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Panama City's New Airport; Abu Dhabi Group Helps With BP Spill; Al Awlaki Speaks in Video; President Obama to Dine With Senate Republicans; Fearless Felix to Jump From the Stratosphere; Will "Lost" Finale Answer All the Questions?
Aired May 23, 2010 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Checking our top stories, outrage and leaking oil, no shortage of the either in the gulf today. Harsh words from the Interior Secretary about BP's failed efforts to plug up the leak. More on that in a moment, plus a look at what the company hopes to do next.
In Southern India, they've found the cockpit voice recorder from that Air India crash. It's damaged, but investigators hope it sheds some light on why that jet overshot the runway yesterday and plunged over a cliff, killing 158 people. The Aviation Minister says human error cannot be ruled out.
A bittersweet image from the Space Shuttle. The shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station a few hours ago for the last time. It's now headed home on its final voyage. Once it lands Wednesday, it may never fly again.
More now on the disaster in the gulf, BP got a verbal lashing today from the Obama administration over its response to the oil spill. Speaking from BP headquarters in Houston, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar delivered a scathing critique of the company's efforts to contain the spill, which continues to pour hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico.
Salazar says from day one, BP has not fulfilled the mission it was supposed to fulfill and he insists he's not even confident the company knows what it's doing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN SALAZAR, INTERIOR SECRETARY: I am angry and I am frustrated that BP has been unable to stop this well from leaking and to stop the pollution from spreading. We are 33 days into this effort and deadline after deadline has been missed. Last time that I was here, BP made it clear that they're moving forward with a junk kill that was supposed to happen on Tuesday the 18th. Today, that has not yet happened.
So I have been here since 6:00 this morning, making sure that BP is doing everything that is human and technologically possible to take care of the BP spill that it has created in the Gulf of Mexico.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FOREMAN: Pressure is mounting on the White House as well.
Let's turn to CCN's Kate Bolduan up in Washington. Kate, what can you tell us about this?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, the White House is strongly defending the government's response to the spill so far, Tom.
White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs, he's pushing back on the mounting criticism from the right, the left and in between, that the government itself isn't doing nearly enough to take control of that catastrophic situation still unfolding in the Gulf. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's a lot of criticisms that one can have certainly for BP and even for the government in - in how we got to this, but I don't think anybody could credibly say, even as frustrated as they are and as frustrated as we are, that the government has stood around, done nothing and hoped for the best.
We were activated the moment that this oil rig exploded. This has been on the president's agenda ever since that happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And then there's this. A top BP executive is also trying to answer criticism today that the company can't be trusted as well as accusations that the company has been trying to downplay what's actually going on 5,000 feet below the surface. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB DUDLEY, BP MANAGING DIRECTOR: These words hurt a little bit because we're - we've been open about what we're doing. We've - what we're doing is certainly not anything in secret. We've had direct oversight and involvement from government agencies from the very first hours afterwards.
There's nobody - nobody who's more devastated by what has happened and nobody that wants to shut this off more than we do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So what is the White House doing, the administration doing? Well, one thing, the White House has announced yesterday, President Obama has formed a special independent commission, Tom, to investigate the oil spill and figure out how to prevent it from happening again, be that a change in regulation or something else.
And also, two top Obama administration officials are heading down to Louisiana tomorrow, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who you heard from right there, from Houston, as well as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. It's clearly not done. There's a lot of finger pointing going on, Tom, as well as everyone seems to have the same goal of let's get this thing stopped, but that doesn't seem to be an easy solution for that quite yet.
FOREMAN: So, Kate, I'm guessing that as the week starts off we can expect a lot more sharks circling in Washington around this issue until this thing gets cut off.
BOLDUAN: Yes. Here and in the gulf. Exactly, Tom.
FOREMAN: Absolutely. Thanks so much, Kate. Good to have you here.
BOLDUAN: Of course (ph).
FOREMAN: Efforts to contain the spill and minimize the damage continue. The strategy being used right now, a mile-long tube siphoning oil from the leaking well head up to a ship. BP officials say more than 57,000 gallons of oil have been collected in the last 24 hour this is way, but that's a sharp drop from Friday when almost twice as much was siphoned out.
BP says the amount will vary from day-to-day, but that technique isn't actually supposed to stop the leak anyway. To do that, crews are preparing for a dramatic maneuver called a top kill which they will most likely try on Tuesday. The top kill involves pumping mud under high pressure into the failed blowout preventer on top of the well which in theory will clog all of the leaking pipes and then, as you can see, a concrete seal can be put into place. This has never been done this deep before, and, if it works, it will be a technological triumph.
Earlier today, I talked with Richard Charter. He's a senior adviser for the animal advocacy group, Defenders of Wildlife, but he's also an export on offshore drilling, and I asked him if he thinks this top kill method can work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CHARTER, SENIOR ADVISER, DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE: Because the spiller did not have in place an immediate backup plan or immediate backup equipment, the problem here is that we're left with these experimental techniques. And at this water depth, as you accurately point out, this has never been tried.
