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American Morning

Interview With Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco; Interview With Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman

Aired August 31, 2005 - 07:32   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again. I'm Miles O'Brien live from, Slidell, Louisiana. I'm in the center of town. I want you to take a look at this water here. Jack, if you can get down. I don't know if you can see that sheen on there. It's fuel. And that just gives you an example (AUDIO GAP) water.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Obviously, we're having some problems. We'll see if we can check back in with Miles. Miles, we are losing your audio a little bit. I know there are all kinds of technical glitches there. See if you can pick up your report from the beginning. You showed us the fuel on the water.

M. O'BRIEN: Can you hear me now, Soledad ?

S. O'BRIEN: I hear you. Yes, go ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. Well, I was just trying to point out that there's fuel all on the top here. And what I'm trying to point out is that we've been talking about this kind of toxic brew that is in these flood waters. And that's a real problem when you consider all of the potential public health aspects of this.

In just a moment, we're going to check in with a captain in the Slidell Police Department, who, just a few moments ago, went back to his flooded-out home, and so has a personal story to tell, as well as the effects for the town in general. And we'll check in with him shortly -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, we'll wait for that.

Let's get to New Orleans now. The water is still coming in. It's pouring from two broken levees now. Repairs efforts so far have failed. Workers are trying to plug the holes with huge concrete blocks. They're also looking for a barge to try to fill the gap.

The majority of the water is flowing into the downtown area, which some people are describing as a war zone.

Catastrophic damage in Mississippi as well. The governor there says nearly all beach-front properties in Gulfport and in Biloxi have been destroyed.

The governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, joins us from Baton Rouge this morning to talk a little bit more about damage there.

Good morning. Thanks for joining us. GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, here's what it looks like from here. It's getting worse, and there is not really a plan that's working in place. Is that fair to say?

BLANCO: Our challenges are enormous, Soledad. We've got an engineering nightmare trying to fill the breach of the levee, where the waters are pouring into the city. I think they've been working on it all during the night, continue to work on it all today.

We have search and rescue operations that continue. And now, we absolutely must evacuate the people in the dome and other shelters in the city because of the situation.

S. O'BRIEN: So, because of that situation, you've got to take them out. What's the plan for evacuating just the 20,000 or so people in the Superdome? What are you going to do?

BLANCO: Well, it's a logistical nightmare. But what we have done is identified shelters in other parts of the state. Communities are ready to receive these people to help them out. We've got to make their living conditions a little more decent -- a lot more decent, as a matter of fact, because living conditions in the dome are deteriorating rapidly. No power and no water. It's hard to get food in, and it's hard to get supplies in.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it sounds like a nightmare, frankly, from people who have been inside it and talked about it. But technically, specifically, how do you get them out? What are you going to do?

BLANCO: Well, we are sending buses in. They've been running buses in through the night. We're going to get them out. We'll either get them out by boat. We'll lift them out by helicopter. Of, you know, if we can walk them to the buses, we'll do it. Whatever is necessary, whatever measure is necessary is what we'll do.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, last night when you were talking to Larry King, you talked about cruise ships, and you were investigating the possibility of these cruise ships being able to help out in some way. That was, what, some 10 hours ago or so. Have you looked into that? What's the status on that?

BLANCO: Well, we have talked to FEMA about that. It's one among many possibilities of longer-term housing. But, you know, a cruise ship, a very large cruise ship can handle 3,000 to 5,000 people. We've got a million people without homes. So, you'd have to have an awful lot of cruise ships.

S. O'BRIEN: But...

BLANCO: We've...

S. O'BRIEN: Forgive me for interrupting you, but...

(CROSSTALK) BLANCO: ... working with our people...

S. O'BRIEN: Forgive me for interrupting you, but I would imagine a cruise ship that can house 5,000 people has got to be better than a shelter that can take 400, 500, 600 out of state. So, has that idea now been knocked down as not feasible?

BLANCO: No. This is something we have to work with FEMA on. And all of those temporary living quarters will be identified as we go through time. You know, we don't have any answers right now on what we will do with folks once we stabilize the situation. We're in a crisis mode. And we simply have to move people and get them to safe ground. I think that's what we have to do right now.

And, you know, we will be looking at permanent housing -- or I say "permanent" -- but, you know, some temporary housing situations as we stabilize the situation. We're not stable enough to determine how we can provide for the folks that are in need of shelter right now.

S. O'BRIEN: Governor Kathleen Blanco, thank you for joining us this morning.

BLANCO: Soledad, I...

