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Assessing the Oil Threat as it Affects Animals, Environment; Obama to Announce New Oil Drilling Safety Regulations; Scientists Announce New Higher Rate of Oil Spilling Into Gulf; House Committee Looking Into Recalls of McNeil OTC Medicines

Aired May 27, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at our top stories right now.

A dire assessment from the Department of Homeland Security. An agency document says terror groups are expected to try attacks inside the U.S. with increased frequency. The report goes on to say terrorists are looking to launch smaller attacks against soft targets

And police in Pakistan have rounded up another person in connection with the failed Times Square bombing. He becomes the 11th person in the case detained in Pakistan. None of them have been charged, however. Pakistani officials believe all of them have links to Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square suspect.

All right. The first votes on repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy could come today in the Senate Arms Services Committee and the House. The Senate measures delay of the repeal for 60 days after a military review gets the president's OK and that review is expected to be done by the end of the year. Top military brass are opposed to any legislative action until the review is actually complete.

The next several hours will be agonizing all along the gulf coast as BP officials try to determine whether the top kill maneuver is working. This is a live image of the underwater well, and as you can see, it is still gushing. The oil company says it could know an answer by late this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB DUDLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BP: We've set out on the sea bed all around where the activity is today, so if we determine we just can't overcome it in the top kill operation, we will immediately go into the phase of putting out, cutting off the top and putting a containment device in it. That might take two to three days before we would have that in place.

If we did that we think we then be able to flow the oil to the surface and measure it at that point, but what we really need to do is try to kill this thing. And so far that operation is proceeding like we expected.

All right, all along, BP has tried to tamp down public optimism and remind us that all there is - that possibly there could be about 70 percent chance of success here and that has not changed off camera.

A short time ago the Coast Guard's Thad Allen told CNN the top kill procedure is going as planned and it is moving along as everyone had hoped. Here's what a BP spokesperson is telling CNN, "We appreciate the optimism, but the top kill operation is continuing through the day today. That has not changed. We don't anticipate being able to say anything definitive on that until later on today. I do anticipate a 2:00 p.m. press conference today. Watch the web site for specifics of that." That coming from a BP official.

All right. Here's a grim reality check. Even if the flow of oil were magically shut off at this very instant, the disaster is still huge. A mere 12 miles off the Louisiana coastline there is a gruesome stew of oily sludge and dead wildlife and it is headed toward land. Here now is CNN's Rob Marciano.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was right back there where it was super thick. I've never seen anything like it. It is unreal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man. Look at that streak.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at the boats. It's thick. Like mud.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so unreal.

This is ugly. This is really ugly.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Ugly is definitely an understatement and we're only 12 miles from shore.

(on camera): By far the thickest oil we've seen yet. This is just disturbing. Check it out. I mean, layers of oil actually building on each other in a putty-like form. This definitely is not dispersed. It's barely weathered at all, it almost looks like it's fresh, fresh from the pipe.

(voice-over): Some areas of the oil are thicker than others. This is only the western edge of the slick.

(on camera): We are still not even 50 miles from the site of this spill. Unbelievable.

(voice-over): Our little armada pauses.

(on camera): We are out here with five other boats and all of them have this nasty oil stuck to the hull. That's going to be a chore getting off. This boat just across the way. Those guys are lowering a submersible camera to take a look at what the water and oil mixture looks like below the surface.

(voice-over): Boats are carrying scientists peering into and under the oil. Dr. Ian Mcdonald takes samples back to his lab in Florida while Dr. Don Inkly patrols for the National Wildlife Federation. A dead eel floats toward our boat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a jar large enough to put this in?

MARCIANO: It, too, is taken as a sample, now headed to the lab for a closer look.

Minutes later, something else is in the water. This one is alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That animal might be in a lot of trouble. You normally don't see sharks like this running around in the surface, but this animal looks like it's in distress.

MARCIANO (voice-over): The shark dives as we approach. Along the way, we see other sea creatures struggling in the oil like this baby crab. What's on the surface is easy to see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's animals like these that are out in the open ocean and we don't see them washed up. How do you assess that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you have a shark that dies in the water here and sinks to the bottom, where is the assessment on that. How do you assess that?

