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American Morning
Are Gulf Cleanup Workers Safe?; BP: Fix Ahead of Schedule; iPhone Doctor Answers the Call; Don't Ask, Don't Tell Survey; Fight Over How to Stop Oil; Fit for a King
Aired July 08, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Thursday morning to you. Thanks so much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning on this 8th day of July. I'm John Roberts.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: And I'm Kate Bolduan. Kiran Chetry is off today.
ROBERTS: Welcome and great to have you here.
BOLDUAN: Thank you, sir. Always having fun.
ROBERTS: Can you give us started this morning?
BOLDUAN: I think I can. A lot to talk about as John clearly knows, so let's get right to it.
Your spies for ours. America and Russia cutting a deal to swap spies just like the old days. Cold war style talk could lead to a prisoner exchange within hours. There are a lot of moving parts to the story. All late-breaking entry ahead.
ROBERTS: A deadly heat wave still with its grip on the northeast this morning. And soaring along with the temperatures is the demand for electricity. It's raising new fears about the power grid and whether it can hold on. We're digging deeper on that this morning, and we will tell if you there is any relief in sight from the record- high discomfort.
BOLDUAN: And tonight's the night. King James chooses his next throne. We'll find out which NBA team LeBron James will be playing for next season in a made-for-TV moment from manufacturer for TV, I guess. Our Sports guy, Max Kellerman will give us his take on the decision.
ROBERTS: First off this morning, it feels like the cold war is making a comeback. The United States and Russia behind closed doors, banging out a good, old-fashioned cold war style spy swap this morning. It's something we haven't seen since the 1980s. BOLDUAN: Ten suspected suburban spies rounded up last week by the feds all reportedly being hustled to New York City ready to board a plane out of the country. Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is live in Moscow with the story. Matthew, so many moving parts to the story right now. What's happening there? MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's all very cloak and dagger, Kate. Certainly, I don't appear to be digging up much intelligence about the secret workings of what's happening in this episode.
But there are rumors swirling around Moscow that have been fueled by a prisoner in a Russian jail that's been being held or convicted for spying for the CIA, 15 years, he's in prison for. He's been telling his family members and his legal team that he's on a list of other spies being held in Russian prisons that are going to be swapped for those ten suspects being held in the United States right now.
There's been no confirmation at all either from the Kremlin or from anyone in the United States, although the speculation has been fueled by the State Department confirming that top U.S. diplomats did meet with the Russian ambassador for the United States yesterday, giving credibility to the idea that this spy scandal, which threatens, of course, to be a thorn in the side of relations between Moscow and Washington could be resolved through some kind of prisoner swap, Kate.
ROBERTS: Matthew, what do we know about the person that the Russians are holding being offered up as a carrot here in the prisoner swap?
CHANCE: His name is Igor Sutyagin. He's been in prison since 2004. He was convicted -- he's a nuclear researcher here in Moscow. He was been convicted in 2004 of passing very sensitive nuclear secrets, nuclear weapons, to a company in Britain, registered in Britain, now appear to be a front for the CIA. He's being held in an arctic penal colony since 2004.
But recently, up until that point, he'd always denied being a spy for the U.S. He said he's signed the documents and he's been told he's part of the spy swap deal.
ROBERTS: Matthew Chance for us this morning in Moscow. Matthew, thanks. We'll keep watching that story closely.
It's going to be another day, meanwhile, of stifling heat and humidity, triple-digit temperatures. Shattered records from New York to Raleigh, North Carolina, yesterday, the heat wave being blamed for at least two deaths now.
BOLDUAN: The heat is putting a strain on the power grid. Jason Carroll is following that aspect of it. Hey, there, Jason, how are you holding up?
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's definitely cooler, Kate, I'm sure you felt it when you came in this morning. Even so, in the state of Maryland, a heat-related death report there had, the governor urging people in the state to take whatever steps they can to try and stay cool.
Meanwhile, here in New York, we checked in with Con-Edison yesterday, we hung out at their command center to take a look at the steps they're taking to deal with the heat wave. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Day four of the northeast heat wave brought some lower temperatures but not low enough in Boston.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One thing about guys -- people from Southie, we're not a bunch of wimps.
CARROLL: Record highs in cities including Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. Record sales of air conditioners in many New York store it's.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going out as fast as they're coming in.
CARROLL: The city's pools filling to capacity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's refreshing, it's cool, and it's keeping us from passing out in the sun.
CARROLL: Demand for power, a concern in New York, where Con- Edison has been running its emergency response center since Tuesday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 12,525 mega watts.
CARROLL: Inside the war room, various departments work together to prevent blackouts.
CARROLL (on camera): If you take a look at the room, you see the center is broken up in sections. You've got logistics, customer service. We're told that the center will stay open until the temperatures are back to normal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the analysis is happening right over here.