S. O'BRIEN: This morning, the Bush administration says it will release oil from petroleum reserves to help refiners affected by Hurricane Katrina. The storm shut down nearly all of the Gulf of Mexico's oil output. Currently, the national average for gas is up to 2.62 per gallon. Some analysts say it could rise as much -- by as much as 15 cents by just the end of the week.

Crude oil closed on Tuesday at a record high, $69.81 a barrel. Natural gas and heating oil prices also rising.

We want to get to the Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, joining us this morning.

Nice to see you, sir. Thank you very much for your time.

SAMUEL BODMAN, ENERGY SECRETARY: Thank you, Soledad. I'm very happy to be here, but I, like you, wish it were under other circumstances.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, clearly. So, tell me exactly how much are you releasing from the Strategic Reserves?

BODMAN: Well, first of all, let me say that from my family, from the president's family, from this whole administration, we want to express our condolences to the people of the Gulf region. This is a catastrophe they're dealing with. It's a catastrophe for the nation. And our hearts and our prayers go out to all of those good people.

Our job in the Energy Department is to try to work and collect information and provide, if you will, backup, while the private sector goes about its work. One of the areas that we can be helpful in is with respect to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is what you asked about, Soledad. That is a request that was made yesterday. We've actually had several requests, but one that I'm referring to came in yesterday.

Last night, I approved it. That's within the powers of the secretary of energy. An announcement will be made about the specifics of this later on today. And I would expect, because of the approach we've used with this, we will find that oil can be -- crude oil can be made available to that refiner as soon as tomorrow.

S. O'BRIEN: So, you're not going to give us the numbers yet of exactly how much you're releasing at this moment. That's going to come a little bit later. Some people would say, sir, that that's fine for the crude oil, but what's actually needed is the refined oil product. What can you, and what can the president do to help people? Because the prices are clearly spiraling out of control.

BODMAN: Well, our first job is to try to provide supply. One of the reasons you're seeing an increase in prices is that we have perceived shortages. And that's something that we can try to deal with.

For example, there are two major pipelines that deliver product to the Northeast and to the Southeast, they being the Colonial and the Plantation pipelines. They go from Texas. One, the Colonial pipeline goes up to the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast. The Plantation pipeline goes to the Southeast. They both pass through the state of Mississippi. In both instances, they are not functioning today, because we don't have electric power there.

And so, we are now working with both companies, helping them or working with them to procure generating capacity, so we can get these lines up and functioning.

So, there's a lot we can do. We've deployed people to the emergency operating facilities in each of the major states that are affected by this. And so, I can assure you that we, the Defense Department, the EPA, the entire government is pulling together and working, as best I can tell, pretty seamlessly across this very large bureaucracy, but one that I think is focusing on this very tough problem.

S. O'BRIEN: What about a national price cap? There are some people who say gas is going to cost us $3 a gallon, on average it will be $3 a gallon by the end of the week -- by next week. What about a national price cap so that people aren't paying 3.50 is a number we've heard as well?

BODMAN: I don't think you would find -- I have not heard that. I don't think you'd find a lot of support for that. I think you will find a seriousness of purpose with respect to price gouging, which is what people are concerned about.

The Energy Department does have a Web site -- www.energy.gov. Anybody that feels that they have a problem with respect to the pricing of fuel on a local basis, we encourage them to make that information known on that Web site. We collect it, we collate it, and we take that directly to the Federal Trade Commission, who will investigate and, if necessary, prosecute anybody involved.

It is my hope, the president's hope that we will find that this whole country will pull together. This is not just a problem for the Gulf Coast. This is a problem for America. We've got a natural disaster that we have to collectively cope with. And we are hopeful that everyone will pull together. If we have some bad actors, some people who insist on taking advantage of the circumstances, we have that mechanism to go after them.

S. O'BRIEN: It sounds like you're saying no to a national price cap then.

BODMAN: I would think that that's a fair statement.

S. O'BRIEN: Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman joining us this morning. Thank you.

BODMAN: You're very welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right back to Miles.

Good morning, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, Soledad.

Slidell, Louisiana, I'm on Second Street in the old town section, more like second canal today. And if you're from Slidell, if you have family in Slidell, I think the message is, don't try to come home now.

Here to talk about a little bit why is Captain Rob Callahan with the Slidell Police Department.

Captain, first of all, you are telling people stay where you are, don't come back home. Why?

CAPT. ROB CALLAHAN, SLIDELL POLICE DEPT.: Absolutely. The problem we have here is there's no water, no electricity. We still have a lot of cleanup to do. We're still in the search mode, trying to find people, get them out of their homes. Then we're going to go into the recovery (AUDIO GAP) unfortunately.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Search mode, you haven't found bodies just yet, but there are people presumed dead. They are missing anyhow.

