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Top Kill Fails; Dad Camp

Aired May 29, 2010 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We are covering this for you right here, and we're going to tell you everything you need to know about this oil spill in just a moment.

Jacqui Jeras, thank you.

I'm Ali Velshi at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. We are continuing to follow this breaking news for you. The top kill, the method to stop the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico has failed. Crews were pumping heavy mud into the leak hoping to clog it up, push that oil down so they could bend, seal it up with concrete. But today BP admitted it is not working.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG SUTTLES, BP CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: After three full days of attempting top kill, we have been unable to overcome the flow from the well so we now believe it's time to move on to the next of our options, which is the LMRP, lower marine riser package cap.

Over the last three days we've pumped a total of over 30,000 barrels of mud. We've made numerous attempts to over come the flow. We've monitored the situation after each attempt. We've also used our junk shot technique and other materials to try to divert more of the flow down the well, but we have not been able to stop the flow, and after significant review with a - with what can only probably be called a brain trust of engineers and scientists from BP, the industry, the Minerals Management Service, the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior, and further reviews by Secretary Salazar and Secretary Chu, we have made the decision to move on to the next option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: And that, of course, is what we are all wondering about. That next option. That is the scene under the sea. Unclear.

David Mattingly will help me clear this up whether that is mud or oil coming out. But they have stopped this operation. They are moving on to the next option to try and stop this -- try and contain the oil that's going into the Gulf of Mexico.

They are not actually going to try and stop it on the next option. The top kill was the last best effort to actually stop that oil flow. BP is moving on to a new backup plan called the lower marine riser package. You will hear it referred to as LMRP -- lower marine riser package. It is a custom made cap that is going to go over the well's blowout preventer. That's the structure that you've seen at the bottom of the ocean.

That is -- it is going to go over that area you are looking at right now all that material is coming out of. But crews have to cut the damaged riser out of which all of this oil is coming. They have to cut it off before trying to fastening the new one on. That is going to take between four and seven days. David Mattingly has been following all of this for us. He was in that room where the news conference was taking place, speaking to the admiral and the official from BP.

And, David, I have to tell you, we all knew this was entirely possible. It was not the news anybody wanted to hear.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're right, Ali. We knew that this possibility was out there. BP stuck its neck out and said we've got a 60 percent to 70 percent chance of success with this top kill. Well, looking back on it that was probably a little overoptimistic. They did pour thousands and thousands -- 30,000 barrels of this heavy liquid into the process. They tried the thing called the junk shot, 16 times, to try and create sort of a footing for this pressure that they were trying to build in there, but to no avail, they weren't able to stop this flow of oil from coming out.

So then the next question had to be when I spoke to Doug Suttles of BP, I said what next? What kind of assurances can you give us? And here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And all along we have been told that top kill was your first choice because it had your highest chance of success and carried the fewest risks.

What are your chances of success as you move forward now, and what are the risks that you are encountering that you did not have before? Also how soon do you plan to install the second blowout preventer?

SUTTLES: Well, if you go back to the very beginning, of course, our first attempts to stop the flow with trying to activate or somehow use the existing blowout preventer. That is the place where we began more than a month ago.

And, of course, in parallel, we've been working numerous options. I don't think it's accurate as you say. That was -- our tests are most likely our best chance of success. It was the next option. An option we felt was the next one to pursue based on the information we had. And I think the chance of success we gave, it was somewhere around 60 percent to 70 percent. Obviously, we didn't know.

So I think that what we've done is given this thing every chance to succeed. We have gone at this for more than three full days, made multiple attempts. And as you said, probably the best and the brightest in the industry and government working to assess whether we should continue because that was an option, or whether we should move on. And based on all of the analysis and consultation with those experts, the view is it is now time to move to the LMRP cap.

REAR ADMIRAL MARY LANDRY, U.S. COAST GUARD: We should remind everyone we have been at this and we're going to day 40 now. The first few weeks we really spent on trying to intervene on the existing BOP. There was a lot of work done on that with valves pairs and everything. So I think it was at least three weeks we tried that before we moved on to top kill.

