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American Morning
Tropical Storm Threatens Gulf; Congressman Rangel Not Worried; Who is Cheryl Cook?; Silver Lining in the Gulf; What If There's Another Spill?; Cold Hard Facts
Aired July 23, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning to you. And thanks so much for joining us on the "Most News in the Morning." It's the 23rd of July. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. We have a lot to talk about this morning.
A growing threat to the Gulf Coast. Tropical storm Bonnie now on the move, and there are projections this morning that show the storm right on a collision course with the oil spill site.
This morning we're live with what this tropical storm could mean for efforts to contain the oil spill and protect the coastline.
ROBERTS: The woman who allegedly called Shirley Sherrod three times demanding she resign claiming that she is speaking for the White House. Who is she? Where is she?
As officials keep passing the buck on this story we try to track her down and we'll have live reaction from Shirley Sherrod herself. She's going to tell us about her talk yesterday with the president.
CHETRY: And trial by ethics committee. New York Congressman Charlie Rangel facing a formal House hearing next week on alleged ethics violations. Those charges forced him to step aside as head of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
Rangel says he welcomes the opportunity to clear his name. And we'll have a live report on that just ahead.
Meantime, the "A.M. Fix" blog is up and running. Join the live conversation right now. Just head to CNN.com/amfix.
ROBERTS: But first, tropical storm Bonnie taking aim at the Gulf of Mexico. This morning the storm is bearing down on the Bahamas.
CHETRY: Yes, but by this afternoon projections show Bonnie cutting a path through the Florida Keys where tropical storm warnings are now posted. And over the next day Bonnie is expected to grow just shy of hurricane strength and turn toward the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site.
ROBERTS: And this morning in advance of the storm, the government ordering the giant drill ships and rigs that are working to stop the BP oil leak to pull up and get out of harm's way.
But some good news. The containment cap that's been keeping a tight lid on the damaged well for the past eight days will stay sealed and apparently it's still working.
CHETRY: That is certainly good news but meantime potentially dangerous weather is also forcing the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center which is located along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana to relocate.
Crews started moving the oiled animals overnight to try to minimize the stress. The animals and personnel will now be at a larger facility that is outside of the hurricane evacuation zone.
ROBERTS: So where is Bonnie headed and what kind of strength will it -- she achieve before she makes landfall? Our Reynolds Wolf tracking the storm. He's in our storm center Atlanta.
What's the latest for us this morning, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Guys, the latest we have from the National Hurricane Center is this. Tropical storm Bonnie, the second named storm of the 2010 Atlantic season, is now moving to the west-northwest at 18 miles per hour.
Sustained winds at about 40 miles per hour so this is a minimal tropical storm. It does have some gusts that have been stronger running 50 miles per hour. It currently is 158 miles from Miami, Florida. At least that's the center of circulation.
Now the storm is going to hop-scotch its way across the islands, possibly going right through the Straits of Florida, maybe skimming past Key West and then out into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
However what the storm is going to also experience is it will encounter some strong shears, some stronger (INAUDIBLE) winds over the next 12 to 24 hours. That storm may actually fluctuate in strength weakening a little bit. But then as we make our way into that 36 hours to 48 hours may have the chance to move into an area with less shear and possibly strengthen a bit more. So fluctuations in strength is definite.
As we get into Saturday, checking our winds at 45 gusts to 60. Winds of 50 going to 65 as we get into Saturday. Then possibly moving right into the oil slick area, winds to the west, again winds at 50 but gusting 65 at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday.
We also want you to notice the cone of uncertainty. There's a chance the storm could pull a bit more to the north, maybe closer to Pensacola, perhaps Panama City, or maybe even farther to the south making landfall near Galveston.
There is so much uncertainty with this storm easily within the next 24 to 48 hours we'll have a better handle on where this storm may be headed and how strong it may become.
Back to you. CHETRY: Meantime, while you're telling us about as we watch out for Bonnie, but there are also some major storms in the Midwest. What's the latest on that front?
WOLF: The latest on that, it's going to be clean-up time for places like Milwaukee. For example, up Milwaukee they had not only some strong storms yesterday but they -- especially last night were so strong that they actually shut down parts of the airport in Milwaukee.
Two people struck by lightning and a lot of the streets have been flooded out.
We still have a bit of that stationary front that's right across parts of Milwaukee and just north of Chicago. More rain expected today which means possibly more flooding.
CHETRY: All right. Unfortunately, that's the case. It's been really, really tough on them this past week. Thanks so much, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet.
CHETRY: Also coming up in just 30 minutes we're going to be live in the Gulf Coast. Our Rob Marciano is standing by in Gulf Shores, Alabama for us.