CALLAHAN: There's a possibility we have a lot of people that may have died as a result of this. Unfortunately, people didn't get out for whatever reason. You know, we preached and preached and preached about getting out. And some people -- I just found out my own neighbor, an 80-year-old man who is blind, stayed behind. I've got to go back and see if I can rescue him after we do this shot.

M. O'BRIEN: You just found out because you just went back to your neighborhood for the first time to see what's left of your house. And you, like most everybody here, are personally affected, in addition to having to do your job. What's that been like trying to balance this personal loss with what you have to do on the job?

CALLAHAN: Well, as a police officer or a firefighter or any emergency worker, you have you to take care of the situation itself. We can't worry about our property or homes or anything like that. And unfortunately, that's very disheartening, because we want to get in and start the cleanup and take care of our property as well, but we can't do so, because we have a job to do.

Going to the house, it was incredible. I'm sure that reports have been out about bombs or war zones or something like that, and that's exactly what it looked like when I got to the house for the first time this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, you told me yesterday you pulled out all of your photos and that sort of thing. And in a sense, this is just replacing, you know, TVs and furniture and so forth. It still has to be very emotional seeing that.

CALLAHAN: Actually it is, because you work very hard for your home and your belongings and all of those things, you know. And when you go back and see that everything has been destroyed, it's an incredible feeling. Very emotional.

M. O'BRIEN: In the meantime, you've had very minimal contact with your family. I know you finally last night got a brief conversation. What was that conversation like?

CALLAHAN: Well, you know, it's very difficult, because we're doing our job here, but they have no clue what happened to me or the rest of the members of the Slidell Police Department. So when I finally -- I had to drive to Gulfport to get cell phone contact. And I finally called them. And it made us all feel very good that they know that I'm OK and everything is fine. But I was preaching to my wife, do not come back. She wanted to come back today, and there's just no way.

So it felt good to talk to them. And, you know, it's going to be a struggle for the next several months, maybe a year.

M. O'BRIEN: You're talking about something that might involve separation from your wife and your children for quite some time. Has that really set in yet?

CALLAHAN: No, it really hasn't. This whole event, every time I wake up in the morning, it feels like it's a dream. And then you realize it's not a dream, that it's real. And you just go into that work mode. I think when I'm able to settle down and get some true rest it's going to hit us, hit us all.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Now, you're going to head back and check on your 80-year-old blind neighbor.

CALLAHAN: I'm going to save life if he's still alive, yes, sir. M. O'BRIEN: All right. We're going to send a camera with you. And if you don't mind, would you come back and let us know how that goes?

CALLAHAN: Absolutely.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Rob Callahan, captain in the Slidell Police Department. We will let him get on his way to see how his neighbor is doing.

And let's check some other news that's going on right now. Carol Costello with that.

Carol -- good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I hope he's OK. Thank you, Miles.

"Now in the News."

Breaking news out of Baghdad this morning. We told you about this a little earlier. A religious celebration turned quite deadly. At least 648 people were killed in a stampede on a bridge near a Shiite mosque. More than 300 others are wounded. Police say someone screamed there was a suicide bomber, and that apparently created widespread panic. Authorities say some people were crushed to death, but most of them drowned. The majority of the victims are said to be women and children. The Iraqi prime minister has declared a three-day mourning period.

Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan is now saying she's glad President Bush didn't meet with her, because it -- quote -- "galvanized the peace movement." Her supporters are pulling up stakes from "Camp Casey" today in Crawford, Texas, and heading out on a three-week bus tour. They'll trek across the country, meeting back for a rally in Washington on September 24. Some of the president's supporters are also planning events.

Boeing is scrambling ahead of a possible strike that could shut down some of its operations. Some 18,000 of Boeing's machinists could go on strike. Union leaders are apparently unhappy with new contract proposals. Workers are set to vote on the deal tomorrow. The contract now in place is set to expire on Friday.

And Hurricane Katrina is forcing scores of flight cancellations in the South. That is bad news for airlines, like Delta, that are already facing bankruptcy. The Federal Aviation Administration has closed down commercial airports in New Orleans and Gulfport, Mississippi. Flight delays in other cities in the area are expected to last into the Labor Day weekend. We'll have much more on this just ahead.

Let's head to Atlanta now to check back with Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT) S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the latest on efforts to stop that rising flood waters in New Orleans. Some areas now under 20 feet of water. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. We're back right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: New Orleans is now a city submerged. The flood waters are 20 feet deep in some places. So, how do you get all of that have water out of the city?