So it has been a series of -- you know, it is a little bit of a roller coaster ride for everyone as we go through this. And we try to stay, you know, steady state hand at the till. And, you know, obviously, we said we had to prepare for the worst case scenario since day one that this could fail totally and release a tremendous amount more than it is releasing now. And the real solution, the end state, is a relief well. It has never been top kill or BOP. I mean, it's a relief well. It's what we really need to get to.

MATTINGLY: Right, I understand that. But the second part of my question is what are the risks that you are encountering now that you didn't encounter with the top kill, and what are your chances of success now compared to the top kill?

SUTTLES: Yes, and that is a very good question. So I think what we've learned at this step is the next thing to do is to try to capture all of the flow, or as much of the flow as we can. So we -- if it requires, we used this riser insertion tube tool. What we call the RITT tool.

Our first attempt was the dome. And, of course, we had the hydrate problem. So we learn from that that we had to exclude the water. But we also knew that this riser insertion tool was only going to capture a portion of the flow.

We believe the LMRP cap has a chance to capture a great majority of it. I don't want to say 100 percent, but a great majority of it with that design. And while we continue to work options to stop the flow, what we need to do right now, and we've said this all along, that if top kill was unsuccessful, the next step in the process was what we call the LMRP cap. It's another version of what we used to call top hat and other things.

So we think this is the right step. The government agrees with us. The Secretary Salazar, Secretary Chu agreed with this. The best experts agree. And that's what we need to do next while we continue to work other options that might be available to us. But in the meantime, what we've learned is if we can capture flow at the seabed, if we can fight this thing effectively at the surface and use subsea dispersant, that we can actually minimize the amount of oil on the surface and minimize the amount of oil against the shore, which I think everyone agrees. It has to be the biggest problem.

LANDRY: Can we also assure you that as we do this subsea injection of dispersants which will be necessary with this, we will continue extensive sampling and protocols and share that information with everybody. And I know the head of the EPA and others, Dr. Lubchenco of NOAA, folks are collaborating constantly on the results they're getting, and there is a daily call reviewing those results that will continue because this is -- this is going to require subsea injections of dispersants in amounts that are determinant based on how successful you are with the cap.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And we got a comment from CEO of BP Tony Hayward. He said that he was disappointed that the operation didn't work. He said the team executed the maneuver exactly the way they were supposed to, and said that everything worked the way it was supposed to. But there is no explanation for why it didn't work. They only know now that they're going to have to move on. And if you listen very clearly to everything that BP was saying, that they are moving on with a joint decision made between them and the experts in the government as well. So they are making it very clear that everyone is in a consensus here that it is time to move on.

VELSHI: That is a very important point. I just want to underscore that a little bit. This is a joint command. This is not just BP making the decisions.

Is that correct?

MATTINGLY: That's right. And another important point that sort of came out today. Admiral Landry stepped up to the microphone and talked about managing expectations. That perhaps -- suggesting perhaps that there was too much expectation for any of these processes because they keep talking about how they've never done this before at this depth. This is a very difficult thing they are trying to do.

And she brought up specifically the idea of managing expectations, making sure that timetables are more realistic when they start talking about how long certain maneuvers are going to take. And perhaps not raising expectations if you want to read between the lines there of any sort of success or any sort of unrealistic expectations here.

VELSHI: Dave Mattingly, we will continue to check in with you. You have been stationed in Robert, Louisiana, which is command central. Any new developments, we'll put them right on TV as soon as you have them.

Thanks, David.

David got a message from the -- or he got that press release from the CEO of BP. We've also heard from the president of the United States. The White House has weighed in on this disappointing development in the gulf. Just a day after the president went there to see it first hand. This is supposed to be an important time for fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico. Now many of them stand to lose their livelihoods. You're going to hear from them and from drilling engineers about how big a problem this is. After so many failures, what do they have planned next? Stay with CNN for our continued coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Our coverage continues of the news that the top kill method to remediate this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has not worked. That announcement came from BP this afternoon.

I'm joined now by Greg McCormack. Now a familiar face to me. The director of the Petroleum Extension Service at the University of Texas.

Greg, good to see you again.