MARCIANO (on camera): Can't count it.

(voice-over): Much like the oil still spewing from the well, the amount of wild life lost here may never be known.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Rob Marciano joining us now live from New Orleans. So, Rob, while you were there at sea, what did you see in the way of efforts to pick up this oil, skimmers, any kind of vessels?

MARCIANO: Well, you know, it's about a 12-mile journey from the mouth of the Mississippi and that 12 miles we didn't see one boat and then once we got out to the furthest extent where we could no longer go any further, with about 20 miles of visibility and 360 degrees, we didn't see anything. There wasn't one vessel that was skimming, not one ship charged with cleaning up this oil slick and that certainly was eye-opening to me.

Now, granted, we were just on the western edge of the slick and the slick and the slick goes for miles and miles of square miles, but still, you would expect to see something especially in an area like that that was so pervasive as far as the oil slick goes and how thick it was, and we didn't see one that was out there.

Now, later we heard from BP, Fredericka. They said, you know, the oil slick wasn't that bad so we didn't put any skimmers out there. That's not what we saw. It was bad where we saw it and it wasn't just one little spot. That area needs to be cleaned because in the thickest of the oil, it's virtually a dead zone as far as any sort of animal trying to get up to the surface.

WHITFIELD: Yes. We saw the evidence of your video, of the animals whether they were dead or seemingly suffering. Give me an idea of what you were experiencing physically, what did you smell? What did you take in when you were there?

MARCIANO: Well, we hit the rainbow sheen first and that just went on for miles. You started to smell it then and when we got to the thicker oil we had to put respirators on because the toxic fumes were so strong you started to get light headed, you started to get headaches and even more dizzy than just the waves rocking the boat so putting on these uncomfortable respirators is what most of us did, and that was one more indication that that oil seemingly hadn't been out there that long to be weathered and lose some of that toxic nature.

So thick and toxic and we were just in the western edge of this slick. So I can just only imagine what the rest of it looks like further in.

WHITFIELD: Rob Marciano, thanks so much from New Orleans. Appreciate that.

In the meantime, workers hired to mop up the oil spill say they have felt some of the same things that Rob described, but worse. They're actually getting sick. They're reporting nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pains. So the U.S. Coast Guard has yanked commercial fishing boats, all 125 of them from clean-up efforts in Louisiana's Brenton Sound.

Several crew members have been hospitalized including one worker who was airlifted. A Louisiana congressman, by the way, now is asking Washington to step in and set up mobile clinics along the gulf coast there.

Meantime today on Capitol Hill there are no fewer than four congressional hearings on the oil spill disaster. Some of the oil rig workers and their families are expected to testify on Capitol Hill. We will also hear from the family of one of the workers who was actually killed, one of the 11 killed.

Today's topics will range from safety to the environmental impact to legal liability. And we're also keeping a close eye on the hearings and we'll of course, bring you any developments as they come.

Meantime, President Barack Obama has scheduled a news conference a couple of hours from now. He is expected to announce new safety regulations on offshore drilling and a temporary ban on some deep water wells. Suzanne Malveaux joins us now from the White House.

So, Suzanne, what do we know about this temporary ban and the extent in which the president will be making his comments today?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we know a lot of things. First of all, that the White House is clearly fighting back very, very hard on this criticism. So the president is going to come out and he is going to acknowledge that he's angry, he's frustrated and he's taking responsibility for trying to make the situation better. I mean, obviously they know the criticism is that no one seems to be in charge here.

And so, what is the president going to do. He's going to be announcing a couple of things. The interior secretary briefed him on this 30-day review in the oval office yesterday and essentially, this is not surprising. The first part that's extending the moratorium on additional drilling, but what is surprising, Fred, is some of the delays and the cancellation of some projects, oil drilling exploration projects.

We're talking about Alaska. We're talking about the western coast as well as Virginia. Those projects either delayed or canceled completely. Now senior administration officials are saying, why? Because essentially the president has learned a lot over the last six weeks in this experience and a lot of the things that they thought they could rely on, that they could count on in terms of the technology and the safety is really out of the window here.