ROBERTS: Well, also new this morning, government investigators confirming a whistleblower's charge that a cozy relationship between the Federal Aviation Administration and Northwest Airlines -- compromised, rather, passenger safety.
A report by the Transportation Department's Inspector General says Northwest repeatedly failed to follow federal safety orders for more than a decade while the FAA routinely allowed the airline to avoid fines and penalties.
Northwest merged with Delta last year.
CHETRY: Also Scotch ministers have turned down an invitation to testify next week when a Senate committee holds hearings on the release of the Lockerbie bomber. Senators want to get to the bottom of Scotland's decision to free Abdel al-Megrahi from jail last year, while allowing him to return home to Libya on humanitarian grounds.
They also want to explore BP's role in that controversy. The energy giant denies specifically lobbying for al-Megrahi's release in order to win a lucrative oil deal with Libya.
Well, it's now up to a federal judge to decide whether to stop Arizona's tough new immigration from taking effect next week. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton heard two cases yesterday, one filed by civil rights groups, the other by the Justice Department.
The Obama administration is asking for an injunction to stop the law from being enforced July 29th. ROBERTS: One of the most powerful men in Congress will get his day in court. New York Congressman Charlie Rangel has been formally charged with a string of ethics violations following a lengthy investigation.
CHETRY: Next week the House Ethics Committee will hold its version of a trial to consider those allegations. Rangel's reaction -- bring it on.
Congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is following developments. She's live in Washington.
And of course, this is a big deal for Congressman Rangel especially considering the timing happening right before the midterm elections. But he's saying he's happy to clear his name.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's what he's saying. He's saying that he's hoping that all of this sort of comes in to the light. But this is going to be tough for a Democrat who's facing primary challengers in September.
This is a big deal, as you said, Kiran. This is what one senior Democratic source described to us as the congressional equivalent of an indictment. He basically goes on trial here before the Ethics Committee and the Ethics Committee lawyers who have been investigating a number of potential ethics transgressions on the part of Charles Rangel will present their case -- basically as prosecutors -- and then Mr. Rangel's attorneys are going to present his defense.
We ran into Congressman Rangel last night in the halls. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP.CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: All I'm doing is to get up my (INAUDIBLE) right now and saying at long last the Ethics Committee has completed its investigation at my request. It will report those findings on Thursday, and when they do, I look forward to responding.
As relates to my election, I'm glad and hope that this will be aired before the September primary and certainly before the November election. So until they go public I can't go public because I would not know exactly what their findings are and I will not know until Thursday.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You have not been shown the report?
RANGEL: There is no report. They gave this saying that the report will be issued on Thursday. Next Thursday. I'd like to say that at long last the sun will be piercing over the cloud that I've been carrying for almost two years.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So obviously saying that he's happy that the air will be cleared but make no mistake, Kiran, Democrats are not happy to be dealing with an ethics issue like this just months before a hotly contested -- hotly contested midterm election.
And here's the thing. We don't even know exactly what these charges are, although of course there have been a number of issues that Rangel has faced over the past months and really over the past year or so.
ROBERTS: We do have some idea of what they're connected to, correct?
KEILAR: Yes. And we have an idea because there have been a litany of issues that have been raised. Among them, he had multiple rent-controlled apartment units in his Harlem, New York building when he shouldn't have had a number of them.
Also he used official congressional letterhead to solicit donations to a center bearing his name there in New York.
Some of the bigger ones though, John and Kiran, he failed to pay taxes on $75,000 worth of earnings that he got for a rental villa that he has in the Dominican Republic. And he also failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars of assets on his congressional financial disclosure form.
And you may recall that back in early March, he stepped down as the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the tax writing committee, after the Ethics Committee admonished him for corporate sponsored travel he took to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008.
CHETRY: Right. And a lot of people say because he's on that committee, he can't claim ignorance like I didn't know it, because he writes the law.
KEILAR: Exactly.
CHETRY: So --
KEILAR: And he's still on that committee but he was the chairman of it and that was the great irony of this.
ROBERTS: Brianna Keilar for us in Capitol Hill. Brianna, thanks so much.
Coming up next, the latest twist and turns in the Shirley Sherrod case. Searching for Cheryl Cook. Who is she and where is she?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Secretary, Ed Henry at CNN. Will Cheryl Cook be made available for any questions? There has been an allegation that, you know, she said that the White House wanted Shirley to resign.
Will she be made available to answer questions? Why not?
TOM VILSACK, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: I addressed that yesterday.
