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American Morning
BP's CEO to Testify Before Congress; President Works With BP to Fund Claims from Those Affected Spill; Fire on the Water: Embedded With Coast Guard During Oil Burn; Dawn Saving Oiled Animals; Advanced Training for Army Recruit Will McLain; Plaquemines President Wants Allen Out; The Curious Case of Alvin Greene
Aired June 17, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING on this Thursday, June 17th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Drew Griffin. John Roberts is off today. We got a lot to talk about, so let's get right to it, shall we?
Day 59 of this disaster in the Gulf. Big day for BP's CEO, Tony Hayward is going to go to Capitol Hill this morning. It could get ugly. One congressman says he's going to slice and dice the guy before it's all said and done.
CHETRY: It's so close you can feel the heat. Millions of gallons of oil literally up in smoke. Ali Velshi embedded with the coast guard during a controlled burn on the Gulf of Mexico.
GRIFFIN: It's a secret weapon in the battle against the oil and odds are it's probably in your kitchen. We're talking about dawn liquid dish detergent, and in a moment, we're going to tell you why it's become such a key player when it comes to saving the wildlife there.
CHETRY: And get ready for an old-fashioned, quote, "slicing and dicing" as they're calling it on Capitol Hill today. For 59 days now, the oil has been poisoning the Gulf of Mexico, and in just four hours, the man who's become the face of this nightmare, BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, will be occupying a very hot seat on Capitol Hill. Now, we already have a copy of his opening remarks where he'll be telling a House subcommittee that he's deeply sorry for the catastrophe, but then he cannot guarantee the outcome as BP attempts to kill the well.
Meanwhile, BP executives met yesterday with the president and agreed to set up a $20 billion escrow fund to pay the victims of the spill.
Dana Bash is live on Capitol Hill this morning. And so, this starts in just about three hours and probably won't take long for the fireworks to start.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Probably not, Kiran. You mentioned the hot seat. This is it. We are in the hearing room where Tony Hayward will testify later this morning. That is where he is going to be sitting.
You see it looks like probably a very lonely place and it is likely going to be the sentiment here when he is going to be facing this big panel of members of Congress grilling him nonstop about what went wrong and about the cleanup, all of the above, about what's happened.
I spoke to the man who's going to be sitting in that chairman's seat, Bart Stupak, about what he is expecting, and he said he is going to ask tough questions but what he doesn't want is Tony Hayward to evade them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Tony Hayward has in many ways become the poster child of this and many ways the villain of this. Do you see him as the villain of the BP explosion?
REP. BART STUPAK, (D) MICHIGAN: He's a corporate guy. At the end of the day, he's going to put his best foot forward. It's not going to ring true with me or the American public. And we've got a mess on our hands, a disaster, a catastrophic disaster for our environment and those people who lost their lives.
He's going to say I'm sorry and won't happen again. It's not good enough. That's not good enough.
BASH: It almost feels like he's going to be facing a firing squad, not necessarily a congressional hearing.
STUPAK: Well --
BASH: It's going to be tough.
STUPAK: Oh, yes. Yes. Members are angry. Members are frustrated. Members are going to take his hide off.
BASH: What about you?
STUPAK: As they should. I will be fair but firm.
BASH: You were quoted as saying he will be sliced and diced.
STUPAK: But fairly sliced and diced.
BASH: So these are documents that you have uncovered.
STUPAK: Correct.
BASH: One employee calling the Deepwater Horizon well "crazy well," another a "nightmare well."
STUPAK: Correct. Correct. These are the top engineers. So, when you say things like this in this corporate and this culture, what does that mean? Oh, well, so, you got a crazy well, a runaway well, a nightmare. Keep moving forward, cut corners, get it done, get the nightmare over with and create a bigger nightmare for the American people.
BASH: But you think that Tony Hayward bears the ultimate responsibility?
STUPAK: Yes. He's head of -- he's head of the corporation. He goes down with the ship, as they say.
BASH: So this is an interview he did with Sky News, Tony Hayward.
STUPAK: OK.
TONY HAYWARD, CEO, BRITISH PETROLEUM: I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest. I think it will be seen as a textbook example of how to do an emergency response. It is unprecedented.
STUPAK: Well, this is not modest, and even if it was in May, it is not modest. First of all, they couldn't tell us how much oil is coming out of there. And a textbook example of how to do a cleanup? They can't handle 5,000 barrels, let alone the 60,000 barrels we think it is now.
Tony Hayward and BP will be held accountable. When it's all said and done, I want him to go back to Sky News and say this was a textbook example of the way it was should be done. It's a textbook example of how things should not be done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: The main focus of this panel when they hear from Tony Hayward is going to be what went wrong and specifically some five decisions that investigators uncovered that they say proves that BP cut corners on everything from building a cheaper well design to not following through on tests they say were really imperative and, perhaps, could have prevented this rig from exploding.
Now, this is something that these members say that they gave Tony Hayward, they gave him the information, they sent him a 14-page letter on Monday. As Stupak said to me, Kiran, he already got the answers to the test, he should be able to pass it and answer our questions about what went wrong.