I never thought I'd be talking to you this much as we have through the course of this oil spill. Give me a sense from you, from the perspective of somebody who understands these things, how serious a development is that this top kill method to kill that oil well did not work?

GREG MCCORMACK, DIRECTOR, PETROLEUM EXTENSION SERVICE, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: I think the majority of us are really devastated. I think we put high hopes on it. Unfortunately, it was a very, very difficult and complicated task and it didn't work.

VELSHI: OK. So they had said there was a 60 percent to 70 percent chance. It's what BP had said, which means there was a pretty good chance it wasn't going to work. At this point, the one thing we all agree, when I say we, scientists all agree is going to work is the drilling of this relief well. That drilling has already begun. Tell me about that.

Is that going to be the thing that kills this well?

MCCORMACK: That is what is going to kill this well eventually. There's absolutely no doubt. We have killed many, many wells by drilling relief wells. It is by far the safest and foolproof method of killing a well.

VELSHI: All right. Stay with me for a second, Greg. I want to bring in Russ Chianelli also at the University of Texas. He was a former chief scientist in the effort to remediate the "Exxon Valdez" spill. He is in El Paso right now.

Russ, thanks for being with us.

Russ, what is your view of what's happened here today. The development that BP says this isn't working?

RUSS CHIANELLI, OIL SPILL EXPERT: Well, I think you just heard a result that said there was an example in 1979. The same thing happened in the bay of Campeche in the IXTOC blowout. And it took them nine months to drill the relief well. But for nine months that oil was flowing into the sea.

Interesting thing about that, if you look back at the history, very little of that oil actually reached the coast. And I think we really need to go back and look at the history because the same thing was happening then, for nine months, something like 10,000 barrels to 30,000 barrels a day, same size more or less, was happening. We need to look back at this.

VELSHI: OK. Except that we do know that this oil is reaching the coast. We already know that.

CHIANELLI: Yes. I think that some of the oil is reaching the coast. But they are using a dispersant. And I think that what everybody forgets is it's out in the ocean there, everywhere in the world something like 2 million tons to 12 million tons of oil are naturally in the sea every year, and in the IXTOC blowout.

Yes, there were some oil that reached the beach, but most of it was biodegraded in the warm gulf before that. And when I look at some of the beach scenes here compared to the ones that I saw in Valdez, where we didn't have time to use a dispersant. It looks already biodegraded. Biodegradation is helping very much, and you want to use the dispersants which are being done to take the slick off the surface.

VELSHI: Let's talk for a second, Greg, about the next step. Basically, they are going to do something that puts a hood, a top hat as they call it, on to the existing blowout preventer. And out of that, there will be a tube, a pipe that goes up to the surface. And until they get those relief wells dug, they are going to basically suck up all this oil. I guess, it doesn't need to be sucked up. It pushes itself up.

Is that going to work in at least containing the oil that's coming out of the well -- the reservoir?

MCCORMACK: Well, the one thing that we have to recognize is BP has learned a lot in all of the things that they have tried. So they have learned how to make sure that the hydrates don't form and cause plugging in the line. So they've learned that.

They've also learned that most of the restriction for flow of the oil and gas out of the well is in the blowout preventers. It is not in the riser. So there is not much risk in cutting off the riser. They didn't know that before they did the top kill.

What they don't try to attempt to do now is cut the riser off the lower marine package and insert it, and it will just be a weight on the sealing around the stub of the riser. And so all of the material has a path to the surface. Now, without a flanged connection there some of it will leak out.

VELSHI: And you've said lower marine riser package. People are going to be hearing that word a lot over the course of the next few days, where you'll be hearing LMRP. That is the next effort that BP is going to undertake to try and contain. Remember, this is not going to kill the well. This is to contain it.

I have been talking to Greg McCormack from the University of Texas, as well as Russ Chianelli at the University of Texas. The difference between what Russ was talking about in 1979 in the bay of Campeche is the amount of seafood that is created in this area of the Gulf of Mexico on the Louisiana coast.

When we come back, I'm going to talk to Dean Blanchard who runs a shrimp operation on Grand Isle. You've been seeing a lot of our reporters on Grand Isle.