HENRY: But nobody is saying what really happened.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twelve minutes now after the hour. When the government threw Shirley Sherrod under the bus, this woman was the one driving it. We're talking about Agricultural Department official Cheryl Cook.
Sherrod claims that Cook is the one that called her and told her to pull over and bang out a resignation immediately on her BlackBerry.
CHETRY: And Cook may be able to answer a lot of questions, including how far up the ladder this whole thing really went.
Our Ed Henry is digging deeper for us this morning.
You literally needed your running shoes yesterday because you were chasing down this story.
HENRY: We were trying to track it down. It's interesting because the Obama administration obviously talks a lot about transparency, but when it comes to those very questions you're talking about, these contacts between Agriculture officials and White House officials in those key hours on Monday right before Shirley Sherrod was pushed out, all of a sudden they don't want to talk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): In the saga of Shirley Sherrod, there's only one mystery left to be solved. Where is Cheryl Cook?
(on camera): Cheryl Cook works here at the Agriculture Department as a top aide to Secretary Tom Vilsack. And she's in the middle of this story because Shirley Sherrod alleges that on Monday when the story first exploded, Cheryl Cook called her three times and demanded that she resign and that Cheryl Cook said it was at the urging of the White House.
Now White House officials and Secretary Vilsack have denied that but Cheryl Cook hasn't come forward to answer one single question on this matter.
So we spent the day trying to track her down from here at the Agriculture Department, two blocks away over at the White House.
(Voice-over): In the afternoon, my colleague Dan Lothian pressed Robert Gibbs on whether the White House would make Cook available.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I would point you to USDA. I don't know if you talked to USDA.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The person who supposedly said that the White House --
GIBBS: Dan, if you want to -- LOTHIAN: -- wanted her to step down.
GIBBS: Undersecretary or the deputy secretary -- again, call the Department of Agriculture.
HENRY (on camera): You can hear on the overhead intercom that Robert Gibbs is still doing his daily briefing. He just told Dan Lothian that if you want to reach Cheryl Cook at the Agriculture Department, he should call the Press Office.
We're going to try to track her down.
Hey there, it's Ed Henry at CNN. We're working on a story about Cheryl Cook. And I just wanted to see if we can get an interview with her because Robert Gibbs just said in the briefing for the second day in a row that if any reporters want to talk to her, we should call over to the Press Office.
Can you help us?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me see. I can -- let me take your information down.
HENRY (voice-over): Later in the afternoon I got a call back from another press person who left me a voicemail shedding no new light on Cook's contact with the White House.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we've been pretty clear about what her involvement was or wasn't. Obviously we informed them of what was going on because that's what we do on a daily basis. And in terms of their request or anything else, they -- this was our decision here at USDA.
HENRY: Then suddenly a possible breakthrough.
(on camera): My producer Shanna Shepherd (ph) has just gotten what we believe to be the direct line at the Agriculture Department for Cheryl Cook as well as her cell numbers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. The mailbox belonging to Cheryl Cook is full. To disconnect, press "one". To enter another number, press "two".
HENRY: She's getting a lot of calls. She's not returning calls.
HENRY (voice-over): So we headed to Agriculture Headquarters to see if we could find Cheryl Cook there.
HENRY (on camera): Have you seen her? Have you seen this woman anywhere?
HENRY (voice-over): We tried to talk to Secretary Vilsack, but his driver spotted our camera and the car was brought to a different entrance and the secretary left. But just as we were about to leave, the secretary's car came back to the office and we confronted him.
HENRY (on camera): Secretary, can I have you in two minutes (ph)? Will Cheryl Cook be made available for any questions? There's been an allegation that, you know, she said that the White House wanted Shirley to resign. Will she be made available to answer questions? Why not?
TOM VILSACK, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: I addressed that yesterday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Now, he -- the secretary said he had addressed that the day before. All he had said was that there was a liaison at the Agriculture Department who spoke to somebody at the White House. He didn't reveal the name of the liaison at Agriculture.
Robert Gibbs at the White House has not revealed which White House official or officials inside that building spoke to Agriculture. So all we have still is Shirley Sherrod saying repeatedly on our air that she was told by Cheryl Cook that people inside the White House wanted her out.
Now, the White House, again, has consistently denied that that took place, but they haven't made any of the people involved in those conversations available to answer a single question about this.
ROBERTS: Well, she -- she's got to surface at some point, Ed.
HENRY: You would think. I mean, obviously, Republicans on Capitol Hill certainly want to talk to her. We've heard that. But they don't have the power of the gavel right now and it seems highly unlikely that Congressional Democrats are going to sort of pour gasoline on the fire right now.