CARROLL (voice-over): John Miksad oversees the entire operation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I look at this for us as round two. I think this might be the last round of this fight.
CARROLL (on camera): You're using the fight references.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a fight.
CARROLL: So are you on defense at this point? Are you on offense? Where are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a really good question. I think right now, we're on offense.
CARROLL (voice-over): Some 5,700 customers are without power in New York City. A majority of the system is holding, thanks in part to the city's large office buildings and businesses heeding calls to help by reducing energy consumption. Let the center shows that demand is still high. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 12,491 mega watts.
CARROLL (on camera): Translate that. What does that mean?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's 12,500 million watts. One megawatt is enough to light 1,000 homes.
CARROLL: Does that make you nervous?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does make me nervous, yes.
CARROLL (voice-over): The operations here will run 24 hours a day until temperatures and demand begin to drop.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And again, Kate, the cooler temperatures should help ease demand a little bit. Help some of the workers there working in 12-hour shifts until further notice. Kate?
BOLDUAN: And they're going to keep working on it. Stay cool out there.
ROBERTS: Wow, 12,500 mega watts. That's a lot of power, a lot of electricity. Let's see how much electricity we're going to need today. Are the temperatures as high as the last couple?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: We're also following a developing story we want to tell you about. Police in Norway arresting three people suspected of plotting an attack for Al Qaeda. Police say the investigation is connected to the foiled attack on the New York City transit system last year and is also part of a future plot against transit systems in England.
The suspects were under surveillance for several months and were taking into custody with the help of U.S. intelligence.
ROBERTS: Well, 21 years after the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, workers who say they cleaned up the Alaska spill say they're still sick from that disaster. Drew Griffin of our special investigations unit has that story coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: Looking for a silver lining in the Gulf right now is very, very difficult.
ROBERTS: Yes, but for some people who are out of work, the cleanup does mean at least a temporary paycheck. The same thing happened during the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. But 21 years later, some of those workers are still dealing with the health problems they say began when they started cleaning up the crude.
BOLDUAN: And now some health experts and worried that same thing is happening in the Gulf, so it's happening all over again. Here's Drew Griffin with our special investigations unit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT (voice-over): Roy Dalthorp says he started getting sick 21 years ago when the Exxon Valdez" hit a reef in Alaska. But back then, he thought the Valdez was a blessing.
ROY DALTHORP, EXXON VALDEZ CLEANUP WORKER: I was out of a job. I had no choices on that, because I was behind on my house payments, and no health insurance.
GRIFFIN: For six weeks he worked on a ship that super heated seawater, to pressure wash Exxon's crude oil off the rock. It was an oily, smelly mist permeating the ship when he worked 16-hour days. And that is when the cough began.
DALTHORP: Nobody ever checked with us, nobody. They never did a follow-up on us. They never asked if there were any consequences of it. They could have cared less. I'll serious. There was no follow- up.
GRIFFIN: Exxon told us it doesn't know how many became sick. Dalthorp never filed a lawsuit or a claim. Exxon did pay to study the health effects of almost every single creature that came in contact with oil in Prince William Sound, every creature, but one.
DENNIS MESTAS, ATTORNEY: From clams and mussels to fish and otters, and even deer and bears, but they never studied what this oil was doing to the workers, to the human beings in Prince William Sound.
GRIFFIN: Alaska Attorney Dennis Mestas represented one of the few workers who did sue, but in the process found out that hundreds of workers involved in the cleanup had fallen sick.
GRIFFIN (on camera): And you found all of this out years later based on?
MESTAS: On one worker that I represented.
GRIFFIN: Who is still sick?
MESTAS: Who's still sick to this day. Even Exxon was forced to concede eventually that Gary Stubblefield was a very sick man.
GRIFFIN: Gary Stubblefield sued Exxon in the Valdez cleanup. Mestas travelled from Alaska to an Exxon office in Houston where Stubblefield's medical records and those of other cleanup workers were being held, records Exxon has asked the court to seal for privacy reasons.
MESTAS: I was shocked, yes.
GRIFFIN: Mestas says the records reveal that of the 11,000 cleanup workers, 6,722 had gotten sick. It was explained away as a simple virus, the so-called Exxon crud, a flu or cold that Exxon was not required to report to federal health officials. At the time, NIOSH, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, was in agreement.
MESTAS: Total BS. The only epidemiology was that there were a few head colds that they could identify. And NIOSH didn't have any of the records.
GRIFFIN: Exxon never admitted fault in Stubblefield's case but reportedly settled lot suit for $2 million, Stubblefield, one of the very few workers to get compensation.
Exxon says the few lawsuits brought failed to show any evidence of injuries or illnesses known to be caused by exposure to crude oil or the chemicals they used to clean it up. Keeping them honest, Dennis Mestas, the attorney says, he is concerned that workers cleaning up in the Gulf today may be headed for the same fate as the Exxon Valdez workers -- they get sick while their medical records are controlled by BP.
