as we close the kill valve. exactly how successful they have been in closing the leak and moving forward with the test itself. it as i started earlier yesterday, one of the reasons we took the pause was to put a set of testing procedures in effect to allow us to test aexcuse stick and sonar and visual inspection of the bottom throughout the test. the test is scheduled to run in 48 hours in six hour increments with the ability to terminate the test at any time if we have reason to believe we need to do it. the only reason to terminate the test is if we have a very low pressure reading, indicative that the oil was being released from the wellbore out into the formation but as the pressure continues to rise, we will continue to monitor it and evaluate where we are at based on the information that s available. at the end of 48 hours, we will terminate the test, go back to production with the q4000 and
one reason we took the pause was to put a set of testing procedures into effect that would allow us to consider seismic and acoustic and sonar and plus visual inspection with a bottom throughout the test. the test is scheduled to run for 48 hours and we will run that in six-hour increments to evaluate every six hours if we have reason to terminate the tests, we would do that. the only reason wgç would terminate the tests very quickly is if we have a low pressure reading that is indicative of the fact that oil is being out into the formation and as the pressure continues to rise, we will continue to monitor it. every six hours we will evaluate where we are at based on the information that is available. at the end of 48 hours we will evaluate the tests and go back to production and then will evaluate where we re at. that will include, most likely, another seismic run over the area. this will be, this will allow us to take a look at the sea floor
on day 86 of the oil disaster in the gulf of mexico, bp has delayed a crucial integrity test on the new containment cap on the leaking oil well. the company is reviewing its testing procedures. bp has also suspended the drilling of two relief wells saying it wants to be sure any pressure buildup doesn t blow out one of those wells. other top story, the international coalition takes more deadly hits in afghanistan. eight american soldiers and four british troops have been killed in the last two days and 11 civilians have lost their lives in bombings by the taliban. retail sales drop for the second straight month. the decline after seven months of increases, a big part of the blame weak auto sales. more top stories in 20 minutes. let s go to chad meyers in the severe weather center. you ve got some severe weather in the northern plains. i got hot stuff.
ruptured well. those tests were put on hold yesterday. engineers needed more time to review testing procedures. all fired up here in new york as a battle begins over plans to build a mosque in islamic community center literally in the shadow of ground zero. in a few minutes we ll hear arguments on both sides of this debate. also, three wildfires now raging across southern california. fire officials say that some homes are being threatened but there s no reports of any mandatory evacuations so far. two of the fires are located just a few dozen miles outside of los angeles. the third at camp pendleton marine base. no reports of injuries so far. returning to our top story now, that glimmer of hope in the gulf taking a hit this morning. bp delaying a critical test to determined if its new containment cap is going to hold and one man feeling the weight of the moment, the president s point man in the gulf, retired admiral thad allen. brian todd spoke with allen at bp command center and
today could be the most critical day yet in the gulf oil disaster but, man, we ve heard that before, haven t we? crews could begin testing a new containment cap trying to stop that. it involves closing valves that could actually stop the oil from gushing. right. they actually delayed the beginning of this. they want to analyze their testing procedures a little bit more, i guess want to make sure they get it right at this crucial stage. meantime, all of this comes as the presidential commission investigating the spill is now questioning the administration s deepwater drilling ban. julia reed is a newsweek contributing editor and new orleans resident, highly critical of the drilling moratorium as well. thanks for being with us this morning. does this change anything that someone on the president s own commission is saying maybe this isn t the right yesterday? well, it is the best news that residents down there have had, especially people affected