But the Republicans on the Hill certainly want to hear and want to -- you know, ask some questions about what happened. If there's nothing there, they can certainly move on if they'd just answer a couple of questions about it.
CHETRY: I think the American public is interested as well. They've been certainly captured by the Shirley Sherrod saga as it is now. But that was very telling how much running around you had to do yesterday to try to get a couple of simple questions answered.
Good stuff, Ed. I'm glad our viewers got to see it.
HENRY: All right. Thanks. Have a good day.
CHETRY: You too.
Still ahead, we're going to talk to Shirley Sherrod herself. Yesterday, when she was on the program, she said she had a few things she would like to tell the president if she had the chance to talk to him. Well, she got her chance.
Seventeen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 20 minutes after the hour.
There was no beer summit. She doesn't drink beer. But President Obama did speak with Shirley Sherrod yesterday.
CHETRY: And you probably know by now, she's the former Agriculture Department employee forced to resign when comments she made were twisted to sound racist and then posted on the web.
Well, Shirley Sherrod is back with us this morning after quite a whirlwind week. She's back home in her hometown of Albany, Georgia. Shirley, thanks for being with us.
SHIRLEY SHERROD, FORMER GEORGIA DIRECTOR OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT, USDA: Thank you.
CHETRY: I want to ask you --
SHERROD: It was great to be home.
ROBERTS: You bet (ph).
CHETRY: Yes. I -- I imagine. Glad you're there. But, you know, you're still in the limelight, for sure. Yesterday, when you were on our program, we asked you whether or not you'd heard from the president and whether you wanted to, and you said you indeed did want to hear from him.
Tell us what happened yesterday, because as we understand it, it started with a text message and it ended with a phone call from President Obama.
SHERROD: Yes. He said he had actually been trying to get me since Wednesday night, but, of course, my phone was full. It couldn't take anymore messages.
And, finally, I was on the way to the airport in an attempt to get home, when I checked my messages and had received one from the White House saying the president was trying to get in touch with me and please give them a call. I did that and I had the conversation with him and, you know, I feel good about that.
ROBERTS: You know, Shirley, yesterday when you joined us here in the studio, you -- you told us that where the rubber meets the road for African-Americans, particularly African-Americans who are -- are either farm workers or farm owners, that the president really doesn't have the same level of experience that other people, including yourself, have.
Did you -- and you -- you thought that you could maybe enlighten him a little bit as to what it's like there on the front lines. Did you have that conversation with him yesterday? SHERROD: We didn't -- yes, we didn't have a chance to get into that kind of conversation yesterday. But, you know, toward the end of the conversation, I told him I'd love to have him come to South Georgia. And if he does that, I think I can take him around and show him some things. It wouldn't take a lot of time. But definitely I could bring the point home.
CHETRY: What did he say? Did he apologize to you?
SHERROD: Well, you know, he didn't say "I'm sorry," in those words. And I really didn't want to hear the president of the United States say "I'm sorry" to Shirley Sherrod. I felt he was saying that in his talk just by simply calling me. I felt it was, in a way, saying "I'm sorry", because he didn't have to do it.
ROBERTS: Yes. You know, Shirley, this is the -- the second time that race has crossed the administration's path in a -- in a big way. That the other incident was the one up in Cambridge with Skip Gates and that police officer. And both times this administration has badly fumbled the issue.
But what does that say to you about this administration's ability to talk about race?
SHERROD: You know, I guess because he's a black president, for some reason they feel you can't talk about issues that affect just black people. Now, I faced that before when we were trying to get the Minority Farmers Act. Initially, it was not called a Minority Farmers Act. It was called a Black Farmers Act. And we were told that people in Congress wouldn't vote for something just for black people.
I'm assuming this administration feels, too, that, you know, if they highlight issues of black people, it would -- the country would perceive it as something negative. I know they probably have to struggle with that, but I think they're wrong. I think they could do more to -- to advance unity if they could promote a discussion from that level.
CHETRY: That's interesting. There have also been a lot of questions about just how high up the chain of command the -- the demands for your resignation went. And as we know and as you talked about, you were asked to pull to the side road after taking several phone calls from the Department of Agriculture and tap out on your BlackBerry a resignation as you were driving somewhere. The person on the other end of the line was Cheryl Cook.
Our Ed Henry tried to sort of chase her down yesterday, just to get a few answers from her and also had a chance to speak with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack about it, and no one seemed to be answering any questions.
