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Oil Moves Closer to Florida; On the Drilling Rig; CNN Hero Tackles Needs of Older Americans

Aired June 04, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. That is one strange story to end on this Friday. Or, shall we say, to really begin on this Friday with Tony Harris in the NEWSROOM.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Fred, you have a great day.

WHITFIELD: You have a great day.

HARRIS: And a great weekend. I'll be watching you this weekend.

Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the big stories for this Friday, June 4th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do we want?

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Seize BP!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When do we want it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Americans vent their anger, their spleens at BP. The oil geyser is capped, finally, but crude is still spewing into the Gulf.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't understand how we can put people on the moon and we can't shut off a valve under water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Leaking oil limits the selection at Bob's Seafood in St. Louis and at shops all across the country. We will look at the impact.

And the future now for NASA. A private company launching its rocket from a NASA launch pad minutes from now. Space flight begins a revolutionary transition.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Those stories and your comments right here, right now, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Day 46 of the disaster in the Gulf. President Obama leaves for Louisiana this hour. And attention is focused on BP's latest effort to slow the gusher of oil.

Crews were able to place a containment cap on the leak overnight, and BP says some oil is being siphoned from the well. Now crews are working to close the vents on the cap and waiting to see how well it is working.

A grassroots campaign called Seize BP is demonstrating against the oil company. The group plans more protests this weekend.

And crosses symbolize a way of life that could be ruined by the oil. The display in Grand Isle, Louisiana, reflects concerns about the damage to the fishing industry and a lot more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's sickening to me to see all of this going on. You know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my home. My family's here. And I love this region, and I love this area. And I was born here, and I'm going to die here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're fighting back against BP, that we want our heritage. We want our way of life back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: CNN's Rob Marciano is on the lookout for oil right now, and he joins us live from Pensacola Beach.

And Rob, it is the strangest position to be in. I know it has to feel this way in parts for you, to be standing there on the beach waiting for disaster to roll in.

Where do things stand?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Tony, here in Pensacola, along Pensacola Beach, we've gotten reports all morning long of some tar balls washing up here. It doesn't seem to have deterred the beachgoers. They're here like business as usual, and the water seems to be crystal clear.

But as you know, tar balls can wash up well ahead of any sort of slick. And along the Gulf of Mexico, they can be from any sort of spill.

But once we got here, within minutes of us getting here, we quickly found that the tar balls and the oil globs that are washing up here are definitely from this spill. Look what this woman found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEIGH PITTMAN, SEEING TAR BALLS ON THE BEACH: The small balls started washing up, and my uncle stepped on one, and it got all over his foot. And we knew immediately what it was. And I started walking up and down the beach looking to see if I could find any more, and I walked up on these three huge balls. And while I was out there in the middle of doing it, a wave crashed up on me, and about 15 smaller balls I saw come in with just that one wave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: This is absolutely incredible. So, she said three or four tar balls. She put it in a Styrofoam cup, and obviously it's melted and congealed together.

HARRIS: Oh brother.

MARCIANO: It is just disgusting and very characteristic, Tony, of certainly that oil that is just offshore.

Now, I should say that this was found about three miles to the east of here. More representative of what we found here along Pensacola beaches are sizes more like this, and you will see a handful of these every few meters. But generally speaking, this oil is definitely close and certainly in the form of very fresh-looking tar balls. It's beginning to wash up here along the Florida coast.

HARRIS: Rob, any indication at what point officials have to shut down that beach?

MARCIANO: You know, that's a good question. We really just got here, Tony. We haven't been able to find anybody that's wearing any sort of uniform to ask that question. But it's a question we're going to be asking soon.

HARRIS: Terrific.

MARCIANO: The beachcombers that are here, the people that are here, there's a few people in the water. The water looks clear, but every once in a while, obviously, there are spots where it's not.

HARRIS: I just hope the folks can get it in. That's pretty smart. Get it in while you can.

Rob Marciano for us.

Rob, appreciate it. Thank you.

Some lawyers are rushing to cash in on the oil leak. Our iReporter Kelli says she was surprised to see ads starting to pop up on billboards around her hometown in Louisiana. She sent us these pictures. She says she understands the rationale, but the focus should be on stopping the leak and cleaning up all of the oil.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Our Kyra Phillips has been getting an up-close look at efforts to cut off the oil spewing into the Gulf.

She is in New Orleans right now.

Kyra, good to see you. Terrific work.

You know, in these 46 days you are -- and let me take a moment to set this up here -- you're the only reporter to go on one of the rigs where BP is trying to cap the well. What has that experience -- what was that experience like for you?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, I feel really fortunate, Tony. That is for sure. And I've been getting a lot of questions.

It's interesting. I've been getting questions directed to me. I've also been reading some things that have been written about why this reporter, why now, why does she have this access? And I'll just be fully transparent.

I go back years with Admiral Thad Allen. We've covered a number of disasters, a number of sensitive stories, and he facilitated it. He made it happen.

I asked him. I told him what I wanted to do. And he made it happen.

So, for the first time, we got to not only have access to what's happening there on the rigs, Tony, we got to talk to the workers. We got to see how hard they're working to try and stop that oil gusher. And we also had a chance to talk about how this has made a huge impact on them, their families.

So let me just take you straight there to the floor of these rigs, and then we'll talk a little bit more about the experience.

HARRIS: Terrific.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right. This is the heart of the operation. Tell me what we're seeing.