CHETRY: What do they hope to accomplish? I understand they're going to grill him, get it out there on the public record. But do they hope anything else comes of this?
BASH: That's a great question. Basically, ultimately this will be one of several hearings that they're going to have with regard to oversight of this, and, ultimately, Bart Stupak and other members of Congress have told me that they are going to take from this legislation, they're going to write legislation from this to try to somehow avoid this happening again with regard to new regulation, new oversight, you name it. That's what they hope to accomplish from this.
But I think in the short term they hope to accomplish venting some of the anger we're hearing from American citizens.
CHETRY: All the focus will be in the room you're standing in less than three hours. Dana Bash for us, thanks so much.
GRIFFIN: Lots of talk on Capitol Hill, but action yesterday at the White House. The House hearing begins at 10:00 this morning and you can watch it unfold right here.
Also CNN.com/live on your CNN iPhone app. Talking about action, action at the White House yesterday. Under pressure from President Obama, BP has agreed to set aside $20 billion to help compensate victims of the Gulf oil disaster. The deal was struck during a four- hour meeting at the White House.
That's where Dan Lothian is live this morning. Good morning, Dan. The president actually got them to cough up this money in advance.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We had been hearing now for days the president talking about how important it was to set aside this fund, and so they did reach that agreement for $20 billion. They'll start paying that out this year, $5 billion a year and then over the next three years as well.
This is not something that will be controlled by either the federal government or by BP, but rather by an independent third party. Now, there have been some who have criticized this $20 billion, saying that it is not nearly enough, but the president and other White House officials saying that this is just a start. It is not a cap.
In addition to this $20 billion, BP also agreed to set up $100 million fund and, this is for unemployed rig workers. President Obama says that this is a start to help these families and these business owners in the Gulf who are struggling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It should provide some assurance to some of the small business owners and individuals down in the Gulf who I was visiting with that BP is going to meet its responsibilities.
BP's liabilities for this spill are significant and they acknowledge that fact. We will continue to hold BP and all other responsible parties accountable. And I'm absolutely confident BP will be able to meet its obligations to the Gulf coast and to the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: White House officials say that the meeting yesterday, that four-hour meeting, was business-like. I can tell you that this is not something, paying out this money, setting up these funds, is not something that BP did willingly. White House officials saying they did not volunteer, that there had to be a lot of negotiation that took place before they could reach an agreement, Drew. GRIFFIN: And Dan, a lot of discussion into who runs this fund, because obviously you don't want BP controlling who gets the money, and a lot of people also don't want the federal government controlling who gives out the money --
LOTHIAN: That's right.
GRIFFIN: -- fearing the red tape. So who is going to do this?
LOTHIAN: That's right. It's Kenneth Feinberg, an attorney known for being a great mediator. He has been known as the so-called pay czar who oversaw the executive compensation for TARP funds, also oversaw the funds for 9/11 victims.
And so this is someone who will be able to do a very good job, we are told, in dealing with complicated matters and all those funds that need to be paid out.
The trick though is to get this money flowing to these Gulf victims quickly, because there a lot of people there, some of who we spoke to earlier this week, who don't have a big safety net. They don't have a lot of time to go before they'll lose their businesses, perhaps even lose their homes.
And so they need this money quickly because they've also been suffering through, in the past, Katrina and Rita and now this. They want the money to go quickly. This will be a big challenge for him.
GRIFFIN: Dan Lothian at the White House. We should point out that BP has been paying out claims as they have been getting them. This is just in addition to that already.
LOTHIAN: In addition, that's correct.
GRIFFIN: And, of course, you can get all the latest updates and complete CNN coverage of the oil spill on our Web site, CNN.com/oildisaster.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, a violent night of weather in Dupree, South Dakota, last night. Take a look at the video it was taken by a team of storm chaser. The National Weather Service confirming at least two tornadoes did touch down.
We're getting reports that the storm actually blew the roof off of a courthouse. High winds that could cause more damage are also in the forecast today. I can't get over that. That shot is just unbelievable.
GRIFFIN: Driving to that is what I can't get over.
CHETRY: Well, that's what they do, storm chasers.
GRIFFIN: Yes. That's what they do.
(WEATHER BREAK) CHETRY: You can almost feel the heat, it's literally a fire on the water. These incredible images coming from in from Ali Velshi who had a chance to imbed with the coast guard during a controlled oil burn. It's ten minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It looks like a volcano on the water, towering columns of smoke and incredible pictures up close of a controlled burn in the Gulf of Mexico.
CHETRY: Yes. It's one way they're trying to get rid of some of the oil gushing into the ocean. And Ali Velshi was embedded with the Coast Guard as it tries to make a small smoldering dent with the oil spill. Ali is back onshore this morning. We saw some of the pictures, Ali. What was it like to be out there and be so close to that controlled burn?
ALI VELSHI, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kiran and Drew, I've seen oil and I've seen fires, I've never seen anything like this in my life. This is a team effort to try and deal with the oil that is about between three and 15 miles away from the oil spill site. So that's where we went out to yesterday.