What's your take on -- and there she is pictured there in the background with sec -- the Agriculture secretary. What is your take on what -- who was perhaps instructing Cheryl Cook and what should happen after this? SHERROD: You know, I know Cheryl Cook and I know, had she been given the opportunity to make a decision here on her own, we -- we wouldn't be sitting here talking about this. So she was the messenger. She wasn't -- I really, truly do believe it was not her message.
Cheryl is a great person. I would definitely want to see her be able to continue the work she was doing at USDA. So I would hope that this attention on her would not cause them to do the same thing they did to me, you know, boot her out, get rid of that as if it's a sore that needs to be dealt with. She's doing some great work at USDA and there are a few others there doing some great work.
That's why I've said early on, I know those people need to be able to stay there. They need a little more freedom to make some of the changes that need to be made, though.
ROBERTS: Shirley, there's one other issue that -- that has cropped up in the past 24 hours. Steve King, Republican representative from Iowa, is questioning how and why you were hired by the USDA in light of the fact that you -- when you were in charge of this large farm cooperative in Georgia, the New Communities Cooperative and the Pickford Farms case, were awarded a substantial amount of money, $13 million was the overall settlement to the -- to the cooperative. You and your husband received I believe it was $300,000.
Another question, why would you be hired by an agency that you sued? Can you enlighten us as to how you did get hired by the USDA?
SHERROD: You know, I think that the fact that I was hired speaks, you know, volumes for this administration that they would be willing to take someone who felt the brunt of the discrimination from the agency to bring them in to help make changes, some of the necessary changes in how programs -- programs are implemented.
The fact is that rural development does not work directly with farmers. Had I been appointed state director of farm service agency, then I would have been working directly with farmers.
CHETRY: Right.
SHERROD: But rural development actually works with cities and businesses, and I can tell you that the work I was doing in Georgia was -- had has Georgia setting records this year with how those programs have been implemented. We will do more -- and you hear me saying "we".
I'm not a government official anymore, but those programs being implemented in such a way that this is a year Georgia wouldn't send any money back to Washington. That money is actually being distributed in the communities. Some of them, the poor communities that needed them. Some of them on the EPA consent orders. You know, got to do something about their sewage systems and now that money --
CHETRY: Actually -- SHERROD: -- is getting out there.
CHETRY: Ii want to ask you about this further though. Because Congressman King seemed to insinuate as he was talking about this that perhaps some of the claims awarded were fraudulent. He -- he went on to say that perhaps if he -- if the Republicans reclaim the House that there might be some investigation into this.
Do you fear this is perhaps another political hot potato to smear you perhaps by some Conservatives, because, again, this interview was linked to biggovernment.com, Andrew Breitbart, one of his Web sites?
SHERROD: I'm certain that's an attempt to try to smear me. But they can look into this case. You know, if new communities had been able to use the discrimination that it experienced in years prior to 1981. You know, the Pickford case only covered the years 1981 to 1996. There was so much damaging evidence of the discrimination that we faced. That -- that award probably would have been -- would have been five, six, 10 times more than what was awarded.
We could only use what we experienced from 1981, you know, until we were foreclosed in 1985. I can tell you some horror stories that I experienced. I could take you back to horror stories -- stories that my father experienced in trying to -- to get loans from farmers home administration.
CHETRY: Right.
SHERROD: I could take you to the home that my mother is still living in where my father was trying to borrow money to build a home and they told him a black man could not borrow the money to build a brick house, which is what he wanted. People down here build houses made of brick. He could not do that.
If you look at that house now, they picked the smallest blocks they could find. They wanted a brick house. But a black man in Baker County could not get money to do that. I could tell you many more horror stories.
So, who could better try to work within the agency to try to have -- make systemic change than someone who's experienced the brunt of discrimination from the agency?
ROBERTS: Well, obviously, the final chapter is yet to be written in this whole story.
Shirley, it's great to catch up with you again. Thanks for joining us today.
CHETRY: Shirley, thanks for your time.
SHERROD: Thank you.
ROBERTS: All right. We got half past the hour. We'll be right back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Top stories this morning:
A call from the president. President Obama is getting in touch with Shirley Sherrod after she was forced to step down from her post at the USDA earlier this week. It was all over a tape that twisted her words on race before the truth came out. She says that she's not seen her new job offer in writing yet.
CHETRY: Also, New York Congressman Charlie Rangel faces a public hearing next week to determine if he violated ethics rules. A House panel brought formal charges against Rangel yesterday. Rangel says he welcomes the chance to defend himself. He'll have to do it though while campaigning for re-election to a 21st term in Congress come November.