The - I think everybody in America hopes this top kill technique will work because otherwise we have to wait until sometime in August for relief wells to be drilled. But the top kill, even done very carefully, has a certain amount of risk involved in making the spill actually worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: So let me get back to my basic question. With all of that in mind, let's go down to Louisiana right now where Governor Bobby Jindal is talking about all this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: To release pelicans back to those nests, and so many of those young pelicans may actually end up dying. Their second concern is many of the worst oiled pelicans may actually be on the inside of the islands and around some of these islands we actually saw places where -
And Billy's going to talk to you more about these, areas where Billy put down absorbent boom the parish had bought. They've been asking for a hard boom there. They were turned down. They were told there was not any hard boom available for those islands. So the parish went out, put up their own absorbent boom they have bought. When that got saturated, they put a second set of absorbent boom, and that is the only defense some of these islands have.
Another concern the biologists have is that many of these islands, and you can see the impact of the oil on - on the marshes, the grasses themselves, in addition to harming these birds, these islands are - are home for - these are home for residential birds like the brown pelican, Louisiana's State bird. It's also a very important home for migratory birds, at least twice a year, in the spring and the fall.
Indeed, it was only recently that the brown pelican was taken off the - the national endangered species list. So these are critical, critical grounds - critical breeding grounds for both residential birds like the brown pelicans as well as a migratory stopping point for other species.
This shows you why it's so important to keep the oil out off our wetlands. This is important for Louisiana. It's important for the gulf. It's important for the entire country.
And, again, I'm going to let Billy come up in a few minutes and talk to you a little bit later about some of the other things we saw today in terms of oil impact. Some of this oil started showing up late last night, overnight. The tidal waves will wash that oil up then bring it back.
And we know this is only the first wave. We know that there's more oil coming. And, again, you can see the distressed birds and, again, we saw biologists going out there, literally trying to rescue some of those birds.
On May the 2nd - I want to remind folks, on May the 2nd, 21st - 21 days ago, we met with the Coast Guard, the president, federal officials right here in Venice. At that time, we leaned forward, we requested a large amount of resources that our parishes would need under a worse case scenario response to this oil spill. Indeed, the day before, we had met with parish leaders and the very next day, May the 3rd, we announced all of our coastal parish detailed protection plans.
You heard me at that time. I said we were waiting for detailed protection plans. When we saw there weren't detailed plans coming, Louisiana's leaders, Louisiana's coastal parish leaders put together their own plans working with the state for each and every parish in the absence of any detailed plan coming from BP or the Coast Guard.
At that time, I said we were formally requesting on May 3rd, three million feet of absorbent boom, five million feet of hard boom, 30 jack-up barges (ph), and we told the Coast Guard to prepare to train fishermen to lay out and monitor that boom. Going back all the way back to May 2nd and May 3rd, we'd asked for all these things.
At that time I said, we didn't expect to get all these resources overnight, but we had seen the slow turn - turnaround timeframe for the request we'd already made. We wanted to lean forward, request the resources we knew we were going to need in a worst case scenario to protect our - our entire coast.
Today is May 23rd. We have now received a total of 786,185 feet of hard boom, not even a million feet out of the five million feet of hard boom we've identified would be needed to protect our entire coast. Of this hard boom, 643,148 feet of hard boom has actually been deployed. That means there's another 143,037 feet of hard boom that is sitting in staging areas. Oftentimes, contractors are sitting, waiting for words from BP on where to deploy it.
While this boom is sitting, oil is hitting our shores. Mile after mile of our shoreline is now oiled. This means we're - we're - not only does that mean that we continue to see pictures like these, we're going to see even more impact along our coast.
As we talk, a total of more than 65 miles of our shore now has been oiled. To put that into perspective, to put that into perspective, that is more than the total sea coastline of Delaware and Maryland combined. Sixty-five miles of Louisiana's coastline has been oiled. That's more than the total sea coastline of Delaware and Maryland combined.
On April 30th, we requested a commercial fisheries (INAUDIBLE) from the U.S. Department of Commerce to activate critical assistance to our fishermen, our multibillion dollar a year fishing industry that's suffered from this oil spill. We still haven't seen this request granted as of today, and we've got some of our fishing industry folks here with us today. They can tell you about the hardships they're facing on a day like today.
By the way, when we're out by these islands, when we're out today, we didn't see any boats out there. On a day like today, on a beautiful day like today, there should have been over 100 fishing boats just in that area alone. And yet maybe two boats left the marina today, in total.
We've also been waiting for a decision on our dredging, our sand boom plan from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for nearly two weeks. We have continued to make modifications to justify the Corps. We've answered every question they've submitted the same day they've asked those questions. And even more than all of our written responses, a picture is more than a thousand - is worth more than a thousand words. Every single day, we've had press conferences showing you how this has actually worked already to protect our areas. We've - we've shown you pictures of sand in Fourchon actively holding the - the oil back from farther inland.
I want to show you yet again, this is the land bridge. This is the land bridge built out at Fourchon. This used to be open water. In four days, the National Guard was able to build this. You can see the oil accumulating against this sand bridge. You can also see if this sand bridge wasn't here this oil would be going straight into these wetlands.
We went there on the ground over the last couple of days. We literally see - last week, we literally see, you've got hard boom, absorbent boom, what they call pom-poms, the land bridge, hard boom behind it, the oil got through the hard boom, got through the absorbent boom, saturated it, and was still accumulating against the land bridge.