So this is a 180 when it comes to some of the policy initiatives that this president just weeks ago, Fred, was pushing forward. So we are going to hear about tougher regulations when it comes to those oil rigs and getting permits to drill. All of these things they have been looking over, second and third times reconsidering what they had thought just six short weeks ago, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder, Suzanne, does the White House feel like it can call the shots in terms of making these modifications or does it still, of course, need congressional cooperation?

MALVEAUX: Well, certainly they're getting a lot of criticism for this. That there is a perception out there that who the heck is in charge of all of these? Is it the president? Is it BP? Is it the Admiral, the Coast Guard, you know, Thad Allen? Admiral Thad Allen.

This is what White House officials are saying behind the scenes is that they are calling the shots here. They may not be officially be in charge, but they are in charge and they point to two examples. One of them which is that camera that you see, that the gushing oil is spilling out of there.

BP officials wanted to cut off that video feed. President Obama personally intervened and said no, I want that video feed on so we can see what's going on. Admiral Thad Allen as well was the person who said, "OK, the administration is giving the green light for this top kill procedure, we are the ones that are going to say go ahead on this risky process."

So they believe that they are aggressively dealing with this issue, with this problem, but clearly, there is a perception here, Fred, that they're just not doing enough.

WHITFIELD: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much. Appreciate that from the White House.

In the meantime, CNN's Wolf Blitzer will have special coverage of President Obama's news conference starting today at 12:45 Eastern time, 9:00 a.m. Pacific.

Memorial Day 2010 could go down in Grand Isle, Louisiana, history as the holiday when nobody came. No tourists, no sportsmen, no one. Oil has turned the beach town into a ghost town now.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And Fredericka, with all of the issues that we're having in the Gulf of Mexico, the last thing we need is a tropical storm or even a hurricane in the gulf or even in the Atlantic. What is the likelihood of that happening?

Well, coming up in a few minutes, we're going to give you NOAA's official Atlantic hurricane season forecast. It's coming up in just a few moments. We'll see you then.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Memorial Day weekend should mean big business on the beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, but not this year. Grand Isle is more like a ghost town thanks to the oil spill. The tourism commissioner talked about that with CNN's Kiran Chetry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE CHERAMIE, GRAND ISLE, LA., TOURISM COMMISSIONER: It's very bleak. There's no tourism to talk about here and because of the oil spill. there's no recreational fishing. Everyone should be relaxing and enjoying their holiday. That's not going to happen here in Grand Isle this year.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what does it usually look like this time of year, Memorial Day weekend?

CHERAMIE: Gosh, you would see instead of us here, you would see nothing, but visitors. Children playing on the beach, people fishing and boats running up and down in the Gulf of Mexico. It would be just people everywhere.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. They're also worried about Memorial Day next year. U.S. Coast Guard says the oil has hit about 100 miles of Louisiana coastline.

All right. Wall Street is off to a great start this morning. The Dow jumped by triple digits in the first few minutes of trading, but it's not good news all day. There are new signs that the economy is still stuck in a rut. Felicia Taylor is at the New York Stock Exchange with details on that. So what's with the disconnect?

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Fredericka, it is exactly the kind of a mixed picture. The markets are on one hand has its eyes still on Europe. The U.S. stocks getting a boost, thanks to that overseas rally. The volatility though that's still the name of the game here on Wall Street.

Wednesday, as you probably remember, we had a 100-point gain, but ended the day to the downside and that could happen again today because of these new reports on the U.S. economy that were less than stellar. The numbers continue to show that we're still in this sort of stagnant recovery. New jobless claims has dropped last week but they did come in at 460,000 and that's pretty much where we started the year.

The ripple effect of that, of course, is huge. We have another report on the economy that grew just at last quarter at three percent, at a three percent pace, I should say. We saw better numbers at the end of last year. Since so many people were out of work, they're obviously not spending and neither are businesses, state and local budgets remain under severe weather.

So it's the economic news that are going to keep things a little bit contained. So we have a strong rally right now, but we can expect there to be more volatility and that's not going to go away anytime soon.

The Dow industrials though up 172 points. That's a gain of 1.3 percent. The Nasdaq is very strong today, up almost 2.5 percent. Energy shares like BP, Conoco Phillips and Transocean, they're all rallying. The S&P is also up almost two percent.