ROBERTS: And this morning, the government is temporarily suspending operations to seal off the BP well. Last night, Incident Commander Thad Allen ordered most of the rigs and vessels at the spill site to move because as Tropical Storm Bonnie moves closer to the Gulf. The decision to evacuate containment crews could delay efforts to permanently kill the well by maybe 10 days to even two weeks.
CHETRY: At least though that cap is on and tight and there's no oil spilling.
ROBERTS: Thank goodness. Imagine if they had to pull up and didn't have that cap in place. What a nightmare that would be.
CHETRY: Yes. It could have been much worse.
Well, those storm clouds are forming, and they're closing in. And it's tough to find a silver lining in the Gulf of Mexico. But here is one.
ROBERTS: Yes. Roughly, a third of the Gulf waters that were closed to fishing because of the oil spill have now been reopened. That is 26,000 square miles of ocean. There's been no oil spotted in the area since last month and the fish being caught there are testing clean.
CHETRY: Wow.
Rob Marciano is live in Gulf Shores, Alabama, this morning.
Certainly, a good news for fishermen. I mean, we talk so much about their livelihoods. Unfortunately, there's also a Tropical Storm Bonnie that's on everyone's mind right now. So, touch on both of those a little bit for us this morning.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, that's the second piece of optimistic information that we've been able to deliver for the second day in a row. The first being yesterday when they told us they were having at least some difficulty finding notable or significant oil to skim and now opening some of those Gulf waters. So, because we've had that cap now, this is day eight on, and there's been less or no oil seeping into the Gulf of Mexico, they've been able to get at least some forward progress made.
And now, on the heels of that, we've got Bonnie which isn't a hurricane, or expected to be a hurricane, but a tropical storm that is expected to go right over the spill site. They're not taking any chances. They got over 2,000 people that work around that spill site so they want to get them all out of harm's way.
The problem is, the drilling rig drilling the relief well, it takes three or four days just to get it unplugged and out of the way, and then another couple days to bring it back. So, it's a huge, huge delay.
Skimming operations will probably continue at least for today. They try to do it just during the day. But a lot of times, day turns into night. And being on one of those Coast Guard skimmers at night when they pull that dirty equipment out of the water is intimidating.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You take all the slack out, I'll make it up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Once the barge was in place, we had alas the two vessels together.
(on camera): Are you just trying to tighten up this slack here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take all the slack out.
MARCAIANO: We're going to make this as tight as possible. I can feel the tug pulling against me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're about as good as we're going to get there.
MARCIANO: I'm just doing that for 20 seconds. I'm exhausted, bro. We haven't even started.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three-one-four, it sounds good.
MARCIANO: This whole process has taken hours. I mean, we're almost into the afternoon and we haven't skimmed a thing or even deployed any sort of skimming equipment. It's giving me a real appreciation for what these guys are doing every day.
You think you just come out here, you drop some boom and throw a vacuum cleaner on it and suck up the oil. There is so much more to it when you're talking about a project of this scope and a mess this big that needs to be cleaned up. It's painstakingly slow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: That process is slow. The nighttime video we'll show you in the next hour. And I guess that illustrates the point of how much time it takes to unplug that relief well rig. You know, four days just to get it unplugged and out of there, and another two or three days to bring it back. That's why we've got a 10- to 14-day delay because of Bonnie coming into the Gulf.
So, it's frustratingly slow. But at least for now, it's capped and there's no more oil coming out of the bottom of the ocean -- John and Kiran.
CHETRY: That's good news.
And when we talk about the reopening of the fishing, you know, we talk about how short the shrimping season is, what about for fishermen? I mean, is this going to make a significant impact for their livelihoods or is it too late?
MARCIANO: Well, I think these guys are looking at it one day at a time. They're very happy to be working as Vessels of Opportunity -- at least most of the ones that we talked to. They, short term, are happy about that. And I think most of them at least for now are trying not to think about the long term. They just want to pay the bills day by day, get this mess cleaned up, and then they'll worry about the long-term effects later on.
CHETRY: All right, Rob Marciano for us, thanks so much.
And we want to remind people that Rob has a special report, "Rescue: Saving the Gulf." He's on the front lines of what can be the largest clean-up effort ever. Join him Saturday and Sunday night 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: Big oil is launching a big billion dollar plan just in case there's ever another spill in the Gulf. We're talking about that with the president of Shell Oil Company -- coming up next.
It's 38 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Forty-one minutes after the hour.
Four oil giants are pulling together, launching a, quote, "rapid response system" to deal with any future oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. BP is not one of the four. We're talking about Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Shell. Right now, they are committing $1 billion to the plan but they're not saying when it will be ready.