This is - this is graphic evidence. This is - this is a picture. This proves that what we're proposing will work, will keep this oil out of our wetlands. It is so much better for us. We don't want oil on one inch of Louisiana's coastline, but we'd much rather fight this oil off of a hard coast, off of an island, off of a sandy beach on our coastal islands rather than having to fight it inside in this wetlands.
We've got some folks from Jefferson Parish and they can tell you what's at risk in Barataria Bay. They can tell you what's at risk if this oil is allowed to get inside these wetlands, not only in Barataria Bay but in Timbalier Bay and Breton Sound as well.
And you can see additional pictures. This is literally some of the - the marsh that we saw today with the oil on it. You can see additional pictures of these pelicans. You can see the absorbent boom. You can see the oil, the browning, the oil that has gotten past the boom.
And these pictures here, if you'd come over here, Curt (ph), if you see here, you can see the saturation here in the boom. You can see the oil getting again past them. And you can see the oil on - on the pelicans' eggs. You can see the oiled birds not able to fly or swim because of the oil.
And so it is abundantly clear about this to me. We've really only got two options. We can either fight this oil off of our coast and protect Louisiana, or, or, we're going to be spending months and years removing oil along thousands of miles of fragmented wetlands that serve as a critical nursery for marine wildlife for the gulf and for our country.
We've got over 7,000 miles of fragile coastline along Louisiana's coast and a lot of it is fragile wetlands, like you see in these pictures. And the reality is that's only 30 percent of the country's fisheries, 30 percent of the oil and gas production comes off our coast. And we know - we know this is the gulf's nursery. We know this is where the young are born, hatched, laid, spawn that go to help repopulate the rest of the gulf.
We've got two options. We can either fight this battle, we can fight this oil on the Barrier Islands 15 to 20 miles off of our coast, or we can face it in thousands of miles of fragmented wetlands. Every day we're not given approval on this emergency permit to create more of these sand booms is another day where that choice is made for us as more and more miles of our shore are hit by oil.
Again, today we went by boat tour, saw firsthand the damage here in Plaquemines Parish. It is clear the resources needed to protect our coast are still not here - boom, skimmers, vacuums, jack up barges are all in short supply. Oil sits and waits for clean up and every day that it sits in clean up - for clean up, more of our marsh dies.
Just last week, and you're going to hear for folks in Terrebonne Parish. Just last week, we ran into a group of workers in Terrebonne Parish that had been waiting for three days to get the green light to deploy boom. There was boom and workers in Terrebonne Parish. Let me say this again, boom and workers waiting for three days just to get orders in (INAUDIBLE).
At the same time, we had projections, we saw actual oil coming into Timbalier and Terrebonne Bay area. That is unacceptable. We literally took the Coast Guard on a flight with us with the parish president, Michelle, who's here, to show them not only the boom on the dock but the oil coming into the bay to convince them to order DP to - BP to deploy that boom.
Yesterday in Grand Isle - Mayor Camardelle is here. He's going to talk about the fact they were so frustrated they began deploying their own fishermen to lay the boom themselves. In Terrebonne, we saw two skimmers sitting on trailers not being used. We saw a boom on Friday morning, sitting on the dock. We took the Coast Guard in the air to show them, to make sure they deploy those assets. Yesterday in Jefferson Parish they saw a boom and skimmers not being used. They literally had their fishermen go and commandeer that boom.
Today we met here again with our coastal parish leaders, just like we did weeks ago to form the plans to protect our coast when we formed our own detailed plans when it was clear that others like BP and the coast guard didn't have their own plans. We met today to take action, to take matters into our own hands. We know we've got to do that if we're going to win this fight to protect our coast.
We know, key state officials, parish president, emergency operations professional, (INAUDIBLE) district officials and other to discuss what we can do to fill the void we're currently seeing in response efforts to stop this oil.
Let me tell you three things that we're - we're going to be doing. First, we came up with a number of strategies to fill the current void. First, we're developing a strategy for state and parish officials to conduct daily coastal surveys of Louisiana's coastal and offshore areas. We -we see the need for better situational awareness, a greater sense of urgency and a quicker turnaround time from the sighting of oil to the response to that oil. Our Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will be the lead patrol agents examining the coast along their seven existing patrol divisions. Their efforts can be supported by the Louisiana National Guard and parish officials, and what they're going to do is collect any sightings of oil to the wildlife and fisheries agent. In addition to reporting this to the Coast Guard and BP, we're going to be communicating our findings directly to them, but we'll also be making those public on a daily basis to make sure that this oil is being monitored and quickly cleaned.
Let me repeat, we're going to be quickly not only giving this information to the UCG, the BP and the Coast Guard, we'll be posting this information publicly every day so the media and public can see where the oil is coming off our shore, where it's coming on our shore to make sure we quicken this turnaround time. We need a greater sense of urgency in fighting this oil before it reaches our coast.
Secondly, we ask the parish officials here today to help us identify additional equipment, personnel and key locations where state agencies of the parishes and levy districts can help us to continue to take our own proactive measures to keep oil out of our marshes. For example, we've already identified - we're acting on 40 cuts that have been identified, 14 of those have been prioritized. We're going to use the equipment identified by the parishes to expand ongoing efforts by our National Guard to close gaps in our coastal area.
