 feet. so it gets harder and harder. there s still a track all the way, the track which you saw start in mexico continues all the way through to the u.s. but if you notice the walls here, they don t have the same kind of structural support that they did on the mexico side. u.s. authorities believe that as they started to get underneath u.s. territory, started getting closer to their destination, perhaps they grew more impatient, didn t want to make a lot of noise, so they didn t spend a lot of time shoring up the sides of these walls. and about half a mile from where the tunnel began in that house
or the dirt wall of the tunnel, with just a few pieces of wood. but this is a solid wall of wood that they ve created. and basically it s as far as the eye can see down. that s always a fear when the drug traffickers are digging these tunnels that the tunnels may actually collapse on them. again, this tunnel goes about half a mile underground, all the way to the u.s. side of the border. it s about the size of seven football fields. authorities believed it was built by one of the major drug trafficking cartels operating in mexico. on the u.s. side, the tunnel, as it gets closer and closer to the exit point in san diego, it actually gets a lot smaller. so what was probably 4 1/2 feet is now maybe well, about 3 1/2 feet. so it gets harder and harder. there s still a track all the way, the track which you saw start in mexico continues all the way through to the u.s. but if you notice the walls here, they don t have the same kind of structural support that they did on the mexico side. u.s.
the reason they are not as high there are two possibilities after three months of gushing into the gulf of mexico the pressure of the reservoir is simply depleted in strength or two the tight-fitting cap is forcing the pressure down, forcing the oil and the methane case to find other exit points into the gulf of mexico. for now the cap remains tight but on top of the surface you have that flotilla of collection ships. if at any moment it s detected that the seafloor itself or some other exit point here is being jeopardized by a new leak then they will ramp up and then start collecting the oil as they have been doing for the past several weeks up on the surface. the only draw back with doing that is as you made the transition with the well head you then contribute to adding more oil, maybe millions of more gallons into the gulf of mexico for two or three days. megyn: wow, it sounds like, phil before i let you go that they are not expecting any surprises. to the extent we get a new leak
took certainly more than one of them out. we don t know the composition of the groups. we don t know if the youngest is gone first or the strongest. they haven t given us that detail. they will take them out in groups. they will go along guide rope lines. they will be with a diver at all times. there s a three-mile oxygen line from the cave right to the exit point. but, this is a very, very dangerous route. remember, a highly experienced, highly trained thai diver collapsed and died in this water, in the cavern. if it can happen to him, it can happen to the boys. it is agonizing for the parents. the rescue operator said if we don t start the rescue on the best day, we may lose this window. no day is better than this. we have to act now. the reason they have to act now,
it s going to be a blue seat. sandra: easy for them. buck: easy call for them politically. katie: female democratic senators came out in opposition to franken saying he needed to resign. took them seven victims to come forward before they did that i don t think they necessarily should be glorified profiles in courage. why isn t the first and second time they weren t interested in coming out with that proclamation. harris: you also had the exit point of the longest serving member of all of congress john conyers just 24 hours before. i want to get this in though. i don t know if you caught it but he on two occasions in his speech mentioned the minnesota, the late democrat. he was a fire brand paul wellstone. he says the future belongs to those who are passionate and works hard, notwithstanding walter mondale, perhaps the most famous democrat from that state. lisa: i think there is another side of this conversation that often doesn t get discussed. there is clearly photographic ev