What you'll see is the team that puts this all together, they fight these fires. It's a contractor, a private contractor, that's done this elsewhere in the world but not in the United States.
What you'll see in this video are shrimp boats who are the boats that attach themselves to the boom and contain the oil that gets set on fire. These are shrimpers out of work contracted by BP to help clean up this mess to help make their Gulf a place they can actually go shrimping again in the future.
Here's what I saw yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: What we're going to be witnessing is a controlled burn. We know they've been able to burn some of the oil off a little bit earlier today. We'll evaluate what the situation is when we get there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is actually oil that you're seeing on the surface of the water, our fishing vessels come along, we collect it. When we get an appropriate amount of oil in the boom we will bring a boat over and ignite it.
VELSHI: That's what you want to see?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is. We call those our mega-burns or very successful burns.
VELSHI: If you look up, follow this thing up and see it up to there, it's like a weather system being created here. And if you see the bottom of that burn, the smoke is white. That's the steam. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the steam from the adjacent water, yes.
VELSHI: You'll see as we come up there are shrimpers on either side of that fire. That's where the boom is connected.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have them pulling a U-configuration. They gather that oil into the boom and they just keep working real slow.
VELSHI: They corral the oil basically that is then set on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're averaging 2,000 to 5,000 barrels an hour with these kinds of burns. VELSHI: So even though this is crude oil, it's been degraded a little bit from its mixture of the water. You can't sort of just throw a match on it and hope that it's going to ignite. So what happens is they put one of these in with it.
This is two half gallon jugs of diesel and then at the bottom here you see a flare. They light the flare. The flare then melts the plastic around the diesel, ignites the diesel and hopefully the diesel burns hot enough and long enough in that oil that it ignites the oil.
We're right in the middle of where these -- this oil is. Just a few miles away, in fact right in the distance, maybe it's 10 miles away, you can see the source of the spill. That's where the Deepwater Horizon went down. And right here, fish. You can actually see them swimming around. The water is fairly clean here. This is an area that there's been burning going on.
In a good day they can burn maybe 30,000 to 40,000 barrels of oil in these controlled fires. Now, the sun is getting ready to set here. Any fire that's already burning can remain burning at night. They don't set new ones, but they will be here first thing in the morning as the sun rises to start burning more of this oil. They said they'll keep on doing it until there's no more oil left to burn.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: That's what they've been doing every day. They're depending on the calm waters out there, no storms, the low winds, to be able to do this each and every day. And it is a full operation. These are not people who are concerned with the oil spill that's 10 or 12 miles away from them or any of the other political matters. They are faced with a challenge and that challenge is to try and burn this oil off as much as possible. And the irony is that you're seeing this oil burn and you know that that's pollution, it's creating pollution. You're looking at those plumes but that is the better alternative to this oil washing up to shore, killing wildlife, killing more of the livelihood of the people who live on the Gulf Coast -- Kiran and Drew.
CHETRY: So that's what I was going to ask you because obviously there is an environmental impact there too. How do they determine whether it makes sense to try to skim, you know, skim and collect versus the controlled burns?
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: I mean, how are they making those determinations out there?
VELSHI: Generally, the quantity of oil available on the surface. If it's enough, if it's thick enough and the kind you can burn, they go to burn it. If it's not, they skim it. But that determination is made on-site. There are spotter planes that go around the whole time. There are ships that just determine the size of the amount of oil that's out there and then they've got health people and environmental people on each boat. They test the air and they test everybody's condition.
And by the way, while we were out there, the senior chief from the Coast Guard who was with us, was going boat to boat with us asking people are you OK, you're tired, you're hot? They are very, very interested in making sure that the workers are not getting sick and the environment is being polluted, I guess, as little as possible.
GRIFFIN: Yes. You know what grabbed me about that story, Ali, there's still so much beauty out there. I mean, you see the fish jumping, the sun setting --
VELSHI: Oh.
GRIFFIN: And then you turn around and you see those plumes of smoke. Thanks.
VELSHI: You've both seen it. I mean, it's just -- it's beautiful -- the gulf is beautiful. There's a lot of activity there, a lot of people who work there. Yes, beauty and then this devastation. It always makes me a little sad every time I have to see this story.
CHETRY: So true. Ali, great stuff, thanks so much.
Well, you've seen the commercials. Perhaps the animals covered in oil, they're being cleaned with Dawn dishwashing detergent. Well, the images are now being created along the Gulf Coast. So how is the maker of Dawn dish detergent responding to the disaster? We're going to tell you coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-one minutes past the hour. Time to check in with Christine Romans. And, well, we've all had it in our kitchen for doing dishes. Now, it's proved to be life saving for these animals out in the gulf.
GRIFFIN: Like a 1950s TV show.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is. OK, gentle on grease but effective.
OK, so three of these, how is this for a "Romans' Numeral"? Three of these it takes to clean one oily pelican. Dawn dishwashing detergent turning out to be the cleaning agent of choice for volunteers cleaning up those birds covered in crude.
These are the heartbreaking images. According to federal officials, you guys, since the spill, more than 600 birds have been rescued, 42 of them cleaned and released. Dawn tells us they've sent 7,000 bottles of detergent to the gulf at no charge. They'll ship another 5,000 to Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida.