We've identified, we're going to continue to identify additional cuts from 10 feet to 300 feet. We're going to work to expedite fill- in efforts wherever we can, getting this equipment from the state and from our parishes. As of today the National Guard has reached out to other states requesting additional Chinook helicopters to help expedite these operations.
And, again, I want to show you, you can see - you can see on the picture over there that the results of one of these operations, and if you look at this map over here. If you can bring this map over here, this map - we'll leave this behind. You can see some of the areas we've identified on, areas we're already starting to do work. Our dredging plan identified three critical areas where if we can get approval we can start moving immediately.
You can see the work we can do to protect the Chandelier Islands, the Briton Bay. You can see the work we could do to protect down here in the Barataria Bay as well as the Timbalier and Terrebonne Bay, and the idea is on our own we're going to move forward even in the absence of approval for the dredges. We're going to move forward with our National Guard helicopters, with our graters, with our tiger dams, with our Hesco baskets and everything we've got. We're going to throw everything we've got at filling in as many of these gaps as we can.
That's not a substitute for the dredging plan. It's a complement. We know we need the dredging plan approved to fill in these bigger gaps, but it is so much better for us to fight the oil outside here than have to fight it inside these wetlands.
The other things we're doing, we've got state contractors out today with magneto meters, going out there and looking for pipelines and examining the oil - the sand that we're going to be using to build up these sand berms to make sure that that sand is not contaminated. We're doing everything we can to lean forward.
We've also activated a barge, a dredge that was already under state contract at East Terra island to go ahead and start building a sand boom there. We're doing everything we can, not only to fill in these gaps but to show the corps and to show the country that this works, to show the corps and to show the country we'd much rather this oil outside here than inside on our wetlands.
In addition to that we've also, third, we're going to be suggesting directly to the Coast Guard, based on the conversation we've just had with our parish leaders, we're going to be suggesting to the Coast Guard that they delegate authority to the three - at least start with the three critical bay areas, where they can either have a local commander in charge in the Barataria Bay, in Breton Sound and in the Timbalier and Terrebonne Bay. And maybe they need to add one, in the Chapel Eye (ph) Bay as this oil potentially moves to the west.
So that person in those regions could have the authority to move resources, order BP contractors and get things done. We want to do everything we can to shorten this time line from seeing oil to taking action. You know, it doesn't - a 24-hour turnaround is not acceptable, in some cases there have been many more hours than 24 hours.
We need to shorten this process and one of the ways we think that could work would be to delegate that authority to three commanders. And, again, this was an idea that came out of the meetings with the parish officials. We'll be communicating that through our UCG to the Coast Guard, to the BP folks. And the idea is if you had somebody who had responsibility for these bay areas, maybe there'd be less of a chance that boom would be sitting the docks. Maybe there'd be less of chance that skimmers would be sitting on trailers when there's actually oil in these areas.
Let me tell you - let me just close by telling you some of the areas where DEQ has confirmed oil. They confirmed shoreline impacts to date on Chandelier Island, Whiskey Island, Trinity Island, Raccoon Island, South Patch, Fourchon Beach, Grand Isle, Elmer's Island, Pass a Loutre, Brush Island and Marsh Island. Obviously there are many other areas with oil we saw today, Cat Island, for example and they will continue to update that.
Scat operations yesterday afternoon recorded heavy oil impact in South Pass and Pass a Loutre, which sporadically impacted shoreline. They reported sheen on Timbalier Bay, emulsified oil patches around East Timbalier, (INAUDIBLE) Beach at Fourchon, oiling on East Timbalier Island and unconfirmed report of a dead bird in this area.
Scat teams today are examining the Timbalier area, Fourchon, Terrebonne Bay and Marsh Island. Those continue to be updated. That's not a comprehensive list. That's where they had confirmed reports as of this morning and of course we'll continue to update that.
I'll very quickly give you an update on some of the activities we're doing in the meantime. We're not waiting. And then I'll let the - the local leaders come forward and give you an update from each of their parishes.
National Guard has deployed a mile of Hesco baskets in port of Fourchon area. Again, we're not just -- we're calling for more hard boom. We're not just waiting for more hard boom. They've deployed over a mile of Hesco baskets.
On Elmer's Island, the Grand Isle, our National Guard engineers continue to conduct maintenance on the 785-foot land bridge they built. At Port Fourchon they're filling five gaps in Thunder Bayou. They've already filled gaps one and five. They're working on gap three. They were literally using helicopters to drop sand bags. Now they're working on the ground with graters.
They've got a tiger dam project here at South West Pass, working to secure 7.1 miles with tiger dams. Two and a half miles are completed. And they've also erected an additional two miles of a single layer of tiger dam to provide initial protection. They're going to eventually do that into a triple layer.
On the sand fill, they've identified 40 locations where gaps could be filled with sandbags or dump trucks of sand. This is going to complement the more comprehensive dredging plan. As of this morning, they dropped 625 sand bags on Pelican Island to completely fill four of the eight gaps. Today they're working to fill the fifth gap there are well.
We have opened all the fresh water diversions controlled by the state to push more of that oil away from our coast. We continue to push with the approval of our sand boom plan, our dredging plan, but, in the meantime, everything we can, including that - and we do have a dredge that's activated at East Grand Terra Island, doing Hesco baskets, we're doing sandbag drops, tiger dams. We're going to continue to do everything we can to protect our coast.