Dean is struggling with his business with the 90 people he employees because of the oil that is coming onshore. I'm going to talk to dean on the other side of this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: BP has abandoned its top kill method for trying to stop the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. But there are already millions of gallons of oil in the water. And now crews are scrambling as the effects start to wash up on land.

Carol Costello has been with some of the workers dealing with the mess. Are you in Port Fourchon or are you in Grand Isle. Carol?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm in the former, but I'm still here in the same place, where it was raining horribly today, which kind of messed up the effort to some of the people trying to clean up the beaches. But the weather has settled down now. And only the National Guard is at the beach right now.

But I'm going to get to that in a second, because I know anger is high at BP. And maybe people don't really care about this. But it is such a high number. I just wanted to pass it along to our viewers, Ali.

BP has spent about $930 million so far trying to cap the well, clean up the beaches. You know, they're repaying people who lost some of their livelihoods because of this accident. Some experts say that in the end when all is said and done, BP could pay between $4 billion and $25 billion. It is just staggering amounts of money.

The motto out here, Ali, is protect the coast. And that seems to be what BP is moving toward. I'm going to tell you a couple of reasons why I think that. They gave a news conference earlier this afternoon, and they talked a lot about upping the number of people cleaning the beaches.

In fact, we saw hundreds of people get on yellow school buses today. They were dispatched to beaches in Grand Isle. They had the blue t-shirts and the red t-shirts. They have a plastic pants on. And they have the rakes and trash bags, and they're picking up those tar balls.

Also, the Louisiana National Guard told me they are working with BP. It's a cooperative effort. They say it is very collaborative, and they are working well with BP. So hat is a bright light in the sea of darkness. And they are out there right now. The National Guard as we speak laying down these pipes. They are building a tiger dam.

And what they do is they have these inflatable pipes and they siphon off water from the gulf. They fill up the pipe, and it will create this barrier between the Gulf of Mexico and the beach. And, you know, if any of that ugly, oily water washes ashore, this barrier supposedly will stop it. This has been used during hurricane season, and supposedly it is very effective.

They are thinking, the National Guard, there are about 150 troops out there right now. Actually, they are working in three shifts so they are not all together. But they are laying down a mile of pipe per day. And I think they are on the third day now. So they are really trying to get that done, Ali.

VELSHI: All right. Good to know what is going on out there.

Carol, thanks so much for that. Carol Costello in southern Louisiana.

The failure of this top kill fix to work is a major blow to local businesses who depend on the gulf waters for their livelihood. And, by the way, in that part of the world, there are lots of them.

Joining me is Dean Blanchard. He is the owner of Dean Blanchard Seafood in Grand Isle, Louisiana.

Dean, good to talk to you again.

Dean and I weathered Hurricane Gustav together in Dean's house. That's where CNN was.

Dean, you owned an operation, where the shrimp fishermen come and drop, dump their loads off with you. They sell you the shrimp. You then process it, and sell it off to the people. We buy shrimp from the packagers, the restaurants, things like that.

What has this oil spill done to your business?

DEAN BLANCHARD, OWNER, DEAN BLANCHARD SEAFOOD (via telephone): There is nothing going on. We are probably running in at about 3 percent of what we usually get.

VELSHI: Dean, what is the effect on shrimp of either the dispersant or the oil. If this oil hits the shrimp what happens?

BLANCHARD: Well, we got oil all the time. You know that. We got natural seafood over here. So we are not too worried about the oil, neither the dispersants. We know very little bit about. We just trust in BP that they did the right thing, and that puts some pause in the waters, you know.

VELSHI: How long do you think this is going to have an effect on your business for?

BLANCHARD: I think -- you know, I just heard reporters say that BP might lose $25 billion. That is about five quarters of work. I think I'm going to lose more than five quarters.

VELSHI: You think this is going to have a long-term effect on your business?

BLANCHARD: I'm sure. Most of my customers have to find other clients to support their business. They are signing contracts for two or three years. You know how much I love my business, Ali. You saw me walk in the middle of a hurricane to check on it.