Why Dawn? I mean, the workers are choosing Dawn. Why Dawn? Well, the company spokeswoman said she wouldn't disclose the exact ingredients, the secret sauce that make it work so well, but said it's Dawn, meant to cut grease and be gentle.
CHETRY: They can't use Palmolive. They can't use, you know --
ROMANS: Apparently they tried others and they keep coming back to Dawn. Even some of the relief workers and the wildlife aide workers were like, we don't want to look like we're in bed with Dawn but we keep coming back to that one, anyway.
It's interesting because it's a corporate disaster in the gulf but then there's at least one company that's sort of emerging as a corporate good citizen. But they're very careful not to make it look like there's a new product placement. They've had no press releases or commercials tied to this disaster. But ironically, the company began running this commercial before the oil disaster as part of a big environmental rollout. These images, in fact, mirror exactly what's taking place in the gulf, filmed a year ago. That started airing a year ago and was brought back for Earth Day just days before the Deepwater Horizon exploded.
CHETRY: There's something that tugs at your heartstrings of seeing those animals suffer and have no idea what's going on.
ROMANS: I know.
CHETRY: I mean, there's so many other tragedies obviously, but for some reason that just really affects everyone.
ROMANS: Anyway, so they've made -- they've raised maybe I think $500,000 so far from this effort. But the irony -- the irony of it, that right before this happened, they launched this environmental thing and then this is the -- this is the -- as low tech as this is, it cuts grease.
GRIFFIN: And they're sending it for free, right? I mean, they're -- yes.
ROMANS: Yes, they're sending it for free.
And I will say, you know, it sounds like, oh, that could be such a great product placement or whatever. The company was very careful when we were calling them about, you know, like we don't want to look like we're profiting off of this. You know, we don't want to look like we're profiting off of this.
GRIFFIN: Because we'd fry them -- come on. ROMANS: Right. Of course, we'd fry them from here to eternity, right? But I also thought it was interesting it takes three of these to clean one pelican. That shows you how either oily or how big a pelican is.
GRIFFIN: Yes.
ROMANS: Yes.
GRIFFIN: I think (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: Multi-step process.
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: Christine, thanks.
ROMANS: Sure.
GRIFFIN: Thanks.
Well, from basic training now to advanced training. Our Army recruit Will McLain's come a long way from a teenager back home in Rosamond, California. The latest in our "A.M. Original" series. "A Soldier's Story" is up next.
It is just about 24 minutes past the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dismissed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Top stories just minutes away. But first, an "A.M. Original," something you'll see, believe me, only on AMERICAN MORNING.
The Pentagon is giving CNN amazing access to several new soldiers so you can see what life in uniform is really like.
CHETRY: We've been following the story of 19-year-old Will McLain and his family back in Rosamond, California, and you can always hear him before you see him.
Jason Carroll, he's here. Just teasing you. You're always excited when you come on and you've really been enjoying following Will McLain's journey.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CHETRY: He's made a huge transformation. CARROLL: It's been incredible to watch his progression all the way along. You know, he's no longer 18, 19. We've seen him grow up. You know, when we last saw Will McLain, he had completed his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. But in order to become a combat engineer, he's now had to move on to more advanced training at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Company. Ready. Begin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't give up. Don't quit.
CARROLL (voice-over): With basic training behind them, Will McLain and the other soldiers in his company are now starting advanced training to become combat engineers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop talking and listen. You got to get this stuff so you can do your job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.
CARROLL: It's a job that entails months of training at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Begin.
CARROLL: Will is in week eight.
WILL MCLAIN, U.S. ARMY: It's not like the whole time they're trying to get you into shape or get used to Army standards. You're pretty much expected to know it now. So now, it's kind of like -- now, it's more of the job part.
CARROLL (on camera): We'd like to show you a little bit more of what Will is doing right now, but the Army tells us this is a sensitive part of the training. This is where the soldiers are learning how to prepare and place explosives. And so we want to keep our cameras back just a little bit so they can handle this part of the training.
(voice-over): Already, Will has received his first promotion to private second class.
MCLAIN: I'm no longer at the bottom of the totem pole so that's a good feeling.
CARROLL (on camera): So you can boss somebody else around a little bit?
MCLAIN: Not really. Not until you start hitting the higher ranks.
CARROLL: OK.
MCLAIN: But it's fun for some people to try and boss you right now, because I can be like, well, we're the same rank but I'll listen.
CARROLL (voice-over): Will says this is the stage where there's more bonding in the unit, but it's an old friend Will was hoping to see. The Army assigns each new recruit a battle buddy during basic training. Will was assigned to Demetrius Daniels.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step right.
CARROLL: They trained side by side and planned to graduate together, but a week before, Daniels was disciplined for sneaking off base to play pool, a serious enough violation to put his career at risk.
DEMETRIUS DANIELS, U.S. ARMY: Very immature decision, definitely if I could turn back the hands of time, wouldn't have actually did it.
CARROLL: But following an official review, he got the OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.