This also - this shows you some of the - and again, we'll leave this afterwards. This shows you, when you look at the - the grass in this area, you look at this brown down here, that reflects some of the oiling, and we brought some of that so you all can see this is actually oil down there on those grasses. And you can see our biologist last week set out in South Pass five to seven days after the oil hit South Pass and Pass a Loutre. Our biologists said they expected to see significant discoloration in those grasses.
So that damage is not hypothetical. That damage is happening as we speak.
Let me close by saying this. Here in Louisiana we are committed to defending our way of life. Our people have grown up along this coast. They've made a living off this coast. They have fished along this coast for decades. They want their children and grandchild to be able to do the same. We're not done. We're not done when they cap the leak. We're not done when they get all the oil out of the water. We're only going to be done when they've restored our wetlands, our fisheries, our estuaries back to their healthy pre-spill status.
So this is a marathon for the State of Louisiana, but make no mistake about it, we're going to do everything we can. We're going to continue to fight this fight to protect our coast, and we're going to make sure that we restore these wetlands and estuaries. We're going to make sure we hold BP accountable to paying to get this done.
We've got a large group of parish officials here. I want to thank them for coming at a very productive meeting. I'm going to start with Billy Nungesser, the parish - the parish president right here on Plaquemines Parish. He's got an important picture he want to -
FOREMAN: A very energetic statement there from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, frankly more energetic than I think anything I've ever heard him say. And evidence of exactly what we've been talking about all day, the growing pressure on Washington from local folks all up and down the coast who are saying, enough already. Something must be done in an urgent way because the growing damage just keeps going, as you see it right there live, that oil pumping continually into the gulf unstopped.
Farther down the shore folks are hoping that the tourists will come and the oil will stay away from them. It may be terrible timing, but they opened a new airport on the Gulf Coast today. You can't believe it. We'll take a look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: We heard the obviously upset Louisiana governor for several minutes a short while ago.
Further down the coast, Florida Governor Charlie Crist wants BP to pay for tourism ads. The oil spill has not reached Florida's beaches but Crist is worried that tourists will stay away anyway and he wants BP to pay for a $35 million advertising blitz to reassure tourists that Florida beaches remain untarnished.
Tourism of course is a huge industry down there and despite the uncertainty surrounding the oil spill, a new airport opened in Panama City, Florida today, specifically to help deal with the huge tourist crowd.
CNN photojournalist Ken Tillis stopped by earlier this week to watch the last minute preparations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are four days from opening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming to the end of the construction of a brand-new airport. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The newest airport in the country, with Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, scheduled to open on Sunday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ladies and gentlemen, this is your other vending area.
DAN ROWE, PANAMA CITY BEACH VISITORS BUREAU: A new airport serving all of Northwest Florida, Panama City Beach, the beaches of South Walton, Destin and all the way over to Tallahassee, Florida.
Today, a lot of the last-minute activities is going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gentleman behind me is finishing up the final phases of the security on the doors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's approximately a 125,000-square-foot building. It'll have seven gates. Airlines operating at the airport initially will be Delta, the Delta Connection and Southwest Airlines.
ROWE: Southwest is in training people today. This is the first time Southwest Airlines has serviced northwest Florida, and we're very excited to have them as a travel partner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We started this process almost 12 years ago.
ROWE: It is the first new international airport that has opened in the country since 1995, and it is really going to be an economic driver for all of northwest Florida's economy for years to come. Tourism is the largest industry in Panama City Beach and in Bay County. We have been getting calls ever since the oil spill occurred, you know, wondering about their vacation plans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sure not near as many folks will come down, want to stay on the beaches with the oil on there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We talked about it a lot before we came, but luckily, it didn't hit, so we came anyway.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it hasn't affected us at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people have canceled vacations, but I've been on Facebook, keeping them updated how beautiful and awesome it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, certainly, it's something that we've watched very closely, and fortunately, we've not had any impact in this part of Florida and the gulf with the oil spill itself. So we're open for business.
ROWE: This airport is a great opportunity for us to really showcase the region. And you know, we will get through the oil spill. There's no oil on Panama City Beach or any of the beaches in northwest Florida now, but we do need to continue to get the word out that this is a great place to come to visit, and the airport is a means to get there. (END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: A number of groups are rushing in to help clean up the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, or at least they're offering up ideas. One this weekend is at least halfway around the world, in Abu Dhabi. CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Abu Dhabi, one of the world's largest oil producers, prevention is key.
AYEDH AL MASSABI, SUPREME PETROLEUM COUNCIL: We learn from others, you know? What others' mistakes, we learn (INAUDIBLE) and we implement them, this learning to protect our area.
JAMJOOM: Ayedh al Massabi heads up the crisis management team for Abu Dhabi's Supreme Petroleum Council. When and if an oil spill happens, he and his team must be ready to deploy and deal with it within an hour.
ILHAB EL SAFTAWI, SUPREME PETROLEUM COUNCIL: Our job is be prepared 24/7 in case of any emergency.
JAMJOOM: This warehouse stores all the equipment they'll need. Some of it's even been used in other cleanup efforts, like when the team went to assist with Egypt's oil spill in 2006. And it will be used again. The team is now preparing to go help in the massive cleanup effort under way in the Gulf of Mexico.