VELSHI: You wouldn't even leave your house. That's the reason we stayed with you. And if that hurricane wasn't even over and you walked, what is it a quarter mile or after mile to your business to see it. I know you love it. You have been in this business for 28 years. You got about 90 employees. What is happening with the employees?

BLANCHARD: Well, we sent 65 of them back. We still got 25. And we are going to let them work tomorrow, and we can probably lay about 15 off tomorrow. And, you know, if things don't pick up well we can at least pay the crew. We have no choice but to close. You know, they just virtually put me out of business for a mistake they made. I didn't do nothing wrong. I'm in shock over here.

VELSHI: Have you gotten any money yet from BP?

BLANCHARD: I haven't gotten one penny from BP.

VELSHI: Dean, we are going to stay in close touch with you. You let us know how things turn out over there, OK.

BLANCHARD: Thank you, Ali. Nice talking to you. I watch you all the time.

VELSHI: Thanks, Dean. You kept the CNN crew safe during that hurricane. We are always be indebted to you.

All right. We are going to check in with Dan Lothian in a minute. The White House has had reaction to the failure of the top kill method to stop the leak in the Gulf of Mexico. We'll get that on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: President Obama is in Chicago for the weekend. He was going to have a long weekend there. But on Friday, yesterday, he went to the Gulf of Mexico again to see firsthand what had happened. It was his second trip there in a month. Now he has been informed, obviously, of the news that BP says its top kill method to stop the BP oil leak has failed.

CNN's White House correspondent Dan Lothian is in Chicago, where the president is spending the weekend.

The president -- the White House has issued a statement, Dan. What did they say? DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And frustration for this administration as well, Ali. You know, yesterday when the president was in the gulf area touring that beach, I was right there, and I asked the president if he was confident that they would be able to plug that leak soon. The president wouldn't abide on a timeline, but he said that the best mind were working at it, and they will continue to work on it until it is plug.

Well, obviously, it won't happen soon after it was announced that the top kill was a failure --

Yesterday when the president was in the gulf area touring that beach i was right there and i asked the president if he was confident that they would be able to plug that leak soon. The president wouldn't abide on a timeline but he said the best minds were working at it and will continue to work at it until it is plugged.

Well, obviously, it won't happen soon after it was announced the top kill was a failure. The president as we pointed out releasing a statement saying in part that, quote, "While we were hopeful that the top kill were succeed, we were also mindful that there was a significant chance it would not and we will continue to pursue any and all responsible means of stopping this leak until the completion of the two relief wells currently being drilled."

The president concluding the statement by saying, it is enraging a it is heartbreaking, and we will not relent until this leak is contained or until the waters and shores are cleaned up, and onto the people unjustly victimized by this man-made disaster are made whole. Ali?

VELSHI: All right. Dan, if you hear anymore about new developments about what the administration is going to be doing or whether their timeline is shifting let us know. And we'll get it on.

Dan Lothian is in Chicago, where the president is this weekend.

When we come back, you know, there have been a lot of issues about whether, is this President Obama's Katrina? How panicked should we be about this. And when we look back at this, are we actually dealing with this the right way?

Is the president and BP and the administration dealing with it the right way. When I come back, I'm going to talk to historian Doug Brinkley about how we should be looking at this in the perspective of history. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let's get some different perspective on this breaking news.

Doug Brinkley joins us from New Orleans. He is a presidential historian, a professor at Rice University. Wrote a book on Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans.

Doug, good to see you, again. Thank you for being on the show with us tonight.

Doug, what should we be thinking about the reactions, the actions of BP and the president. Let's start with BP.

PROF. DOUG BRINKLEY, RICE UNIVERSITY: Well, BP has become the great corporate villain in America right now, and it's going to be known in history as one of the companies that did the United States a great injustice. In 2005, they had their blow up in Texas City. A year later, up in Alaska. They had corrosive pipes. This is their third major accident, catastrophe on American soil in the last few years. We are getting to the point now. I mean, it is Memorial Day weekend, but the American public is turning on this company hard. People are talking just cutting their credit cards. Even people that are just caught blue chips stocks are dumping BP. This is a company --

VELSHI: And it is down. It's down almost 30 percent since this started. But the reality is nobody in America is consuming one drop less of oil as a result of this.