The system -- take a look at this graphic -- would include a subsea containment assembly, basically the same thing as the capping stack that BP just put over its damaged blowout preventer. It would also use manifolds on the sea floor to direct the oil and freestanding risers with flexible hoses to bring oil to the surface -- all very similar to what BP developed over the course of three months.
"Minding Your Business" this morning, I talk more about this plan with the president of Shell Oil, Marvin Odum.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARVIN ODUM, PRESIDENT OF SHELL OIL COMPANY: What we're proposing to put together is a lot like having, you know, the latest technology on a fire truck and a fire station with a crew trained and ready to go. And so, this is a matter of thinking across the conditions in the Gulf of Mexico, various depths, currents and that type of thing, pre-building, engineering and pre-building all of the equipment we may need for various scenarios and having that ready to go. So, very adaptable, scalable to different volumes that may be required to be addressed.
ROBERTS: You said that this is scalable to work at any depth. I think it's up to 10,000 feet. How can you be certain that it will work up to 10,000 feet? This had never been done before at 5,000. Are you just extrapolating to say, well, if it works at 5,000, it will work at 10,000? And what if the nature of the blowout is somewhat different than what we've seen with the Macondo well?
ODUM: Yes, that's a good question, because the adaptability or ability to respond to a wide range of conditions is exactly what we're after.
Now, in terms of operating at 10,000 feet, we do actually know how to do that. We've drilled wells at 10,000 feet. Some of the last wells we've completed as a matter of fact were in 10,000 feet of water. So, the technology is very similar. You adjust to the depths and pressures but we can -- we can do that.
So, it is a matter of getting this out there and having it ready to respond.
ROBERTS: You've got three other participants in this plan with you. ConocoPhillips is in on it, Chevron, ExxonMobil. Why not include BP? Because at this point, they had the most expertise in dealing with this.
ODUM: We absolutely want to learn everything that we can learn from what BP's gone through. We want BP to be part of this eventually. Actually, we want every operator in the Gulf of Mexico to be part of this. The reason why we stepped out as four companies is we think it makes sense and we think the public and the government actually would want us to do this as well. And we owe it to ourselves as an industry, is to step out there and get this built and implemented as quickly as possible.
The fastest way to do that was for these four companies to bring their expertise together, commit the money, get it built, and then we'll invite all of the industry into it, just like we have in other industry consortiums.
ROBERTS: We remember all too well several weeks ago when you and your colleagues were before a committee in Congress and your emergency plans were pretty much ridiculed by lawmakers as cut-and- paste plans that really didn't seem to viable. Is this a direct response to that?
ODUM: Well, this is part of that. I think -- I think of this whole situation as somewhat of a three-legged stool, to use an old analog.
But, you know, one leg of the stool is if you have a blowout, it's the ability to contain the oil and capture it and keep it out of the water. That's what this piece in particular that we're announcing today addresses.
The other leg of that stool is all about prevention. So, how do you get the regulations and the requirements around well design, get them in place, get them at the right level, and that really ups the game in terms of preventing an accident like this from ever happening.
And really, the third leg of that stool, which is another one that we're working on currently and not ready to report out on yet but working on, and that is, if oil does get in the water, what is the best way to respond and how do we up our game in terms of being able to extract the oil from the water.
ROBERTS: As to the BP well itself, you have suggested that there may have been problems with the way that it was drilled. What would Shell have done differently had it been drilling that well?
ODUM: We have a very specific and actually global standard that we use all around the world for how we drill deepwater high-pressure wells. And that includes a very specific mechanical design, and it requires that we have multiple barriers in place at all times to prevent flow from ever getting to the surface. And each of those barriers have to be independently tested and confirm that they're working before you can move to the next step in operations.
So, between a very different mechanical design and that operational requirement to test to confirm before going forward, what I've seen of the investigation of this well so far says that that's very different.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Basically, what he was telling me was that at the very bottom of the casing structure going down to the well they would have put a series of plugs in there so that if would have been down in seas (ph), if the oil and gas broke through one, there would be another one to back it up. And he suggested that BP did not do that.
CHETRY: Yes and looking at the disastrous consequences afterward, it seems so easy, and it seems like just something everyone should have done or should have been required by law.
ROBERTS: A lot of should could have would (ph) go on here. Next hour, we're going to talk to him about the moratorium that's in place and what the potential effects could be even if it lasts for the six months that it's been declared or even worse if it goes beyond that. It's not just people along the Gulf Coast that will be affected. CHETRY: That's true. We could only look at a higher gas prices as well. Meanwhile, 46 minutes past the hour. Reynolds Wolf is in for Rob tracking Bonnie. This is just the latest round of bad news for the Gulf Coast. This storm is headed right near that deepwater horizon spill site. He's going to give us the forecast coming up.