Louisiana's health department has reported 126 cleanup workers believed to be sick from exposure to the spill. But BP tells us they have recorded just five illnesses related to inhalation exposures in the entire gulf.
(on camera): BP is also insisting that government air testing is showing, quote, "We have not had a single reading above OSHA regulations to date. And as for respirators, the company says there has been no demonstrated need for them. No single issue high enough to warrant a respirator.
DR. RIKI OTT, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST: On anything that I caught --
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Dr. Riki Ott, an environmental activist, studied the effects of the Exxon Valdez spill 21 years ago. With this BP spill, she says, once again, out-of-work fishermen are lining up for cleanup jobs that she says will put them in harm's way.
OTT: I'm feeling like BP is forcing them into this situation where BP holds all the cards. And BP is letting these workers get sick.
GRIFFIN: Back in Alaska, Roy (INAUDIBLE) coughing has never stopped. He now has skin rashes. His health literally crumbling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going blind.
GRIFFIN (on camera): You think were you poisoned out there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes. Silently poisoned. And that's what's happening to those people down in the gulf.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: Now, John and Kate, BP and the federal health officials insist that is not going to happen down in the gulf, that they are monitoring the air there. But a congressional committee is now getting involved in this. The House Energy and Commerce Committee which has been holding hearings on BP, now has sent a letter to Exxon Mobil, asking Exxon Mobil to dig into its files from 1989 and fork over any health records it has on those cleanup workers and how they may have been exposed to some dangerous chemicals or, if indeed, all these workers did get sick back in the Exxon Valdez trying to learn from past mistakes.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: As you said in this current oil leak, federal health officials are monitoring the cleanup workers for any signs of illness. But did no one monitor what was going on with the workers during the Valdez clean up?
GRIFFIN: It's amazing, John, nowhere near the kind of monitoring that's going on now. And certainly no follow-up whatsoever. In fact, I got a statement from Exxon Mobil last night that said, hey, the lack of studies is due largely to the fact that the cleanup workers tended to be transient temporary workers making any medical follow-up incredibly difficult. Does that sound familiar to what's going on today?
ROBERTS: Yes, pretty much. Drew Griffin for us this morning with that fascinating story. Drew, thanks so much.
Well, in all of this, potentially some good news coming to us from the gulf. BP is saying in a perfect world, it's possible that its relief well could be finished ahead of schedule. The rush coincides with some big events for the oil giant. So is this more of just an optimistic than a realistic look? We'll explain coming up.
It's 18 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-one minutes after the hour now. Christine Romans is here "Minding Your Business" this morning. We hear that BP maybe is making more progress on this relief well than they have thought. Things are moving faster and a couple of significant dates that they're talking about here.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting, too, because a few weeks ago, you had the U.K. paper saying that they thought that maybe they'd be able to finish this relief well in July. So there have been those hopes out there, but the company hasn't been able to put their seal of approval on it yet. We know they're rushing to get that relief well done. And now, a company official is telling the "Wall Street Journal" that July 27th, if everything goes perfectly, July 27th is the date they think they can stop the leaking well. It also happens to be the day they report second quarter earnings. And it also happens to be just a week after Obama meets the British prime minister in Washington. So you can see that there's a timeframe here.
ROBERTS: Coincidence?
ROMANS: In mid to late July, where the company is trying to get some stuff done. We're also told that, look, weather makes a big deal here as well. And there's like a nine-day period of maybe decent weather coming up right now. And so the company is really rushing and pushing to get this done.
Meanwhile, you know, you can see the stock has been battered. It's down 45 percent since the day of the April 20th tragedy on the Deepwater Horizon. And Tony Hayward, the CEO of this company, has been basically crisscrossing the globe, trying to restore confidence in the company that it can pay its bills. We don't know what those bills will be, but this company, the CEO has been telling people that they will be able to do it. They're trying to sell stakes in the company, trying to sell assets. $10 billion worth of assets.
ROBERTS: There's a little bounce back in the stock?
ROMANS: And there has been a little bounce back because you've got investors saying that, well, apparently, they must believe what Tony Hayward has been telling them.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
ROMANS: Also, he is now in the Middle East. You he's trying to drum up maybe investments from Savron (ph) Well Fund. Haven't heard about those in a long time, right? Because they got nailed for investing in American banks in the middle of the crisis. But maybe there are some big Middle Eastern investors who might be willing to, you know, kick some money and investment in this company as well. So all trying to restore confidence, July 27th, the date that we'll be eyeing now.
ROBERTS: We'll watch and see if they can make that date.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Christine.
BOLDUAN: When has everything gone perfectly in this entire --
ROBERTS: Oh, every step along the way. You haven't been watching?