BRINKLEY: No. That's right. We have to be careful. The offshore oil industry produces a lot of energy. It is essential. It is part of our American landscape. Our energy security. But it doesn't mean that we can't be angry at a country that's behaved in such a rogue fashion. And BP hasn't helped themselves for 40 days when this happen.

They never seemed to memorialize the 11 dead properly. They constantly being in cover-up mode. They've been having to be called to Capitol Hill to get any information released. And this is -- whether you read the "The New York Times" or "The Wall Street Journal," or if it's Fox News or CNN, the information out about this company, BP, and what they have done, it's just truly reprehensible.

This weekend, people, this is the city of New Orleans, where, you know, The Saints won, and so people have some momentum. Maybe top kill is going to work. There is a pall over the city now. People realized that we're going to have to protect the coast that probably the relief well is going to be the --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: I want to make this point because I have been getting some reactions on social media, and I'm going to address them in a few minutes. But we have been getting some reactions by saying why are you guys doing breaking news on this? How big a deal is this?

But really everybody I have talked to in the region has disappointment in their voice. Now our polling here, CNN Opinion Research polling shows people quite upset with BP. They show people less upset but a little bit dissatisfied with the president. Now you have some views on what the president could have been doing differently.

BRINKLEY: Well, on the point of people upset, tomorrow at 1:00 Jackson Square, Spike Lee, the filmmaker just back from Haiti is shooting an HBO documentary. There is going to be a rally. There is a lot of anger about BP using a dispersant, that the EPA has asked BP not to use, and yet BP is continuing to use it.

You're getting a lot of people that want to work the beaches. Volunteers that are getting sick doing cleanup from the chemicals. So there is a pressure for BP to drop that.

President Obama today I thought used two good words that sum up the sentiments here -- enraging and heartbreaking. And the heartbreak is going to continue as long as that well is gushing. Everybody in the country's hearts can be broken. It is the question politically for President Obama of that rage factor.

James Carville for CNN has been kind of leading the charge trying to say don't treat us like a third world in Louisiana. These wetlands are America's wetlands. These shrimp farms and oyster beds are America's great marine system, and it feeds us. And so there is a bit of a feeling here that the rest of the country is vacationing, going on, you know enjoying the weekend and isn't really paying attention to our coast under attack.

VELSHI: Well, we are going to continue paying attention to it. That is why we are live on TV, reporting this tonight. It is that important and it is that sad, isn't it Doug?

Thanks very much for being with us again.

Doug Brinkley, Rice University, presidential historian. Author of a book on Hurricane Katrina.

When we come back, more on tonight's development. The failure of top kill. Why it matters? And your reaction via social media when I come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Our coverage of the issues going on in the Gulf of Mexico, the leak of that well into the Gulf of Mexico continues. But it is time now for our CNN hero of the week. This week we are checking in on one of our top ten heroes of 2009 to see how the recognition he received has helped him expand his work helping homeless and addicted veterans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG KINNEAR, ACTOR: Please stand up and honor CNN hero Roy Foster.

ROY FOSTER, STAND DOWN HOUSE: I was overwhelmed at the tribute.

There will be no man left behind, as long as we are this nation.

To be honored in something that you love doing showcased internationally was tremendous, and it's still reaping benefits as we speak today. We did come up with Stand Down House 10 years ago to provide assistance and services for homeless veterans. But every day they would bounce to another place, go to the hospital, go to the VA, trying to meet their criteria, it's a natural run-around and there was never that support for the family or the female veterans.

This year we have been fortunate enough to complete that vision. We were looking to establish a one-stop center, a place where we can move them through the process under one roof. That's what it's about.

Hello, how are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my living room.

FOSTER: The second part is the housing component for our female veterans and families.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My pride is restored. I'm able to look for jobs, not worry about where am I going to go when I come home.

FOSTER: CNN put us where I could share the full dream with people and play a pivotal role in actually being able to bring that dream forward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Foster's housing facility for female veterans with children is only the second in the country. To get involved with his program in Palm Beach, Florida, or to nominate someone you think is changing the world, go to CNNHeroes.com.