So for right now after about just over an hour of trade - or just about an hour of trade, I should say, things are pretty good.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very good. Felicia Taylor. Thanks so much. Appreciate that.

All right. I know everyone is focused on the holiday weekend. After the holiday weekend the Atlantic hurricane season begins. The forecast when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Tuesday is the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. Sometimes it makes people very nervous. Our Reynolds Wolf says this year we have reason to be a little nervous, don't we? Many reasons.

WOLF: Well, yes, we really. You know, this is one of the years where the sea surface temperatures have been incredibly high and that's one of the things that's pointing to a possibly very busy season. These are the numbers from NOAA. They just came out moments ago, named storms, check them anywhere from 14 to 23. Hurricanes, anywhere from eight to 14, major hurricanes, three to seven. So the numbers are very high.

You see on average the comparison, say for example, major hurricanes average, we have an average of two, one of the record highs in 2005 just for an example from a very busy hurricane season, we got seven. Folks, one thing I want you to remember, when you look at these numbers they're very staggering, no question about it but it only takes one major hurricane to hit a certain place, to hit a highly populated area, like a Hurricane Andrew. It doesn't matter how many storms you have and all it takes is one big one that can cause widespread damage. There's a chance that many of these storms actually remain out to see. So there's a lot of conjecture. A lot of things that can happen and of course, these numbers may be even higher or they may actually be a little bit weaker.

One big thing we do have to worry about though, is you have to remember in the Gulf of Mexico, a very warm body of water and it is certainly a hot bed of these storms and then you have to think about the situation that we have in the gulf with this oil spill.

Well, NOAA officially has said that if we do have the hurricane that goes over the oil spill, it's not going to have really any impact on the intensity of the storm. It's not going to make it stronger or weaker but it could certainly interact with the oil.

Now what exactly does that mean?

Well, here are some of the answers. They could obviously scour some of the oil off the beaches and the marsh where it's already been hitting, which is a good thing. But at the same time they can spread it out into places and many in the shoreline spreading into the impact. Oil can also ride the surge inland and cause all kinds of problems there. Rain though will want contain the oil, kind of like an acid rain situation.

So Fred, bottom line, it seems like it will be a very busy season for us. Not what we want to see but again, it's going to be very interesting to see if all of this pans out, according to the forecast.

WHITFIELD: Sure. All right. Thanks so much. Fingers are crossed and we'll hope for the best, of course. Thanks, Reynolds.

All right. And meantime, we're going to get an update now on - we'll talk about this oil. Just how much oil is actually seeping from that leak in the Gulf of Mexico? Jeanne Meserve is joining us now from Washington, D.C. and we just got some new information from a teleconference. And what are we learning?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Fredericka, they're telling us that the scientists are estimating that oil is coming out of that well in the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels of oil per day.

You will remember that initially BP estimated it was about 1,000 barrels a day. The government subsequently upped that estimate to about 5,000 barrels a day. There have been independent experts saying it could be much, much higher than that, some estimates running as high as 100,000 barrels a day.

But once again, the official estimate from this scientific team, 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day coming out of that well. How do they determine this? They had a couple of different technical teams looking at this. One of them used advanced imaging spectrometers mounted on the airplane to measure the amount of oil on top of the water. They calculate how much might have been skimmed, how much might have been dispersed and how much might have been evaporated?

They came up with one numerical estimate. And they had a second team looking at the video, the plume of oil coming out of the bottom. They used advanced analytic techniques to come up with a different estimate. They combined the two of these to come down to this estimate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day. The scientists do say this is a preliminary estimate. They continue to work these numbers and they're modeling the number. It could change in the future.

They also emphasized that no matter what the number the administration's response would have been the same. They claim it was an all-out response effort, whether it was 1,000 barrels or much, much more, the response from the government would have been the same. Back to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So, I wonder, Jeanne, are they saying that the amount of oil was increased or is it because the method, this kind of aerial view. This method may be a little bit different than what was initially used in the earlier stages that the number is now 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day?

MESERVE: Fredericka, I had to jump off this call to get this news to you. I'm not sure what they said about the trajectory over time. At least in the preliminary presentation they gave us to, they said this is the flow rate, period -- 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day.