BOLDUAN: Look, (INAUDIBLE)
ROBERTS: Thanks, Christine.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Christine.
So, can't live without your Smartphone? Huh? Well, who are you going to call if it breaks? Meet the man with the cure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENDAN MCELROY, IPHONE REPAIRMAN: Aside from like, liquid damage, there's not, you know, generally, no iPhone I can't fix.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: He's the iPhone doctor and he's making house calls when we continue. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Twenty-six minutes after the hour. There's at least one doctor left in New York City who still makes house calls. And a lot of people swear that he is nothing short of a life saver.
BOLDUAN: "Dr." Brendan is not a real M.D. but he has plenty of suffering patients in the throes of Smartphone withdrawal. Poppy Harlow is here this morning with an "A.M. Original," a story you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING. So what is this all about?
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you believe it? "Dr. Brendan." He was bartending a year ago. Certainly, his career has gotten a lot better.
You know, so many of us become addicted to our gadgets, iPhones, BlackBerrys, you name it. Remember, they're fragile and they're expensive. And most of us, including me, a number of times have dropped them and broken them. So where do you turn? Well, we find a fix that you might not have expected in an apartment on New York's Lower East Side. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENDAN MCELROY, IPHONE REPAIRMAN: We do everything in from, you know, from iPhones, iPads, the iTouch.
HARLOW (voice-over): He's known around town as Dr. Brendan. And if your iPhone looks like this or this, he can bring it back to life.
MCELROY: Aside from like, liquid damage, there's not, you know, generally, not an iPhone I can't fix.
HARLOW: If it's crushed, busted, broken, 28-year-old Brendan McElroy knows how to fix it. And he says he'll do it for less than half what Apple charges.
(on camera): Would you consider yourself a tech geek?
MCELROY: I am a bit of a tech geek. I'm not a full-on tech geek, you know.
HARLOW (voice-over): After dropping his own iPhone while bartending last year, he surfed the Web and taught himself how to fix it.
MCELROY: I'll be honest with you. I kind of -- I butchered it a bit.
HARLOW: He's not a real doctor but a self-proclaimed tinkerer, who zips from customer to customer on his motorcycle.
MCELROY: This is my fourth house call of the day.
HARLOW: This emergency call is at the hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's this problem with the LCD screen, where there's a stripe in the middle.
HARLOW: Ten minutes, 75 bucks, and it's done. But there's one catch, having your iPhone fixed outside of Apple could void your warranty.
(on camera): Why Dr. Brendan?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Apple is a total hassle to me. I mean, there -- I just -- the one time I went in there, you have to schedule the appointments, wait. They tell you they can't fix it.
HARLOW (voice-over): Next stop, back home to more customers.
MCELROY: So what's up with your phone?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I dropped it.
MCELROY: Oh, no.
HARLOW: It's a story he hears over and over again.
MCELROY: Were you very upset?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
MCELROY: No, you weren't? Some people break down and cry.
HARLOW: The fix just takes a tiny screwdriver, a razorblade and, of course, the screen.
MCELROY: Courtesy of China. And that is a new iPhone screen there.
HARLOW (on camera): How did you find all the right components?
MCELROY: I found something -- some posts from some distributor that claimed to sell these pirates. I e-mailed them. And I was very nervous because it's just like, oh, send this cash to China. You know, and --
HARLOW: But it worked out?
MCELROY: It worked out.
HARLOW (voice-over): It's 5:00 p.m., he's already fixed seven iPhones and more customers are on their way. In fact, business is so good, Dr. Brendan quit his bartending gig and is opening his own store this fall.
HARLOW (on camera): What's the oddest story you've heard about how someone broke their phone?
MCELROYL: There's been a lot of stories. My girlfriend saw my text messages and threw it at me. There was another one that someone's son actually bit the phone.
HARLOW: Oh, did you fix it?
MCELROY: Yes, I fixed it. Yes. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: The worst ones he says are the ones that have fallen in the toilet. He says he keeps a pair of rubber gloves around for those. I'm not kidding. He even fixes those ones. You know, amazingly he has not spent a dollar on advertising. And he's got customers sending him phones all the way from Greece. Could you believe it?
ROBERTS: Word of mouth.
So let me ask this question. So this guy is infringing on Apple's territory. And we know how Apple likes that/.
HARLOW: They love it.
ROBERTS: Are they going to come after him?
HARLOW: We will see. We will see after this piece. We hope not. It's entrepreneurial spirit alive and well here. We e-mailed Apple. We asked them a lot of questions. We asked them about the warranty and they said you know what, folks? You have to get them. If you want to keep your warranty, fix it at Apple.
But here's the thing. If you drop your iPhone and you shatter the glass on it, then your warranty is busted anyway.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: All right. (INAUDIBLE).
BOLDUAN: How would Apple know if you broke it and got it fixed?