MASSABI: So we are sharing knowledge. We are sharing information every time because this is a crisis. And it can happen any time, you know? It can happen now, it can happen in this area, or in a foreign (ph) area.
JAMJOOM: Abu Dhabi has learned the hard way. In 2000, mangrove trees lining its coastline were severely threatened by an oil spill. Thabit al Abdessalam's organization took the lead in rehabilitating the area.
THABIT AL ABDESSALAM, ENVIRONMENT AGENCY ABU DHABI: As you can see, the mangroves are healthy.
JAMJOOM: Protection of this ecosystem is a priority. Since the spill, a water monitoring program has been put in place and sediment tests are now done regularly.
ABDESSALAM: Mangroves are basically, essentially, in that they act as filters for west (ph) also. So there is a dual function. I mean, you would want to see that the water is clean, but also, the mangroves contribute to making that water clean.
JAMJOOM: Abdessalam says the damage could have been far worse -- 2000's oil spill was small, compared to what the Gulf of Mexico is facing. But it's not just the amount of oil that plays a part. MASSABI: So it's our strategy, as an (INAUDIBLE) the Supreme Petroleum Council is to control the whole area of Abu Dhabi, to protect the whole area, the sea life, the humans, the environment. So this is our land and our philosophy.
JAMJOOM: Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: As if the oil crisis is not enough, there is a busy week ahead for President Obama and a GOP win in the Hawaiian district where he grew up. We're talking politics and the week ahead next.
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FOREMAN: In a new video released today, a fugitive American-born Muslim cleric is warning of future attacks against U.S. citizens. In the video, Anwar al Awlaki justifies the killing civilians as revenge for U.S. forces killing women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan.
An excerpt from this video was released back in April. The entire video, however, has been post on radical Islamic Web sites.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Awlaki is thought to be hiding somewhere in remote mountains in Yemen, a fact which he seems to acknowledge as he welcomes his interviewer.
ANWAR AL AWLAKI, CLERIC (through translator): Thank you for going through all the hardship to get here.
FOREMAN: In a 45-minute interview, Awlaki contrasts what he sees as the West's desire for a liberal democratic Islam and what he sees as the real Islam.
AWLAKI (through translator): There are two camps of Islam nowadays, the camp of glory and the camp of humiliation.
FOREMAN: Throughout the interview, his theme, a war of faiths. Again, he praises the alleged Ft. Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, who is charged with 13 counts of murder and 32 of attempted murder.
AWLAKI (through translator): By God, how can we be opposed to Nidal Hasan's operation? He killed American soldiers en route to Afghanistan and Iraq. Who would object to such an operation?
FOREMAN: Awlaki exchanged e-mails with Hasan before the shootings and describes him as one of his students. He predicts more acts of violence in the United States.
AWLAKI (through translator): If the American crimes continue, we will see a new Nidal Hasan. There are now mujahedeen in the West and from America fighting for Iraq and Afghanistan. And this phenomenon will grow because of the criminal acts committed by the American in the Arab and Muslim world. FOREMAN: Awlaki also repeats his phrase for the Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day, who was allegedly trained by al Qaeda in Yemen, and he claims Americans, including civilians, are legitimate targets.
AWLAKI (through translator): Now, when it comes to the American people as a whole, they are participating in the war because they are the ones who voted for this administration and they are the ones funding these wars.
FOREMAN: An immediate response from the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs saying the U.S. is actively trying to track down Awlaki and others like him.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president will continue to take action directly at terrorists like Awlaki and keep our country safe from murderous thugs.
FOREMAN: In recent months, senior administration officials have said Awlaki is an operational figure within al Qaeda, and he has been targeted for killing or capture. The Yemeni government says if it captures Awlaki, he won't be sent to the United States but will face trial in his homeland. From his hiding place, Awlaki makes it clear he won't surrender but continue to urge jihad, holy war against the country he describes as today's pharaoh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Let's check our other top stories. Oil giant BP will attempt what's called a "top kill" this week in the latest effort to stop oil from gushing into the gulf. Here's what will happen. Fluid twice the density of water is pumped at a high rate into the leak to stop the flow, a type of mud. If that works, the well can be sealed with cement. But here's the rub. This complex procedure has never been tried at such a depth.
Recovery crews in southern India are surging for the flight data recorder in the charred wreckage of that Air India crash. The cockpit voice recorder has be found. Even though it's damaged, investigators believe it will yield important clues about what caused yesterday's fiery crash killing 158 people. Only eight survived.
And a final voyage for the space shuttle Atlantis. When it undocked from the International Space Shuttle earlier today, it did so for the last time. There's a push to find new life for Atlantis, but as it stands now, once it lands back here on earth on Wednesday, it will never fly again, sort of an end of an era, in a way.
Lots going on in politics, as you might guess, from all we've covered today, a GOP victory in the district where president Obama grew up in Hawaii, among other things, and a full calendar ahead for the president.
Let's pull it all into perspective with my pal, CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser -- Paul.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Tom, how are you?