They gave no indication that there had been any fluctuation, although we know the scientists have told us that hour by hour, day by day, there can be some changes because of the mix of oil, and gas and other debris coming out of the well.

WHITFIELD: Gotcha. Thanks so much. Good information. Jeanne Meserve from Washington. Appreciate that.

All right. Meantime, there is quite the pressing for answers from Tylenol now. Lawmakers want to know if the company's children's medicines are safe. A hearing this hour on Capitol Hill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The makers of children's Tylenol, Motrin and Benadryl have some explaining to do on Capitol Hill today. A House committee is looking into the recent recalls of the popular over-the-counter medications.

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen now joining us right now. All right. Well, this has been very unsettling for so many parents. Everyone has, who has children has Motrin or Benadryl or Tylenol in their cupboard and they want to know what is at the root of this?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. It's not only troubling in your cover but I tell you that the day that this recall happened, my daughter got sick and I went to the store and they have pulled a bunch of them off the shelves but then a worker came by and said, "We forget that one. Oh, my goodness we need to get that one off the shelf, too." And it certainly makes you - you hope they have everything off the shelf, but golly it does make you wonder.

So let's go over this grilling that they're going to get on Capitol Hill today. There have been several recalls in the past couple of months and then there were even more recalls I you go back to 2008 for a whole variety of problems. Let's look at some of the problems that have been going on with Tylenol and with other products made by McNeil.

First of all, they've had an unusual odor in some of their products and it was actually consumers who called in and said, "Gee, something smells funny." They found bacteria at the plant and we're not talking good bacteria. We're talking stuff that should not have been there.

We're talking about dosage problems in some of the pediatric formulations of their products. I mean that's a problem when you're talking about little kids, the dosage needs to be right. Also people complained of getting sick and so those are just some of the problems that they've had going on there and let's come over now actually what all these products are because there's a laundry list of them.

I can't even get them all in here that have been recalled since 2008 and the reason why I'm going back to 2008 is that I know that people have stuff in their cupboards from that far back. So let's go over some of them. Children and infant Tylenol is involved in this, Children's Motrin, sorry, and also Children's Zyrtec and also the adult formulations of all of these products plus more.

WHITFIELD: Oh, really?

COHEN: So what you need to do is you need to go to mcneilproductrecall.com. Mcneilproductsrecall.com. That's where you need to go. Or Mcneilproductsrecall.com.

I see on there to see if you are - it actually - it's a pretty nice little thing they've set up there. You put in your lot number and they let you know.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's good. Sometimes you keep stuff in your cupboard and you know, you kind of forget what you have and then months pass and then you go in there and you reach. So you need to pay attention.

COHEN: Right. He's back. You go to that web site. That's right.

WHITFIELD: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

All right. New fear now that the oil gushing in the Gulf Coast could wash up on foreign shores as well and now Cuba is keeping an eye on its coast worrying about its wild life and of course, its workers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. We have crews all around the Gulf coast, and we're keeping a close eye on the top kill effort to shut down the oil leak. BP executives say they may know by late this afternoon whether that maneuver is working. Going into it, the oil company said it had no better than a 70 percent chance of success. You're looking at live images underwater right now, 5,000 feet deep. You're still seeing the gushing taking place.

And in just about two hours, President Obama is expected to announce tighter safety regulations for offshore drilling and tougher inspections of the rigs. He's also expected to discuss other recommendations that came from a 30-day review of the disaster. He ordered it shortly after the April 20th explosion that caused this massive oil leak.

All right, the oil spill has slogged ashore in three states now and shut down waters that provide seafood for much of the country. But we wanted to ask, how will it impact your family?

According to the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, nearly one in three Americans say yes, it will directly impact them. More than half say they will be indirectly impacted. Sixteen percent of Americans say they expect to feel no effect at all.

So, we also wondered how people felt about offshore drilling. The majority of Americans still favor it, but by a smaller margin. In 2008, nearly three of four Americans actually supported it. Today, the number has slipped to 57 percent. The opposition has climbed from 24 percent then to now a 41 percent -- now.