HARLOW: Everyone is so honest. You tell them, right.
ROBERTS: A screen doesn't just break itself. I wouldn't think.
HARLOW: Right.
ROBERTS: I had an iPhone go dead on me but the screen didn't break.
HARLOW: He can fix a lot of stuff, I've got to tell you, people asking all the questions. And all the customers that come in, they said, now, can I take it back to Apple? He said, a lot of times Apple can't tell the difference between his fix and their fix.
ROBERTS: Well, here's the thing though. If you got a guy like him, why do you need to take it back? It's like an after-market thing, taking a car to an after-market garage, right?
HARLOW: It's true. It's about 70 bucks to fix those screens, where at Apple, it's 199 bucks.
ROBERTS: Yes. You know if you got good customer service, there's usually no reason for an aftermarket.
HARLOW: It's true. He's got five-star ratings on Google. ROBERTS: Poppy, great story this morning.
HARLOW: You got it.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Poppy.
HARLOW: Sure.
ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour, it's time for your top stories. The mix of heat and humidity will make for another day of extreme discomfort for much of the northeast. Temperatures crack triple digits in New York as far south as North Carolina yesterday for a second straight day. The heat wave is blamed for at least two deaths now.
BOLDUAN: Plus, just two days after the Justice Department filed suit over Arizona's controversial immigration law, civil rights and immigrant rights groups are planning to protest outside the New York headquarters of major league baseball. The groups want the league to move next season's all-star game out of Arizona. The law, by the way, takes effect at the end of this month.
ROBERTS: And will he stay or will he go? Only LeBron James knows for sure right now where he's going to play basketball next season. King James will reveal his choice tonight in a prime time made for television event. Later on this hour, our sports guy, Max Kellerman, weighs in on LeBron's big decision.
BOLDUAN: And new developments this morning as some 400,000 troops are being asked to take an online survey about repealing the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. The questionnaire focuses on the impact of the ban, and there are some pretty specific and intimate questions.
Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon this morning. Barbara, break this down for us. What is the military looking for? What's their goal here?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, this survey started going out yesterday, as you say about 400,000 troops around the world, selected randomly, we are told, more than 100 questions in this survey.
The goal here is to find out what the troops think about the impact of repealing don't ask, don't tell, the policy, the law that prohibits gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. As you recall, President Obama wants that repealed. And there is this survey under way to say to the troops it's going to be repealed by Congress, we hope.
And if it is, what do you think? What do you think the impact would be? So a number of questions now being asked, as you say, some of them very specific. They ask about - to start with, the impact on unit morale and readiness if there was a commander of that unit that the troops believed or knew to be gay or lesbian, how would they feel about being commanded by someone? The intimate ones. If you had to share a room, bathroom facilities, open base shower facilities in a war zone, as you most likely would with someone who is gay or lesbian, how would you handle that? What would you do? Would you discuss it with the person? Would you discuss it with the chaplain? Or would you just go on and conduct your military life?
And another example, if don't ask, don't tell is repealed, how would that affect your willingness, your desire to continue to serve in the military? All these types of questions being asked.
And again, you know, we wanted to look at this idea of asking the troops about an order because, of course when the president gives an order, the U.S. military salutes smartly and moves on. We asked a former administration official what he thought about asking the troops for their opinion in the first place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE KORB, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: It's a terrible idea because, really, what you're doing is you're giving the troops the impression that they can change the policy or alter the policy. Also, if you go back and you take a look at how the troops felt about other social changes, integrating African-Americans, opening up combat opportunities for women, had you taken a survey, and you paid attention to it, those things would never have happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Now what the Pentagon contends here again, is they're not asking the troops if they want to see it repealed. They're saying, this is the president's policy. Congress has to approve it, of course, pass a new law, perhaps. And the question for the troops is how would they react, how would they feel about it. How would this now be implemented across the board. Kate?
BOLDUAN: And Barbara, really, that's absolutely a fascinating move by the administration. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us. Thanks so much, Barbara.
STARR: Sure.
BOLDUAN: And still ahead, the Army Corps of Engineers has vetoed a plan to build rock barriers and keep oil out of critical wetlands down in the gulf. More on that debate ahead.
ROBERTS: Plus, where will King James' next castle be? We'll know for sure at 9:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. But coming up here on the most news in the morning, our sports guy, the sports guys with a superhero name, Max Kellerman, is here to give us his best guest. It's 36 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 38 1/2 minutes after the hour, a new fight is brewing over how to protect the gulf's fragile wetlands from the oil gusher in the gulf. Some Louisiana officials want to build rock barriers across passes to block the oil. BP said it would pay for the project but the Army Corps of Engineers said over the weekend, not going to happen.