You may have heard this today. If you haven't, actor Dennis Hopper has died. The 74-year-old was diagnosed with prostate cancer last October. He is best known for the iconic 1969 film, "Easy Rider," which he both directed and acted in. Hopper died this morning in his home in Venice, California, with his children by his side.

We'll be back with more on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Continuing our coverage of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the news that BP has been unable to cap that well with its latest effort called top kill. They announced earlier today that that effort had failed.

Brooke Baldwin joins me now.

Brooke, sad day for the Gulf of Mexico. We have been hearing a lot from our viewers through e-mail, viewer comments section, from Twitter and through Facebook.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have to say I'm really impressed by how engaged our viewers are.

VELSHI: Yes.

BALDWIN: They are into this. They are educated and they are very so engage. Let me share a couple more tweets for you, because this is really our best way of hearing it.

"As David Mattingly," our reporter on the ground in Louisiana, "asked this has had the highest chances of working and it failed. Now on to the next "try."

This person puts in quotes.

"The news briefing was a sham by BP. We could not believe the focus of top slicks when there is a state size pool of oil under the surface. Out of sight, out of mind."

A lot of people talking what's going on out of the water.

"So sad. It seems like they don't know what the heck they are doing -- what the hell they're doing, actually. I'm boycotting BP."

Another one. "You can't have people getting sick. Can you say gas masks."

I was going to talk about that.

Also, "Sad story you are having to deliver to the world. This oil spill makes me sick. All of that wildlife, very sad."

So Ali I think that kind of encapsulates, you know, people are angry, people are sad. They are frustrated.

VELSHI: Yes. A lot of sadness to the damage to the environment, to wildlife. The issue of people getting sick. Elizabeth is going to be back in a moment to talk about it.

BALDWIN: Yes.

VELSHI: And then there's the livelihood of the people that have been broken because of this oil and these dispersants killing the seafood, the fish that they depend on, the oysters, the shrimp.

BALDWIN: It's their life.

VELSHI: It is their life. Very, very sad day for the gulf. Brooke, thanks so much. We will continue this conversation very shortly.

Brooke just talked about some of the health concerns. There have been more workers who are dealing with the oil who are going to the hospital. We are going to tell you what the concerns are there, and what is being done to help them when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We are still following the oil spill disaster unfolding on the gulf coast. But now we want to turn to a crisis happening in homes across America.

An epidemic of children growing up without their fathers. Psychologist Jeff Gardere is tackling the problem head on in his new show "Dad Camp," counselling six troubled young dads to be. He talked to Brooke Baldwin about his show.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JEFF GARDERE: Your women are fed-up. They're fed-up with the smoking. They're fed-up with the drinking. They're fed-up with the lying. That probably hits close to home, doesn't it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I bet it does.

GARDERE: Yes. I'm sure it does. You can't even take care of yourselves. How the hell are you going to take care of a baby?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Dr. Jeff, whoo, you're tough, sir. Dr. Jeff Gardere is a renowned psychologist and the host there, as you saw, the clip from "Dad Camp" and he's joining me from Stanford, Connecticut.

Dr. Jeff, all right, for all of the to-be dads out there, what is the most important quality in becoming a dad, and can you really teach that to someone?

GARDERE: Well, first and foremost, my heart and prayers to the people of Louisiana, and thank you for the great job that you all are doing in bringing this story in all of its phases to your audiences.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

GARDERE: I think that basically what parents need to understand, dads need to understand, is that they are essential to the healthy upbringing of their children and they have to step up. We can't leave it to the moms who carry the babies, the dads have to be there in every way as role models and most importantly they have to be there as a support throughout the life of the child.

BALDWIN: Support, support. I want to play a couple of clips from "Dad Camp" to show exactly what, or I guess, or who you're up against. Let's roll those and then we'll talk.

GARDERE: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Am I supposed to just leave a whole completely different life because I have a kid? My kid has to like me whether he likes it or not.