FOREMAN: Tell us about this. The president heads to Capitol Hill Tuesday for a rare lunch with Senate Republicans. Now, is bipartisanship breaking out? What's he going to do?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, you'd think, What's going on here? Democratic president, Republican senators -- they don't often get along and get together. But yes, president -- good reporting here by our Ed Henry and our John King -- president going up there. He's going to have lunch on Tuesday with Senate Republicans behind closed doors, as part of their caucus meetings.
And from what we're hearing, the two big things on the agenda will be immigration reform and border security, and climate change and clean energy. Tom, those are the two big ticket items kind of remaining that the administration would like to get through Congress and get passed into law, and there's a lot of Republican opposition. So the president, Senate Republicans are going to sit down, break bread over lunch and see if they can find any common ground, Tom.
FOREMAN: I'm going to guess, with all the activity in the gulf, it's going to be a little bit of a dicey conversation. Mr. Obama heads to the West Coast Tuesday evening and Wednesday. What's on his agenda out there?
STEINHAUSER: First thing on his agenda, fund-raiser-in-chief, one of the things the president does. He will be headlining a fund- raiser for Senator Barbara Boxer of California. Boxer is facing a tough reelection battle this year. President was out there just earlier this spring for a fund-raiser for Boxer. Going back again a second time to help her raise some money in that tough battle ahead for her.
Also, while he's out there on Wednesday, he's going to go to a solar energy facility and he's going to talk about clean energy and he's also going to talk about the economy and job creation. So he'll have a presidential event as well as a political event when he's in California, Tom.
FOREMAN: And even further West than California, a rare GOP congressional victory out in Hawaii. Now, is this a big deal for the Republicans?
STEINHAUSER: The Republicans are definitely trying to make this a big deal. We saw a lot of statements from national Republicans this morning. What happened? This was a special election yesterday for an open House seat, a vacant House seat, Hawaii's first congressional district in the Honolulu area. The person who held it was a Democrat, and he stepped down to run full-time for governor.
Barack Obama -- this is his home district. This is where he grew up. This is where he went to middle school, high school, mostly. And this is an overwhelmingly Democratic district. But Tom, there were three candidates on the ballot, and two of them were Democrats. National Democrats tried to have one of them step down for party unity. That didn't happen, so they split the vote. And Honolulu councilman Charles Djou has now won. National Democrats are saying, You know what? Listen, we'll win it back in November when we only have one Democrat on the ballot -- Tom.
FOREMAN: All right, Paul Steinhauser, thanks for the inside scoop. Always good to talk to you.
How far would you jump for a spot in the history books? Well, for one man, it involves a trip to the very edge of space. And the first step after that is a doozy.
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FOREMAN: An Austrian skydiver is going to test the very limits of human space flight. He'll be hoisted by a balloon to the stratosphere and then freefall 22 miles back to earth. If that sounds crazy, you might wonder why he's doing it, and that's what our Brian Todd asked the jumper known as "Fearless Felix."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's a 41-year-old Austrian skydiver who works for Red Bull. But with NASA's future so uncertain, Felix Baumgartner might just represent the next frontier of flight exploration. Later this year, this guy is going to try to jump out of a capsule at the edge of space for what's basically a record- shattering sky dive.
(on camera): So my first question is a two-parter. Are you nuts? And why the hell are you doing this?
FELIX BAUMGARTNER, STRATOSPHERE JUMPER: Well, first of all, I'm not nuts. I think it's human nature. You know, Records are meant to be broken. And I'm a very competitive person. I like the challenge, and to me, there's nothing more challenging than working on this Red Bull Stratus Project.
TODD (voice-over): The Red Bull Stratus Project will test the limits of the human body. Baumgartner will try to break some unheard- of records. the longest and highest freefall ever, 120,000 feet above sea level. That's more than 22 miles. And he'll try to make the fastest-ever freefall.
BAUMGARTNER: When you step off, within the first 30 seconds, you accelerate so fast that you're going to break the speed of sound, which is more than 600 miles an hour.
TODD: That's something no one's ever done outside a plane or spacecraft. Baumgartner's also based jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and from the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. The man whose record Fearless Felix is trying to break is a consultant on this project, Joe Kittinger who jumped from 102,000 feet 50 years ago.
(on camera): You're the only one who's even come close to be where he's going to go. What is it like up there?
COL. JOE KITTINGER (RET.), 1960 STRATOSPHERE JUMPER: It's distant.
TODD: I'd say so!
KITTINGER: And it's very hostile. It's not meant for man without the protection.
TODD: What is it about that that feels so hostile? Is it the pressure, the speed? What is it?
KITTINGER: It's the lack of pressure. And you know that right outside of you is a vacuum of space, and without the protection of that pressure suit, you cannot live. And that's an interesting thought that you have.
TODD (voice-over): Like Kittinger, Baumgartner will be taken to the stratosphere in a capsule pulled by a helium balloon. Then he steps off, the only thing protecting him what he calls the next generation pressure suit and three parachutes.
(on camera): Are you afraid of dying on this mission?
BAUMGARTNER: Of course, I'm afraid of dying because I worked so hard to reach that level. You know, I'm living a good life, and I think the most important thing I'm doing something like this is to come back alive.
TODD (voice-over): The ultimate scientific goal, to advance human knowledge enough so that space tourists will be able to exist outside their vehicles if those spacecraft break down.