So, it is a massive amount of oil that we're talking about that has leaked into the Gulf, but you may be shocked when you see how it compares to the amount of oil we actually use in this country every day. Josh Levs is here to show us and tell us all about it.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, you know one thing I've been trying to do throughout all of this, and as this horror grows for so many people in the region is try to help us all wrap our minds around what's happening. We see the images underneath, right, and the water of this oil leaking out. We see the struggles people are having.

I want to offer you the big picture here first. I can't say this enough. This is an interactive we have for you at CNN.com. And all you need to know is the giant splotches is where the oil leak started, and each day it will grow.

Let's zoom in a little bit. What we have for you at CNN.com is each day that image, it grows bigger and bigger and bigger. It gets closer to land and closer to the people in the Gulf, extending its reach and extending its effect. So, I encourage people to check this out because we update it every day. You can see where things stand and sometimes the movement, based on all of the things that our fine folks in our weather department tell us about how it moves and how it changes and impacts people. That's where we're going to start. You can see the size of it there. One thing that's very interesting. Senator Bill Nelson has now embedded this on his Web site and it actually comes originally from the fine folks at the PBS Newshour. They've created what they call a leak meter. And what they have here is an attempt to estimate how many gallons of oil have actually leaked into the water there. And what they have there is a bar you can slide.

So, what we were hearing earlier is the absolute best-case scenario, was that it was only -- and I say only in context obviously -- 210 gallons a day. If that were the case, it would be at about 6.84 gallons that have leaked into the water. But as we know, we keep hearing more and more estimates.

Minutes ago, we got a greater estimate that would put it somewhere in here. This would put it up to about 57 million gallons leaked. And the high-end estimates are could be that it was 4.2 million gallons a day. If that's the case, we could be all the way up at 154 million a day.

Now, take a look how this compares to what you were just talking about. How much oil we use in this country everyday. Look at these astounding numbers. If we look at U.S. oil consumption everyday in this country -- look at that, Fred -- we use 819 million gallons of oil in this country every day. So, low-end estimate.

If the amount of oil that is leaking is just at the low-end, it would take 10.7 years at that rate of leaking to match how much oil we use in one day. If it's at the other, at the high end there, it would only be 195 days. But either way it doesn't mitigate the horror of what people are dealing with in that region. But it helps us wrap our minds around the size and scope of the oil there, and also, Fred, and the role oil plays in our lives in the U.S.

WHITFIELD: Yes. We're very dependent on it. Who isn't these days?

LEVS: Everything. What can we do?

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Josh.

LEVS: You bet.

WHITFIELD: We appreciate that.

All right. Meantime, there is growing fear that it the slick could spread and actually go international. A couple hundred miles south of the Gulf of Mexico, Cubans are now keeping a close eye on their coast. They're worried that the strong loop current could drag part of the spill into their communities, spelling out economic and environmental disaster. Here now is David Ariosto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ARIOSTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scraping back the sand on a beach in western Cuba, scientists dig for baby sea turtles. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's beautiful.

ARIOSTO: Faced with a host of predators at the water's edge, only a few lucky ones will survive. But as a massive oil spill looms to the north, Cuba's sea turtles may confront yet another danger.

DAVID GUGGENHEIM, OCEAN FOUNDATION SENIOR FELLOW: We're especially worried about the fate of this oil spill and how it might affect the coral reefs, the fish populations and a very large population of nesting green sea turtles.

ARIOSTO: A strong ocean flow called the loop current is dragging a portion of the oil slick toward the Florida Straits. Scientists say a portion of the spill could siphon up the main body and wash up on Cuban shores.

GUGGENHEIM: This is one of the most difficult systems to predict. It's basically a river at sea influenced by the rotation of the earth and the tides and the weather.

ARIOSTO: Marine life is not all that's at stake.

(on camera): So we're here on a fishing trawler about an hour east of Havana, and we've been speaking to local fishermen about how this will affect their communities. And the overriding sense we've gotten is that there is a sense of fear and they fish these waters almost every day and either cook for their families and sell it on the market. So, if the oil reaches shores, it could have serious consequences to this particular fishing village and others across the Cuban shore.

ARIOSTO: I've been fishing since I was six years old, says fisherman Mario Lopez. This for us is very worrisome because the truth is, we're worried about what we're going to do.