GARDERE: Isn't it your girlfriend having to live a whole new life while she carries that baby? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, so what does that mean that I stay at home with her every night watching her pregnant? I don't think so. And there's nobody whose going to change my mind about that. I was doing that before. I can continue to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: He can continue do that, Dr. Jeff.

GARDERE: Brooke, now you know how outraged I was while doing this show. I really didn't know what I was coming up against with these guys.

BALDWIN: Yes.

GARDERE: I was told look we're going to have these - six guys and their girlfriends for you to work with, put them through this boot camp but I didn't realize how emotionally damaged these guys were from their own upbringings with their fathers.

Their fathers weren't really there for them. So these guys didn't have the role model. So when you hear, in this case, it was Dante talking about, listen, she's pregnant, it's her issue, it's her problem, you know I'm not going to be around, this speaks to the support that you have to be there. It was easy to get her pregnant, but now comes the really hard work of being there for the lifetime of that child and doing the right thing. A major issue in our society.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Doing the right thing. A big theme tonight, actually. Our coverage of what is going on in the gulf continues. Health concerns now. Another two workers have been sent to the hospital in the Gulf Coast helping out with that oil cleanup. Elizabeth Cohen has that story for us on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: BP has abandoned its top kill method for trying to stop the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, at least two more cleanup workers have been hospitalized after falling ill. This comes just a few days after seven others had to be treated for the same symptoms -- nausea, headaches and dizziness.

Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now with more on this.

Elizabeth, these crews are not just breathing in fumes from the oil. There's also those dispersants that are there to kind of break up the oil. What is affecting these guys?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I'll tell you, Ali. A lot of the doctors I've been talking to are more worried about the vapors, from the dispersants than they are from the oil. And take a look at this. If you take a look at this picture, you can see sort of this -- the vapors from the sludge, you see the sludge, the vapors are what they are breathing in. And it's interesting. When you take a look at the label on the dispersants, on the actual chemical, it is very clear that this is a product that could potentially be dangerous. On the label itself, it says "avoid breathing in the vapors from the dispersants." It is very, very clear.

But you will notice, Ali, in pictures like this, that these cleanup workers are not wearing masks. I mean, you can see it here. You can see it here. And we asked BP about this. And BP said, look, we don't think people need masks. We're not giving them mask, because our testing shows that there is no danger. We are always testing the air and our workers do not need masks.

VELSHI: I spent a fair amount of time around crude oil, and it smells very strong. I mean, if people who think that a gas station makes them feel nauseous, crude oil is a lot stronger than that. But the dispersants, I don't know what they smell like, but they've got some very serious toxicity to them. They kill shrimp and they kill oysters.

COHEN: Right, exactly. And that's what a lot of the workers who I have been talking to have been saying is, look, these dispersants are chemicals. The label clearly states that there are safety concerns. Why aren't we being given masks? And, again, BP has just repeated that masks are not necessary.

VELSHI: All right. Elizabeth, thanks very much for that.

COHEN: Thanks.

VELSHI: We'll continue our coverage.

Let me give you a quick recap of the breaking news that we've been following for you all night. The top kill has failed to stop the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Crews were pumping heavy mud. It is called mud. It is not really mud, it is a chemical, but it is a heavy substance into the leak hoping to clog it up and then follow that with concrete. This is how it would look.

That is your blowout preventer. As you can see, the oil is gushing up the middle of it. So what they're going to do is pump this mud in. That is the mud. Follow it up with cement. You're going to see cement or concrete after that, and that was going to seal it up. Today BP admitted it just wasn't working.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG SUTTLES, BP CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: So after three full days of attempting top kill, we have been unable to overcome the flow from the well so we now believe it's time to move on to the next of our options, which is the LMRP, lower marine riser package cap.

Over the last three days we've pumped a total of over 30,000 barrels of mud. We've made numerous attempts to over come the flow. We've monitored the situation after each attempt. We've also used our junk shot technique and other materials to try to divert more of the flow down the well, but we have not been able to stop the flow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Our coverage of this will continue tonight and tomorrow. I'm Ali Velshi. Live coverage of the oil spill continues with T.J. Holmes 6:00 a.m. Eastern.

Good night, everybody.