But it doesn't look like the fight is over just yet. Let's bring in Deano Bonano. He's the Homeland Security Director for Jefferson Parish. He's in New Orleans and also along with him is Denise Reed. She is the chairman or the director rather of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences, a wetlands specialist.
Deano, let's go to you first, you and I talked on the beach of Grand Isle a couple of weeks back. You were very determined to get some barges in place, to get these rock dikes in place, to narrow down the channels, the passes so that not as much water could pass through. Why is it so important, Dino, for you, to get those built?
DEANO BONANO, DIRECTOR OF HOMELAND SECURITY FOR JEFFERSON PARISH: First of all, you got to understand that these passes, one of them didn't even exist 40 years ago. Pasabella (ph) was an island that a hurricane ripped passed through. It has created two huge openings where the oil freely flows into the (INAUDIBLE) Estuary, which is probably one of the most sensitive wetlands in the state of Louisiana.
We want to protect it, not clean it up. Not having protection makes you clean it up. Once you clean it up, it means the damage is done. Birds are dead. Mammals are dead. And the marshes are severely impacted. In Louisiana, a marsh doesn't re-grow. This oil, once it kills the grass, the grass doesn't come back. That land will wash away. That's why it's so important that we keep the oil out.
ROBERTS: Right. So what you want to do is you want to narrow down those passes, Deano, so not as much oil can get in. And Denise Reed, you had some concerns about this plan, concerns that were echoed by the Army Corps of Engineers that this plan could end up with more oil going into Barataria Bay and deep up in those sensitive wetlands?
DENISE REED, DIRECTOR OF THE PONTCHARTRAIN INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES: Well, I think the issue is, there are five passes from the Gulf of Mexico into Barataria Bay. I absolutely agree that Barataria Bay is a treasure and it's a great place. We've got to protect it to the extent that we can. But there are five passes going in there, one of the concerns, that a lot scientists raised, myself included, was if we try and block two of them with these rocks, then what happens to the other three?
And some of the analysis that we saw showed that the flow in the other three passes actually ended up going faster because of the rocks in those two. So we could close down two of them and make oil clean up easier there but what about the other three. The oil is still going to get in.
ROBERTS: So what do you say about that, Deano, that if you close off these passes and the narrowing of the pass that would be left between these rock jetties or between the barges, the velocity of the water would actually be greater and you get more flow into some of these other passes and you might actually make things worse?
BONANO: Well, this shows me how little the scientific community understands about how to fight the oil as it comes in. The other three passes are narrow which makes it easier for us to protect those because they are narrow. We already have strategies employed there that actually work to steer the oil out of those currents because they are narrow.
You could actually deploy diverging boom to point the oil out of the pass to the side where you can pick up the narrower the path, the easier it is to protect. The larger passes, it's impossible to protect. The environmental community came out from day one in opposition to this plan before they even saw the plan.
That's what's so frustrating to us. You know Johnny come lately is easy. Where were they 60 days ago when we started this fight? They want to come out now and criticize what solutions do they have. That's what's so frustrating to us. We're on the front lines, trying to prevent the oil and we got people standing there behind us who are supposed to be trying to protect the estuary telling us "No, don't do this. Don't do that. Don't do this." What is your solution? Because we know right now, we're the only ones in the front lines fighting to protect our own estuary. No one else is there besides us except for the state and local government.
Governor Jindal and the local officials are the ones who fought so hard to protect these estuaries and help us, don't criticize.
ROBERTS: So, what do you say to that Denise? What is your plan? If you and other scientists and the Army Corps of Engineers are recommending these rock barges and these rock dikes, what is your solution?
REED: Importantly there, John, we are not recommending against the barges. I'm very much in support of the barges.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: What about the dikes then?
REED: We have been arguing as a scientific community against rocks on these shoreline four years. That is not a new argument. We know that if we put rocks on these shorelines, it's going to change the way that shoreline works. We know that. We've seen that happen before.
ROBERTS: So what's your solution?
REED: The worst thing that can happen with this, if we put these rocks in place is we could get more passes through those barrier islands. There will be a weak spot that water will leak out and it will find a weak spot in the middle of the barrier island.
ROBERTS: So -
REED: That means that we have more places to clean up. The barges are a good idea. The barges are definitely a good idea. I've supported that from the beginning and so have many others in the scientific community. We need to be more effective with the techniques that we have on open water. This shoreline is not the only place that we can stop this oil. You have to remember that this leak is happening 50 miles offshore.
ROBERTS: Right.
REED: What about that distance there? What are we doing in that distance? OK. We're talking about short line now. The wetlands are not immediately behind these passes. There are miles and miles of open water there, where we can, effectively, if we get our act together, pick up that oil and clean up before it gets into the wetlands. There are many, many techniques here that would not cause the potential damages to the islands that we have been fighting for decades to save. There are many, many other things that can be done apart from this.