CARROLL: To graduate to Fort Stewart.
(on camera): What would you say was the lesson learned from that experience?
DANIELS: Of course, you know, do the right thing, make the right decisions and just because you do make a wrong decision doesn't necessarily mean that is the end of the world. You can definitely bounce back and become stronger from it and learn from your mistakes.
CARROLL (voice-over): Now back with his battle buddy, their commander says their focus turns to deployment.
CAPT. ROBERT WILKINS, U.S. ARMY: Majority of us have all deployed at least once and we use the lessons that we learn during those past deployments to help prepare these soldiers.
MCLAIN: I'm just a dog face soldier, a rifle on my shoulder.
As for deployment, you know, like, I'm really looking forward to it, actually, to be able to go over there and serve. It's essentially why a lot of us enlist, you know, to serve your country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Combat engineers like Will and Demetrius are the soldiers who do everything from building bridges to the more dangerous work of setting and disarming bombs. They'll have several months of advanced training while they're there at Fort Stewart.
It's good to see Demetrius back in the fold. He learned a valuable lesson in terms of what he did wrong previously but it's good to see him back in the fold.
CHETRY: Yes, I mean, they probably realized that they didn't want to lose somebody who had that much talent and expertise. CARROLL: He's a smart guy like will. They want to keep those kinds of people in there. But also teach them as they go -- you have to remember these people are very young, a lot of them are very young and they make mistakes.
CHETRY: Right. Well, good for them. Because things are going well and I hope that their advanced training goes well and everything keeps going smoothly for them.
CARROLL: We'll follow along and we'll see.
CHETRY: Thanks, Jason.
CARROLL: All right.
GRIFFIN: Good stuff.
CHETRY: Right now, it's 30 minutes past the hour. Time for our top stories.
The mother of three U.S. hikers who are still in jail in Iran are now demanding their children be released or put on trial and accusing Iran of using the three, Josh Fattal, Sarah Shourds and Shane Bauer as pawns in Iran's dispute with America. It's the first time the families actually criticized the Iranian government since their children were arrested near the Iraq/Iran border last year charged with espionage.
GRIFFIN: Big day for BP's CEO. About two and a half hours, Tony Hayward is testifying on Capitol Hill. He's going to apologize for the gulf oil spill. We already know that. He'll tell Congress he can't guarantee a good outcome as BP tries to kill its gushing well. One congressman promising the oil executive will be sliced and diced before the day is done.
CHETRY: And the chairman of BP offering up an apology right after the meeting with the president yesterday, Carl-Henric Svanberg stopped to speak to the media and he also apologized for a clumsy characterization of the victims of the oil spill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARL-HENRIC SVANBERG, BP CHAIRMAN: I hear a comment sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don't care. But that is not the case in BP. We care about the small people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, BP has agreed to set aside $20 billion to cover damages from the spill.
GRIFFIN: Yes, and plenty of local officials in the gulf say the federal government's just been slowing things down, getting in the way during this crisis. Now the president of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, says Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, D.C.'s point man for this crisis, should be replaced. CHETRY: Why? Well, he says the Coast Guard in the latest move shut down barges that were vacuuming oil out of the water, while paperwork was being processed. For more, we're joined by Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser. He's on the phone right now in Point Celeste, Louisiana. Thanks for being with us this morning.
BILLY NUNGESSER, PLAQUEMINES PARISH PRESIDENT: Thank you, good morning.
CHETRY: So tell us what happened? These barges that were collecting oil out there and apparently they didn't have, what, some safety paperwork?
NUNGESSER: First, it took us -- we had to take a truck that actually vacuums out port-a-potties, put it on a barge to show them it would work, embarrass them into approving this procedure. Once we got it approved, the governor and the parish presidents went to work to outfit additional barges that they did approve.
As soon as we got them out there working full force, the Coast Guard says they have to shut them down to check for life jackets and fire extinguishers. And I thought it was a joke at first until I confirmed it with the governor. You know, if you're out fishing and the Coast Guard pulls up, they check for your equipment. If you got it they let you go, if you don't, they take you in. Why wouldn't they just board the vessel and check them out there? It's like intentionally, everything that we recommend that actually picks up the oil, they don't want us to succeed. This is outrageous. It's unthinkable.
GRIFFIN: Mr. Nungesser, this sounds like the kind of bureaucratic red tape that always seems to stand in the way of guys like you who are the politicians on the front line trying to get things done.
NUNGESSER: Well, the crews on (INAUDIBLE) the fishermen in Plaquemines Parish had enough. They took a (INAUDIBLE) Shop-Vac off of the boat, went out there and vacuumed 110 gallons with a Shop-Vac. So today we ordered some air compressor Shop-Vacs and we're just going to do it ourselves.
If they show up, the Coast Guard or BP, you just can't count on them. You know, we were out there for four hours with the new head of BP and the governor. You think they would have had skimmers all over in the water. Four hours of oil from the shore to the outer barrier islands we saw no skimmers except the one vacuum barge that our guys were out there doing.