Fishermen in Havana are equally mindful of the threat.

HUGO, CUBAN FISHERMAN: Well, it's an accident. You don't find the oil just in the bottom of the ocean. It's a necessity.

ARIOSTO: A necessity that Cuba has tried to harness.

(on camera): While Cuba gets a majority of oil imports from Venezuela, it has its oil-producing sector right here and has plans for deep water drilling out there. U.S. analysts have in the past expressed concern about a potential Cuban oil spill. These days, we're looking at the exact opposite scenario.

David Ariosto, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A look at the top stories right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now.

It is oil versus mud a mile underwater. BP is hoping that its top kill maneuver will plug the leak that has been gushing for 38 days now. The company says it can't say anything definitive just yet, but the Coast Guard says the procedure is going as planned.

President Obama is putting a stop to new deep-water drilling projects for six more months. He is also delaying Arctic oil exploration. The president will make the announcements in two hours from now. You can see people already taking their positions in the garden.

And Wolf Blitzer will be bringing you the live coverage starting at 12:45 Eastern time.

And Pakistani police have picked up an eleventh person in connection with the failed Times Square bombing. None of those people have been charged, however, but officials believe all of them have links to Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square suspect.

All right. Mom and dad, well, they say they're just teaching their kids and family the business just like they learned it. But the state says no. The kids are too young. You're violating labor laws. We're taking a close look at the clash between tradition and law.

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WHITFIELD: All right. This information coming in just two hours shy of the president of the United States about to talk about the federal government's role in the Gulf oil mess. CNN is now confirming that the head of the U.S. Minerals Management service is being fired in her capacity as director of that agency. Elizabeth Birnbaum was responsible for overseeing oil and gas development projects as well as the safety exploration of the Gulf and beyond. She only took control of the department in July of last year. And we're gathering more information on this and of course, we'll bring it to you as soon as we can.

This agency, the Minerals Management Services has been kind of at the forefront of a number of thing, not just this scandal and this investigation involving the Gulf oil spill, but also about permitting problems that have evolved involving this agency, federal agency and oil companies. And it's also been under a microscope for what some have said an inappropriate relationship between the federal agency and oil companies. We'll have much more on that firing as soon as we get more information.

Meantime, a Connecticut man says the state is attacking his Italian heritage. How? By telling him his kids can't work in the family pizza place.

Michael Nuzzo's three children, 13, 11 and 8. They were learning the family business on weekends, making pizza like their dad did at his dad's restaurant years ago. But the state labor department put a stop to that and said it was a violation of labor laws. Well, the Nuzzos say this is about family tradition. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIGDALIA NUZZO, RESTAURANT OWNER: We're not slave drivers, you know? We're just teaching them what we know, you know? So, that with they become adult, you know, if they go to college and do whatever they do in life and it's something they don't like, they have something to fall back on.

MICHAEL NUZZO, RESTAURANT OWNER: They're attacking my tradition, my culture. Being Italian, this is how -- this is how we were raised, and it attacks my integrity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Nuzzos are suing the state now, and the attorney general's office says it is looking into that lawsuit. The family's oldest child turns 14 in a few weeks, and he will be old enough, by law, to work just a few hours.

All right. So, what do you think about all this? Family business or child labor violation? Here's what some of you are saying.

From Michael. "I was part of a family of nine children, five boys and four girls. All of the boys grew up working in my father's furniture store, starting at age 7. There are some things the government should keep its nose out of, and that's a family trying to make ends meet."

And this from Paul, saying, "Kids have to grow up some time. As long as the job isn't dangerous, it should be up to the employer to decide if they want to take the risk of employing a child or teenager."

And finally, Jeanne says, "Good grief! The state should be thrilled that a family is teaching its children how to work for a living. They won't be needing welfare assistance later on in life, you can bet. They will learn how to interact with real-life people and not hide behind a computer screen."

Thanks so much for your comments. Remember, we want to hear from you. Just log on to CNN.com/fredericka to share your comments.

Much more in the NEWSROOM, right after this.

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WHITFIELD: In about an hour and a half from now, the president of the United States will be addressing reporters at the White House as it pertains to the Gulf oil spill and the federal government's role. Our Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House.