ROBERTS: Let's go to Deano then. Deano, you said yourself, that Pasabelle (ph) used to be a barrier island, the hurricane wiped it out. And Denise and other scientists here are worried that if you put in a permanent facility like these rock dikes, you're just going to increase the chances that might happen to Grand Isle or one of the other islands along the Louisiana coast line there. Why not just, as Denise says, that she approves of and supports this idea of barges, why not just stick with the barges? Why do you need the permanent barriers with these rocks?
BONANO: Because, first of all, every time there's a storm in the gulf, you got to the move the barges. Just like last week with Hurricane Alex, we had to move the barges and for an entire week there was zero protection in the passes. I want to comment, I didn't hear her give us a technique. She said there's lots and lots of techniques.
What techniques? Give them to me. Because you know what you're not providing me any answers. My other point is, we are not blocking the channels that flow into the bay. The channels will remain open where the water flows. We are blocking those flats that didn't exist 50 years ago. There were sand where those rocks are going to be placed. 50 years ago, this was mother nature's own way of protecting this estuary.
We're not blocking the channel. If she would take the time to look at the plan, the channels themselves remain wide open which is where the water flows. The rocks are placed where there used to be an island to block the oil from going into what is now an opening.
Tell us what the solution is, because I haven't heard it yet. Answer the question, what is the solution?
ROBERTS: All right. Well, we're not going to get the solution right here, right now, but I know that the two of you are just a - a few feet apart, so I suspect that this conversation will continue after we leave the air.
Denise Reed, Deano Bonano, thanks for joining us this morning. Really appreciate it.
BONANO: Thank you. ROBERTS: All right - Kate.
REED: Thanks, John.
BOLDUAN: It is 15 minutes to the top of the hour, and up next, Rob will have this morning's forecast.
And, don't forget, it's decision day for LeBron James. Which team will he choose? We'll talk about it all with Max Kellerman, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center.
We are watching tropical depression number two, about 150 miles southeast of Brownsville. It doesn't look like a whole lot in the satellite picture and it's not organizing all that much, but there's some convection that's beginning to flare up just south and east of Brownsville, when you got an airplane in there right now, recon it to see if will become a tropical storm. But that is the worst it will be and in all likelihood it will remain a tropical depression as it makes landfall across the South Texas coastline later on tonight.
Right now, winds are at 35 miles an hour in its northwesterly mood (ph) at about 14, and it's pretty small so it's not really going to affect operations in and around the oil slick. Coastal flood watches and warnings have been posted because of unusual high tides will likely drop later on today.
Tides will be high here, as will the amount of rain coming in with this thing, 4 to 8 inches potentially and that's going to be the big issue because they just got off the heels of Hurricane Alex. The Rio Grande is almost at record levels as far as flooding goes right now. You're getting more rain coming in. You're seeing that here, rotating around this system on the - on the radar, from Brownsville to Corpus Christi, up to Houston. It's going to be a wet day across the Southeast Texas coastline for sure.
Trying to get some rain across the northeast, just to kind of, you know, cool things off a little bit. Temperatures will be a little bit cooler today as opposed to yesterday, and these showers, if they do, you know, drop any rain, it's going to be very, very minimal but just enough to kind of get that summer scent off the pavement and the sidewalks.
Ninety-two degrees expected high temperature in New York City today, 93 degrees in D.C. We did see records fall across this area again yesterday, triple digits in D.C. and Richmond and New York City, so we'll be about five to maybe 10 degrees cooler today, and that's the - the good news is this whole system begins to sink to the south.
If you are flying today, there may be some delays upwards of about an hour in D.C. and Philly because of the haze. Also, some haze possibly in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Detroit, 30 to 60-minute delays there and 30 to 60 minute delays in Chicago, Dallas and Houston.
John, Kate, back up to you.
ROBERTS: You expecting any rain any time soon there in Atlanta, Rob? I mean, it didn't - didn't stop raining for two years and now the last week there's been nothing.
MARCIANO: Yes, I know. It's been pretty dry and the heat now is sinking now to the south, so Atlanta and much of the southeast will be up near 100 degrees. So the heat that you've seen the past couple of days is going to be down here and -
BOLDUAN: Thanks (ph).
MARCIANO: -- there's not a whole lot of rain in the forecast here over the next couple of days.
ROBERTS: "Hotlanta" finally living up to its name.
MARCIANO: Yes.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: Exactly. Right, guys.
BOLDUAN: Finally.
ROBERTS: Finally.
This morning's top stories just minutes away now, including a cold war comeback, secret meetings going on behind closed doors. Are Washington and Moscow arranging a spy swap? We're live in Washington with some answers for you this morning.
BOLDUAN: And landing NBA's most sought-after free agent is a crowning achievement, but where will King James hold court next - court next season? Max Kellermann talks about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Tonight, the final scene in LeBron James' free agent drama plays out before a live TV audience.