CHETRY: You know, it makes you shake your head in frustration if you hear about this. Because you've been saying the same thing since we were down there a month ago and before that. Can you just, you know, for people who think, is this just not getting through to anyone? What has improved in terms of the government listening to what you're telling them you need, what's gotten better?
NUNGESSER: We're glad the president is getting that money put aside and we're hoping it doesn't delay the fishermen getting made whole because that hasn't happened. They don't have a plan for getting the oil out of the marsh. They don't have a plan for picking it up offshore. And we asked them, you know, they are spraying the dispersants down there on the well head. That was going to keep it from coming ashore. It's coming ashore beneath the surface.
So I'm like, I want an explanation of why don't we quit spraying it, but it come to the surface. It's going to be ugly black oil on the surface, it isn't going to look pretty, but at least we can see the monster and attack it offshore. They should be bringing every vessel from everywhere in the world to fight this as the president puts, war. If we went to war, can you imagine the Coast Guard stopping a tank that we're being fired on and say "do you have your fire extinguisher, we're going to shut you down until you get it filled." If we're at war we should be calling all staff. Thad Allen just don't get it.
GRIFFIN: Yes, and so want Thad Allen replaced?
NUNGESSER: I just think it's time for him, he retired, they left him in charge here. The president has said, "we need to kick some butts," that didn't work. It shouldn't take the president -- I truly believe the president cares. Every time he came down here, things got better. But he shouldn't have to come down here to make these things happen.
And it's just not happening. You know, when Thad Allen, last Saturday, says he'd consider bringing vessels from other parts of the world if someone would ask, but nobody asked. He's in charge. I'm asking Thad Allen, bring it all. I'm asking.
GRIFFIN: All right..
Billy Nungesser.
NUNGESSER: This is crazy.
GRIFFIN: Thanks so much. Always a pleasure to talk to you. Good luck dealing with the red tape and the crisis.
NUNGESSER: Thank you all very much.
GRIFFIN: All right.
CHETRY: He's been nonstop tireless trying to get this taken care of as best he can and many of the other locals have as well.
Well, still ahead, we're talking about the curious case of Alvin Greene, genuine candidate in South Carolina or a plant and what's next? A primary redo in the state? Big scandal going on down there. 37 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Riddle me this, Batman. Who had no campaign staff, ran no TV ads and gave no stump speeches but still won South Carolina's democratic senate primary?
CHETRY: Yes, there are a lot of theories out there, some conspiracies and really no answers, though. His name is Alvin Greene. More than a week after his victory how he did it remains a mystery and there are conspiracy theories abound.
In interviews, Greene has generally appeared confused when asked questions about his campaign and about his experience in politics. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You haven't been really active in the Democratic Party. Why is that?
ALVIN GREENE, DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY WINNER: I've been active. I just weren't out to those particular events.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, active in what way then? I guess I would ask? When you say you're active, I mean, how can -- give me a good concrete example of how you're active in politics right now.
GREENE: Well, I get out and meet voters wherever they are across the state and just get my message to the people of South Carolina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. Well, today, state Democrats are going to be meeting to consider a protest from Greene's opponent Vic Rawl, who is now calling for a primary do-over. There's been others in the state who are also complaining and saying that this was really obviously a mistake. But how do they prove it? That's the question.
Joining us now from Columbia, South Carolina, Wayne Washington, senior writer at "The State," and explain to us, Wayne -- good to talk to you this morning, how Alvin Greene seemed to come out of the blue. Was your paper aware of him as a viable candidate, as somebody you were watching before election night?
WAYNE WASHINGTON, SENIOR WRITER, "THE STATE": We were not. In fact, I don't know of anyone who knew of Alvin Greene prior to the primary. We were focused on those races that we thought would be competitive and the senate race did not seem to be one of those.
GRIFFIN: So how does he, number one, get on the ballot, seems to be the big question. Because you got to pony up some money, $10,400 some dollars and this guy basically has no money?
WASHINGTON: Correct. He's an unemployed military veteran. He paid a $10,400 filing fee in March, and there are questions about how he got that money, given that he was arrested in November and had himself declared indigent and so that he was able to get a public defender to help him with his felony obscenity charge and there are lots of questions about how you are indigent after a November charge and able to pay a $10,000 filing fee in March. CHETRY: All right. So as they dig deeper on that and oftentimes the way you get to the bottom of some of these political questions follow the money, who do they think gave him the money, who do they think was behind his candidacy? It's a question that they've asked him a lot.
WASHINGTON: Well, Congressman Clyburn believes that someone and has said, someone or something or something is out there that has perhaps helped him. There is no indication who that someone is. If it's the Republicans, we are scratching our heads about why that would be given this is a fairly safe Senate seat for them. So I'm just not sure who it is that's behind this. We haven't been able to find anyone that has, obviously, admitted to this and Greene himself has told us that he's paid this filing fee with his own money.
GRIFFIN: Yes. Good that you mentioned that. Because I mean, Republican Jim Demint pretty much has this seat sealed up which is probably why you guys really didn't cover this primary race on the democratic side, I'm assuming.
WASHINGTON: Correct.