(on camera): How does Felix Baumgartner top this? Well, he probably won't. He says this is going to be his last jump and then he's going to back to being a helicopter pilot. Maybe a bit of a letdown.
Brian Todd, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: A fascinating idea. You know, I once jumped off of a garage, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh! Very daring.
FOREMAN: Yes, it was. And I made it.
JERAS: How'd that turn out for you?
FOREMAN: I survived. It was OK.
JERAS: No broken bones?
FOREMAN: Are we going to make it through the weather this weekend?
JERAS: Yes, we'll make it through the weather. Amazing pictures, by the way...
FOREMAN: Yes?
JERAS: ... wow, out of South Dakota, your home state. How about this? And we can say it with kind of a happy tone, knowing that nobody was injured. This was a tornado in Boden (ph), South Dakota, in the north central part of the state, and some storm chasers caught it on video. Just incredible, this tornado. It is a huge wedge! This thing at least a half a mile wide, if not bigger. Very tough to survive something like this, so you'd have to be pretty much underground. So thankfully, this mostly stayed in rural areas. But it did bring down power lines and it did damage one home and many outbuildings.
Now, severe weather remains a threat across parts of the upper Midwest. We've got a severe thunderstorm watch across parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Not too much popping in this area just yet, but the severe weather threat then stretches from the upper Midwest all the way down through the Plains states. Large hail our biggest concern today, but we can't rule out a couple of those isolated tornadoes.
We also have some thunderstorms that have been rumbling across the Carolinas. These have been pretty strong, so watch out for heavy downpours. And we could see some isolated severe weather within this. But for the most part, this has just been a real bummer for you if you've been trying to travel today at the airports, lots of delays from Boston through New York, as well as Teterboro and even Washington, D.C. Washington Dulles, by the way, had record rainfall today of over two inches.
Now, temperatures, wow! What a story this weekend with your temperatures! It's been crazy, either too hot or too cold. We had a record high today in Appleton, Wisconsin, 88 degrees, temps here about 15 to 20 degrees above average, while you'll dealing with record cold across the West. We had a record low of 47 degrees this morning in San Francisco, so certainly staying on the chilly side for you there.
And as we take a quick look at the tropics, we've got a little area of disturbed weather out in the Atlantic here, and this is going to be heading up towards the north and west. We do think it's going to get kicked out, probably, away from the coast, but could get close enough, say, by Tuesday, Tom, that it will bring some rain and some winds across the coastal Carolinas.
FOREMAN: Well, Jacqui Jeras, you're just full of good news. Thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
FOREMAN: Season after season, "Lost" fans have clamored to find out everything they can about the show's misfit castaways, survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious island. But tonight, it's the last "Lost." And the question is, will tonight's series finale answer all of their questions? Our Kareen Wynter talks to viewers and some of the show's stars. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should get your friends. We're very close to the end, Hugo.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Indeed, we are. After six seasons, audiences will finally see the last of "Lost."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, where are we?
WYNTER: Fans are still waiting for answers to questions like that. From the very beginning "Lost" teased and tormented its viewers with mystery after mystery. Now its biggest one will be answered. How does it all end?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then I'll tell you everything you need to know about protecting this island.
WYNTER: For six years, fans have debated, argued and wondered what it all meant on line, at conventions and viewing parties. Now at the end, it's beginning to sink in, there's no way the finale can resolve everything.
PETER SCALES, "LOST" FAN: I have no idea what's going to happen at the end of show, and I love that!
LISETTE LAMBERT LOPEZ, "LOST" FAN: You really feel like they're not going to answer all the questions, and I think that's OK because -- I mean, it's part of the show, you know, to be lost.
OMAR ZIE, "LOST" FAN: "Lost" -- it was good, but I was tricked. We all were (INAUDIBLE) I mean, "Lost," come on -- they tricked us. You know, just entertain me. This one, my expectations, we're going to keep it minimal.
WYNTER: The need to satisfy all those expectations wasn't lost on the cast.
JOSH HOLLOWAY, "SAWYER": I was worried for them myself, didn't want anyone to, you know, be attacked by a lynch mob.
SONYA WALGER, "PENNY": You need to come at it with, like, an open heart, rather than with a curious mind. If you're looking for specifics, then you might be left feeling wanting. If you're looking for an emotional resolution, I think you'll be really happy with what you get.
WYNTER: So will the finale be ambiguous, like "The Sopranos," disappointing like "Seinfeld," maybe a "MASH"-style tearjerker? Like the characters on their favorite show, "Lost" fans have faith they will finally find what they're looking for. One thing's for sure, Tuesdays will never be the same.
YASAMIN SUBAT, "LOST" FAN: We don't know what we're going to do. We have no idea. I mean, we've got to pick another show, but I don't think there's another show that can quite capture this.
ZIE: No, we're not going to get all the answers. But thank you, "Lost," for having us.
WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Well, our time is all gone. Don Lemon is up next, and he's got a lot on tap. You've heard plenty about the devastation from this weekend's plane crash over in India. Well, you're going to learn -- hear from one of the survivors on Don's show. Plus -- open mouth, insert royal foot, Fergie caught on tape. Don is going to talk to a royal insider.
That's it for me. Thanks for joining us. I'm Tom Foreman, filling in for Fredricka Whitfield. We'll see you next time.
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