ROBERTS: King James is going to reveal which NBA team he's going to be playing for next season. Joining us now with his take on LeBron's big decision, our CNN Contributor, our sports guy, Max Kellermann.
So ESPN says leaning toward Miami.
MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Of course they do because at every turn, the national media - not just ESPN, but the national media has been led round by their noses by sources with an interest in what - in the information they were leaking. At this - when - by the time everyone found out the press conference that he's holding tonight is - or the event, the one-hour televised event at 9:00 P.M. tonight, was going to be held in Greenwich, Connecticut, everyone put - where the Knicks practice, everyone put two and two together and so now this is where it comes out because it killed all the drama.
ROBERTS: So how do you resist the temptation to be led around by the nose?
KELLERMAN: You have to look at - any time there's been analysis of the actual facts that have come out about this, about LeBron James - that's another thing. You read - you read about this vitriol in the national press that what it looks like, well, wait a minute, he's not going to the Bulls, he's not staying in Cleveland. But he is going to the Knicks.
The vitriol in the press, he's a prima donna and this whole process is ridiculous. It's a - it's sports. It's not that - you know, like this stuff going on in the gulf, right? It's sports. It - you should have some fun with it.
I think the whole thing has been pretty fun. It's been fun to talk about and speculate about. But it's pretty obvious from the facts from day one that if he wasn't staying in Cleveland, the logical destination for LeBron James was New York.
So if you took out the commentary and just looked at the actual reporting, that's the conclusion you would draw. But there were the facts laid out by all the national media, and even by some of the media in New York, and then the commentary was the Knicks have no chance. Really? They have all the cap room to sign another star. It's the biggest market in the country, you know? There are a million -
Basketball - this is another thing that is really interesting to me.
ROBERTS: Do you have a question you want to ask him or are you just -
BOLDUAN: I do, but -
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Wind him up and put him on a -
KELLERMAN: Basketball is a sport, an American team sport where one player makes much more of a difference than in football or baseball. So the idea that, well, he can't go to Team X because Team X stinks, but not once they have LeBron James, it doesn't stink anymore.
ROBERTS: You think it wouldn't stink anymore?
KELLEMAN: Yes, anyway - yes?
BOLDUAN: Well, talking about the media hoopla spanning this whole thing, what do you think of this special tonight, the decision?
KELLERMAN: Yes.
BOLDUAN: I mean, has this ever happened before?
KELLERMAN: No.
BOLDUAN: And is it - is it worth it? Is it going to live up to it? I mean, what do you - what's your take on that?
KELLERMAN: Supposedly he's going to announce in the first 10 minutes, where he's going.
BOLDUAN: What do you do -
KELLERMAN: What do you do with the next - I guess, you know, you (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: -- dance routine and -
BOLDUAN: Backup - backup LeBron's -
KELLERMAN: Yes. He's going to don the jersey. He's going to talk about how much he likes this new opportunity. He'll take questions. I mean, yes, right. He'll do a song and dance routine.
ROBERTS: There'll be a retrospective of his life.
KELLERMAN: That's - I mean, you know, the other thing is people are so - I noticed this kind of anger in the press that this 25-year-old who hasn't won a championship yet is - is making everyone jump through these hoops.
The press does not have to jump through these hoops. It doesn't need to be covered. I don't need to be talking about it right now. ESPN doesn't need to air -
We're doing it because there's tremendous interest because he's an interesting player.
ROBERTS: What's nice about it, though -
BOLDUAN: But is it worth it? I mean, you know -
ROBERTS: Well, it's certainly worth it for the Boys and Girls Club, which is great because the revenue from the TV special tonight is going to go to his favorite charity, which is a - it's a noble thing to do.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely.
KELLERMAN: And that's the way you get around disappointing everyone in Cleveland and - and the various other markets.
ROBERTS: Oh.
KELLERMAN: We're giving - we're giving -
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE).
KELLERMAN: I mean, listen - no, he may have - he obviously have a genuine interest in the Boys and Girls Club.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: -- fans in Cleveland who are crying in your beer right now, but the Boys and Girls Club are doing well.
KELLERMAN: Well, it kind of - you know, how can you cry about -
ROBERTS: -- that is like a guilt alleviator?
KELLERMAN: Absolutely. It happens to coincide with a genuine interest. It really has (ph).
ROBERTS: You are the conspiracy theorist.
BOLDUAN: You do also know that John gave you a promotion. You are also a superhero.
KELLERMAN: How is this?
ROBERTS: Well, you got a superhero name. Max Kellerman.
KELLERMAN: I'm into it. Listen -
(CROSSTALK)
KELLERMAN: When I was a kid I wouldn't leave the house without my cape. It happens to be a fact.
ROBERTS: Two minutes to the top of the hour.
BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTS: Top stories coming right up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