GRIFFIN: So, Vic Rawl, he wants -- he's the guy who thought he was going to win because he never heard of this guy either. He wants, what, a recount, a re-ballot?
WASHINGTON: Well, we're going to find out precisely what he wants this afternoon when he meets with the Democratic Party's executive committee. There are a few options that the executive committee will be able to take after having heard Vic Rawl and perhaps Alvin Greene as well.
CHETRY: Right. Well, Vic Rawl --
(CROSSTALK)
WASHINGTON: -- they can order a --
CHETRY: Sorry. Vic Rawl is trying to argue that there was possibly some problems with the voting machines, the electronic voting machines. I mean, is that what he's sort of banking his case on?
WASHINGTON: Yes, he has had experts examine the machines and apparently has compiled a case that will argue that something was amiss with the voting and that's what the executive committee will have to consider this afternoon.
GRIFFIN: All right. Wayne Washington, thanks for joining us. You know, "The Washington Post" had an interesting story today. I think we both read it, you know, he was just at the top of the ballot and people picked his name.
CHETRY: That's right.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: I think that's what a couple other people has said it as well.
But I think the other interesting thing that sort of complicates it is that there have been calls for him to step down and he says "no, I'm in it. I'm in it."
GRIFFIN: He got no job.
CHETRY: There you go.
GRIFFIN: Might as well be a senator.
Well, severe thunderstorms including tornadoes expected in the north and Midwest. Reynolds Wolf next with that.
CHETRY: And also, what about the buzz with the, what are they called, vuvuzelas, you know, the big horns at the World Cup? They sound like a swarm of killer bees and a lot of people are saying it distracts from the game, but looks like they may not be going anywhere. We'll explain why coming up. 45 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON: Tomorrow night the Los Angeles Lakers will play the Boston Celtics in a winner take all game for the NBA Championships. Laker fans can't wait for their team to play game seven, while Celtic fans are still waiting for their team to play game six.
What happened, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Must be a Celtics fan.
GRIFFIN: He must have watched the game.
CHETRY: Well, Reynolds Wolf has been following the weather. That's what he's watching for us.
GRIFFIN: I bet he's following the -- the game too. Reynolds, do you follow the series?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A little bit. A little bit. More of a -- of a Celtics fan, I have to admit. But, I mean, the Lakers are a great team so, you know, as long as they play well --
CHETRY: Yes? Are you a vuvuzela fan?
WOLF: You know, not much. Not so much.
CHETRY: At lot of people say they're not even watching the games because they can't take the noise.
WOLF: Yes, I know. It's kind of like being at Mississippi State and hearing the cowbells. It's just one of those annoying kind of things. But, hey, you just got to deal with it.
Hey, something else we got to deal with, some rough weather in parts of the upper Midwest. I mean, it's kind of hard to miss right here on the map. We're going to zoom in on this key location, show you that we've got some strong storms on parts of I-29 and that includes Fargo back over to Bismarck.
One of the reasons why it's important is because, obviously, people here are dealing with some rough weather, but they dealt with some rough stuff yesterday, several tornadoes, and as the day pans out we may see more tornadoes in the upper Midwest, western Great Lakes, but also there's a chance of rough weather right here in parts of the Tennessee Valley by late afternoon.
Another big story we're dealing with, the extreme heat along parts of the Gulf Coast into the southeast. We have not only the high temperatures but high humidity's going to be a real difference maker, where places like, say, in Atlanta, 87 degrees, (INAUDIBLE) New Orleans, where it's going to be 90. It's going to feel much, much warmer than those temperatures, 94 in Tampa, 91 in Miami, 76 in New York, a fairly nice day for you in Boston with 72, 89 in Denver, and 65 in San Francisco.
As we wrap things up, very quickly, quick snapshot of what you can anticipate in terms of your travel weather today. Looks like you might see some delays in parts of, say, Chicago and New York, no surprise there, even Philadelphia. Minneapolis and then Orlando and even Atlanta, expect anywhere from, say, 15 minutes to even 60 minutes of delay, mainly due to the possibility of thunderstorms.
That is the latest on your forecast. You're up to speed. Let's send it back to you in New York.
CHETRY: All right. Those thunderstorms, did you hear them last night? It woke me up around midnight. I thought -- I didn't know what was going on.
GRIFFIN: Yes, well, between the sirens and my son calling me, thunderstorms were nothing.
This morning's top stories just minutes away, including we're live with the mother of one of the three Americans held prisoner in Iran. It's been almost a year. Families losing patience, getting tough with the Iranian government, saying try them or release them now.
CHETRY: Also, could there be an internet kill switch right next to the red phone? A bill handing absolute power to the president to seize control of the web in the event of an emergency. It's not conspiracy theory stuff.
GRIFFIN: Come on.
CHETRY: It's actually a real bill in the Senate.
GRIFFIN: A real -- I want to hear about that. And, hey, Ozzy donated to science, doctors trying to find out why this guy is still alive. He's been on a bender forever, right?
Those stories and more at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: That sounds nice. But that isn't what (ph) we're talking about.
CHETRY: I was going to say, if only it sounded that nice.
GRIFFIN: Yes.