And just shy of this press conference to take place, we're hearing of the firing now of the head of the U.S. Minerals Management Service. We know that there have been a number of problems involving MMS, everything from scandals that have taken place over the past year or so and also some permitting problems. The accusations that this agency has been too cozy with the oil companies. How did this firing come about?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT; Well, Fred, you're absolutely right. Obviously, the question about accountability, whether President Obama will do anything about this is when the heads will roll.

And we have two sources now, one speaking to me outside the White House, one speaking to my colleague, Ed Henry, that Elizabeth Birnbaum, the director of Minerals Management Service under the Interior Department, is out. President Obama will actually talk about this in his announcement in the East Room as well as taking questions about this. But this is all about showing the American people that he's frustrated, that he's angry, and that, in fact, he's going to be holding people accountable and that he's doing something about this.

You had mentioned some of the difficulties around this agency, and essentially the president as well as the Interior Secretary Salazar announced earlier that they were splitting up this agency because on the one hand, Fred, they had these two competing goals. They were assigning contracts, figuring out the royalties with oil companies. And at the same time, they were responsible for figuring out whether or not the inspections were going well at these oil companies, and said wait a minute. Way too cozy. MMS is not doing its job properly, so we're splitting it up into two separate groups.

Clearly, that was not good enough. The director now is out.

How this came about, Fred, well, there's a very important hearing that's taking place this morning on Capitol Hill, and it was actually Birnbaum who was supposed to be testifying along with Salazar before lawmakers to explain her role in all of this. We found out that she didn't show up. She was replaced.

We heard from Congressman Jim Moran who actually talked about the fact that she's out. Let's take a listen, Fred.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM MORAN (D), VIRGINIA: I don't for a moment personally blame Miss Birnbaum, because she's not part of the culture. She only just joined the Minerals Management Service. We asked that she be here. It's your call who you want to be here. And I trust that that no one, particularly people who are not directly responsible are going to be scapegoated in this situation.

Our interest is in getting to the heart of the problem. And in this reorganization, the most important thing is the environmental experts not be shunned to the side. What has happened --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Fred, he had mentioned that she just joined. She got there July 2009 is when she became the director. Clearly, there's been a lot of frustration and a lot of controversy over MMS in particular and how they have failed to hold the oil companies accountable, and one of the things you're going to hear from the president today is this whole theme of accountability. He clearly wants to show that he's on top of this, and he's doing something about it, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Again, the president addressing reporters at 12:45 Eastern time, 9:45 Pacific. We'll carry that live. Wolf Blitzer will be leading our coverage on that.

Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thanks so much. More of the NEWSROOM after this.

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WHITFIELD: Rolling out a new segment that you can catch every week day at this time. It's called "Home and Away," and it's a tribute to the U.S. servicemen and women who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are joining CNN.com for this special initiative, and in a moment, we'll tell you how you can honor your own loved one.

But right now, we want to tell you about Lance Corporal Dennis Veater, killed in Iraq March 2007. His sister told us how she's keeping his memory alive for her kids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN VEATER WALKER, LANCE CPL. VEATER'S SISTER: My kids didn't get to meet Dennis, and I think a lot about how am I going to share with my children who he was? The best way I know how to do it is I share with them in a song. And it's kind of a silly song. He made it up when he was very young, when he was 4 or 5 years old, and it's called "Fluffy Pillow."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So fluffy I can squeeze, squeeze me, squeeze (INAUDIBLE).

WALKER: His philosophy, Dennis' mantra was "don't let it bother you." You know, like if I would be upset about something, he would say to me, what's the problem? Like, is this really going to affect your life in the long run? Let it go. It's not a big deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And you can watch the rest of the story at CNN.com. Go to the homepage and type in V-E-A-T-E-R in the search field. And if you want to leave a tribute go to CNN.com/homeandaway. Click on the servicemember's hometown and it will take you to a link where you can post iReports or memories. It's a beautiful tribute there.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It really is.

WHITFIELD: Tony Harris is coming up next with more of the NEWSROOM. Take it away.

HARRIS: Fred, you have a great day yourself. Thanks, Fred!

WHITFIELD: Thank you.