Michael Zumstein has a plan. He is leading an Army Corps of Engineers team, and he joins us from Memphis, Tennessee, to explain this morning.

Nice to see you. Thank you very much for talking with us. The water is rising and clearly rising fast. What are doing right now?

MICHAEL ZUMSTEIN, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEEERS: We're implementing several different plans, courses of action. We gained air assets late yesterday afternoon in order to possibly place aerial sandbags via aerial along the breach of the canal.

First and foremost, we've got to close off the breach along the 17th Street Canal and any other weak spots that start happening. Then we can start proceeding with the procedure of un-watering the city.

S. O'BRIEN: So, there was a plan to drop those massive sandbags into the breach to try to stop that. Why did that plan not go off? From reports that I heard, it was supposed to happen before, and now it's going to happen today.

ZUMSTEIN: That, I really cannot comment on about exactly when, because I have not been to the command center this morning. So, I can't really say if the plan was implemented overnight or where the actual status is.

I know that we had -- we are having trouble, like so many agencies, as far as communication goes. Satellite phones we're using. Cell phones are ineffective. Land lines for the most part are very, very difficult to get through. So, we're combating several different problems, in addition to Mother Nature, just technology itself.

S. O'BRIEN: So, what's the plan going to be then? You put the bags in place. That stops the water. Because, I mean, basic physics tells you it's a bowl. The water is going to pour into the city until it's level with the river.

ZUMSTEIN: That's correct, ma'am.

S. O'BRIEN: Right?

ZUMSTEIN: That's correct. And then the most -- the fastest way to un-water the city is to intentionally breach the levees that we have created to protect us from the hurricane. Our intention is to go ahead and close off this breach. And then as the lake recedes, we will systemically in key places go ahead, peel back the levee, allow it to start draining off. This is much more effective and much faster than pumps.

But we still need the pumps in order to fully drain the city. It will be drained down to an accessible level, where we can get other parish officials, whether or not it's Orleans or the St. Bernard parish or Jefferson parish, they can come in and actually assess the damage to their pump stations, rehab the pumps as necessary to fully drain the city.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, it sounds like a really slow process. First, you've got to fix the levee. Then you've got to drain the water down without using the pumps. Then you've got to fix the pumps. Then you've got to use the pumps to try to get the rest of the water out. What's your timeline for this?

ZUMSTEIN: You know, I really wish that I could say it would be done this afternoon. But there is no definitive timeline on it. We're working as fast as we possibly can.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask it this way, since I'm not an engineer. Are you saying days, weeks, months, two months?

ZUMSTEIN: No, ma'am. Like I said, I don't want to speculate as far as a timeline. I can tell you this, that, you know, the members of my team are in the same boat, no pun intended. I mean, we are New Orleanians, and we're faced with this. And we do not want our city underwater. So, we are working to try and handle every single obstacle as quickly and expeditiously as possible.

S. O'BRIEN: Mike Zumstein is with the Army Corps of Engineers. Thanks. And good luck today. Obviously clearly long days and maybe weeks and maybe months ahead for you. Appreciate it.

ZUMSTEIN: Thank you, ma'am.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, why Katrina may have dealt a crushing blow to the already reeling airline industry. We've got a closer look at that just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: It's another day of massive losses for the airline industry after Katrina has overwhelmed the Gulf Coast. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Good morning again.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning again.

I want to talk a little bit more about the airline business, and specifically Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans. Chad was talking about that reopening a little bit for emergency landings only -- or landings, I should say, in the relief effort.

This is going to be a big task. The airport is supposed to open up in just another hour or so. Up to now, there has been no electric power, no auxiliary electric power. The runways are flooded. There is debris everywhere. There is damage at the terminals here. So very hard-hit, the nation's 42nd largest airport.

Gulfport, Biloxi, the airport there is still closed. No word on when that's going to be opening.

Southwest Airlines, Continental and American are particularly hard hit. They fly primarily in those regions.

Now, when you look at the broader industry, what's really going to hurt, Soledad, is higher fuel prices. And this is not a big surprise. But the price of jet fuel has been soaring, 22 percent just this week, 22 percent, and that is huge. And we've talked about this for weeks. Delta and Northwest possibly on the brink. Could this push them over? A lot of people in the business are wondering about that.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. And I think a number of people in the business are saying, yes, it could.

SERWER: I think that's right.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.

SERWER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: A short break. We're back in a moment. Stay with us.

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