CHETRY: No, no, no. The sound we are referring to is -- what?
GRIFFIN: Angry hornets. A swarm of them.
Literally, I tried to watch the game. I couldn't take it. I couldn't take it. These are the vuvuzelas, right? Players have blamed them for mistakes, even, in this World Soccer.
CHETRY: They're the huge trumpet-like devices. There, you see them. We're talking about the deafening sound that the horns make at the World Cup. But they're still allowed to be there. They're not putting a sock in it.
And our resident soccer guy, Richard Roth here. You don't have your World Cup tie on today, but that's fine because you brought something else.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, those were the flags of the world. I don't know if you noticed them.
CHETRY: Yes, I did.
ROTH: With so few -- so, I said, so few of those --
GRIFFIN: Wait, wait, wait --
ROTH: That's because I was blowing that horn yesterday. We'll get to that. My lips are so screwed up.
With so few goals being scored at the World Cup, as I'm sure you've noticed, it's the vuvuzelas, Drew, that have been making the most noise. Yes, by now we've all heard and winced about their impact.
So I went to Brooklyn to try to horn in on their roar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH (voice-over): It's all the buzz, or buzz kill, depending on your tolerance for the nonstop hum heard in the background at this year's World Cup.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cannot stand it. It's just making me crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, they're so awful. I mean, all -- it's like a buzz, all the time.
ROTH: The vuvuzela, the plastic horn, is a tradition at South African soccer matches, but this cultural icon has many fans in an uproar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Come on. It's so loud. What do you think? Is it distracting to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do I think? I don't think it's distracting.
ROTH: Fans worldwide have been bellowing, but FIFA, the world soccer organization, said buzz off to a ban, forcing broadcasters to tinker with audio levels in an effort to diminish the hum.
But one man's annoying buzz is another man's nirvana.
MARK HANNIGAN (ph), RESTAURANT OWNER: Sometimes it sounds like the eternal om. It's like om. That's very meditative. It's beautiful.
ROTH: Maybe that's because Mark Hannigan is South African. The vuvuzelas are welcome at his restaurant, La Diva (ph), in Brooklyn, New York, where his fellow countrymen have been gathering to watch the World Cup.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to have the World Cup in an African country, you have to embrace what the culture is all about.
ROTH (on camera): Conclusion?
ALAN FIERSTEIN, PRESIDENT, ACOUSTILOG: Too loud. Dangerous.
ROTH (voice-over): Acoustic consultant Alan Fierstein is not embracing the vuvuzela. He's warning fans in the stadiums to wear ear plugs.
ROTH (on camera): Can you equate the vuvuzela parade (ph) there to another loud sound?
FIERSTEIN: Well, if you were about 35 feet away from a 747 on takeoff, you'd probably get in the neighborhood of 125 decibels.
ROTH: Do you watch the World Cup?
FIERSTEIN: No.
ROTH: Why?
FIERSTEIN: I'm more into baseball.
ROTH: I keep getting e-mails from people who say shut that up. Shut it off. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me tell you something, we don't need nobody to tell us to stop our vuvuzelas. This is our tradition. We're proud South Africans.
ROTH (voice-over): And here I wanted to blow my own horn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not easy do this.
ROTH (on camera): How do I --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like you (INAUDIBLE) a trumpet. Just go. A lot of -- a lot of pressure.
ROTH: Many people use that sound watching my reports.
ROTH (voice-over): Apparently, not as easy as it looks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Close your lips. And then like -- yes. Yes. That's -- you're getting there. You're getting there.
ROTH: Finally --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH: I'm telling you, that's why I couldn't talk before. Once you blow that vuvuzela, it's all over. If you'd like to try, Kiran --
CHETRY: Sanitize it? I saw you bring hand sanitizers here.
ROTH: Yes. I don't know what I did with it. I woke up with a sore throat today, I think.
I'm not kidding. But give it a try. Only 50 people used that yesterday.
CHETRY: Give me the hand sanitizer first. I'm nervous.
ROTH: I don't know where it is.
CHETRY: All right.
GRIFFIN: You wouldn't get this right through instantly. It will take a day.
CHETRY: They're yelling at my ear, "Blow on it". If I get sick --
GRIFFIN: It's going to mess the lipstick.
ROTH: That is very good for the first time because one of the women at the restaurant said she had to take lessons, and you can see I was --
CHETRY: Lessons?
ROTH: Why are you so good at that? CHETRY: Always a pleasure to have Richard Roth with us. Thank you, Richard.
GRIFFIN: And Kiran Chetry --
ROTH: That was impressive. My father was an oboe player, so I'm used to -- I'm used to wind instruments being performed, so --
GRIFFIN: This is completely different than an oboe, though.
CHETRY: You're used to hot air.
All right, Richard. Thank you.
ROTH: I'm at the U.N. a lot (ph).
CHETRY: Want to try it?
GRIFFIN: Try what?
CHETRY: The vuvu.
GRIFFIN: After you? No.
CHETRY: I tried it after Richard.
GRIFFIN: Let's go. Let's move ahead.
Top stories are coming your way right after the break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