ROBERTS: An official beer taster, probably a dream job for most guys, right? So why -- why -- are women better at it? The cold, hard facts just ahead. Forty-seven minutes after the hour.
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WOLF: Welcome back to CNN AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Reynolds Wolf.
And this is a look at hurricane -- rather, Tropical Storm Bonnie. This may become a hurricane, but right now, it looks like it's going to be fluctuating in power for the time being in the short order. But long term, there is a chance it may strengthen. But as it stands, it is tropical storm bonnie, winds at 40 miles an hour, gusting to 50. It's about 158 miles from Miami, Florida, and the latest path we have from the National Hurricane Center, it shows the storm expected to continue in its northwest trajectory moving closer to the oil slick.
Now, one thing we can anticipate with this is it will be encountering some shear in the short order but then may have stronger or rather weaker upper level wind as we get into Saturday, Saturday evening and then into Sunday. So, there is a chance it may intensify possibly moving closer towards Pensacola, perhaps, going farther to the west towards Houston maybe even Galveston. A lot of uncertainty long term. So, we'll watch it for you very carefully.
What I can tell you though is at this hour, we're already seeing some scattered showers and a few storms near Miami, South Miami Heights. As far as southeast Key West, the rain is going to develop. And farther to the north across parts of the Midwest, what we're seeing is not related to that storm but rather stationary front that brought some heavy weather to parts of Madison, Wisconsin, back in the Milwaukee where two people were struck by lightning just yesterday. There were reports of tornadoes in Milwaukee and, of course, some flooding. We could see more rainfall there today, possibly more issues with the heavy rainfall.
That is the very latest on your forecast. We got more coming up straight ahead on CNN AMERICAN MORNING, the Most News in the Morning.
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ROBERTS: Six minutes to the top of the hour. Now to an "AM Original." Don't we all wish that we could have this job? The woman you're about to meet has perfected an enviable skill, that of tasting beer.
CHETRY: Yes. We know men like beer more than women do, generally speaking. Judging by TV commercials, some men like beer more than they like women. But when it comes to the art of beer tasting, we're drinking you guys under the table. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's always funny to hear my children talk to other parents or to their teachers when they're asked about what does your mom do? My little daughter said, "she drinks beer all day." So, when we went in for parent-teacher conferences, I had a little bit of explaining to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got three samples to do a full profile on, appearance, aroma, flavor and finish.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For appearance, I said clear, golden, low foam. The aroma I said was low to moderate. It's very little beer that we actually do taste. We take very small zips. I'm going to go grab a glass. Almost done. You can tell by the dryness in the finished product. It's a good competition between the men and the women. We have a lot of fun in our taste panels.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Women are very good tasters because they have great ability to express themselves as far as, you know, what they're smelling, hearing, and tasting. Just overall, very expressive with the way they describe beers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are certainly times, many times, that we pick out a lot more aromas and flavors than men do. We're maybe a little more discriminating against the beer. I really think it's the greatest job ever. I get to come to work with a great group of people and be in a relaxed environment and make beer. I mean who couldn't love that job?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Wouldn't be a bad job.
CHETRY: Have at it.
ROBERTS: So, women are better at expressing themselves when it tastes beer.
CHETRY: Especially when it comes to beer.
ROBERTS: And I mean, the guy sits back and has a beer, the wife told me to go cut the grass.
CHETRY: Exactly! It's more of a counseling session or therapy session, right?
ROBERTS: Exactly. We'll sit around and air your grievances as opposed to describing the beer.
CHETRY: Good for her, though. That's great.
ROBERTS: The natural to default (ph) position.
CHETRY: Exactly. Wine chasers, I always need (ph) a wine chasers than guys. ROBERTS: Yes, I don't know if anybody (INAUDIBLE) but when I was in Argentina earlier this year, went through wine country there, there are a lot of women who are running wineries and a lot of women who are tasting wine and were demonstrating for us. I found it about 50-50, just anecdotally.
CHETRY: Wow. In Napa when we went, which was gorgeous and fun, a lot of families own these wineries, so the man and woman are both doing it but a lot of the tastings I saw were guys.
ROBERTS: It is we saw in "Sideways." Sandra Oh with the motorcycle helmet, she was, you know, holding the wine tasting there at the winery there.
CHETRY: Kind of makes me want a merlot. Just kidding. All right. Two minutes until the top of the hour --
ROBERTS: You're not drinking --
CHETRY: I know. It's pinot noir. We'll be right back.
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