ADM. THAD ALLEN, US COAST GUARD, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: So, Kyra, if you look out this direction over here, you're going to see the Discover Enterprise. That's connected to the containment cap that's being lowered down over the lower marine riser pipe, or the riser pipe that was cut this morning that sits on the lower marine riser package.

Directly below that, suspended down there, is the containment cap. They're in the process right now of putting it into place to lower it down to see whether they can seal it, and then start bringing hydrocarbons up. They're also going to be injecting methanol to try and reduce the chance that hydrates will form.

Most of the other vessels out here, you see them with platforms above their bridges and cranes, are deploying and operating remotely- operated vehicles. All the feeds -- and there are 16 of them there -- are going back to Houston, where everything is coordinated with the engineering staff for British Petroleum and the oversight staff and the engineers from the national labs, Secretary Chu, Secretary Salazar, and so forth.

PHILLIPS: They're looking at all the video cameras.

ALLEN: So everything is going back together in Houston, and then they're watching it and seeing how the operations are going from there, and providing overall strategic guidance on what's happening. The tactical actions here involve deconfliction. There are a lot of ROVs down here right now. You don't want to make a mistake and have a collision down there.

There are a lot of simultaneous ops or semi-ops (ph) going on right now. So the real focus right now is to get that containment cap in place below the Discovery Enterprise, continuing drilling the two relief wells. The first one is on the DD3 that we're on right now.

PHILLIPS: And let's make that connection. As they're working to get that top hat right now to seal that gusher, how does this relief well -- how is it going to benefit --

ALLEN: The relief well is being drilled right below us. It's going down. It's starting to be angled over, and somewhere between 16,000 and 18,000 feet below the seafloor it will intersect the wellbore (ph).

At that point, it will start pumping heavy mud in to drive the oil and hydrocarbons down towards the reservoir to stabilize it, so they can put a plug in, or do what they call a bottom kill. After that's done, there should be no pressure below the blowout preventer. That will allow them to actually remove it, cap the well, bring the blowout preventer up, and do forensic analysis on it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, so, Tony, just listening to that again is reminding me how, yes, we had the access. Yes, I was able to talk to the workers. Yes, I was able to see everything first hand. But can I tell you, this has been one of the most difficult stories for me as a journalist to understand.

HARRIS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: The science, the technical part of what they're creating, and even being there on site and seeing it, as you can imagine, it was a tremendous learning process. And it really put in perspective for me when everybody is crying out work faster, work faster, work faster, how difficult this is.

HARRIS: Terrific. PHILLIPS: And taking the time and considering the safety aspects, I have a better understanding of how hard this is.

HARRIS: Well, and let me say something on your behalf here. Look, a lot of this carping about the access, and why the access, and why Kyra, first of all, we know that a lot of that carping is coming from other media outlets who would love to have the access that you have been granted. And the other thing that we know in this business is that this is about personal relationships.

You have that relationship and you have worked with the admiral on other stories. That's the relationship, and that's why you got the access. Pointblank and simple.

Now, we're going to devote, as you know, several segments to your reporting next hour. Give us a bit of a head's up as to what we can expect and look forward to.

PHILLIPS: You bet. I'm going to take you more inside the lives of these workers, what they're doing, what their jobs are.

I'll tell you about their families, and also tell you about those 11 lives lost. They wanted to make sure that I knew everything about those 11 individuals, and we're going to do a little bit of a special tribute, I guess you should say, to those 11 individuals that died in that explosion -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Kyra, we'll see you next hour.

You know, it could be your town, your home, your child polluted by toxic chemicals. Find out what's really in the air you are breathing.

If you missed even a minute of it, another chance to see this CNN special investigation, "Toxic America," with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Saturday and Sunday nights at 8:00 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Day 46. The cap is on. Now we're waiting to see how well it is working.

Josh Levs has an update on BP's efforts to contain the oil gusher in the Gulf.

Walk us through what's going on right now, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And we've been getting some new information from BP this morning about just how well it's working, or not working, and I want to give you all the basic idea on what we know so far.

Let's start off with this imagery right here, then we'll go to the video.

The basic idea that you have here, as you know, this ship at the surface, and what it's doing is it's lowering all of the way down this cap, and lots of people are calling it all sorts of different things. Some people are calling it a new LMRP cap, a top hat, a top cap. No one knows what to call it.

But they basically did manage to get a cap on to here where the oil is popping up. And what they're saying is some oil and gas is indeed making it up to the ship at the surface. How much of it, we don't know, and that's what we all want to know.

Let's go to some live pictures. I'll tell you what they're saying.

They are saying -- and keep in mind, this is never going to be 100 percent sealed, right? So, there is going to be, at the point where this new cap meets the gush, there's still going to be some oil pushing out. What they want to see is as much oil as possible working its way up to the surface, and they're saying that the amount has not stabilized yet. So, what they're saying is that it will be one or more days before they have a sense of how much of the oil is going to the ship instead of into the water.

Keep in mind, I want everyone to understand, this could be something of a turning point, because for the first time, there's a cap on this at all. So, if it's getting five percent, 10 percent or 60 percent, 70 percent, we won't know for a while, but it is getting something.

Now let's go to the video from yesterday. I want everyone to see how hard this was.

What we have were a few attempts to even get the cap on in the first place. First, you had this happening last evening, basically. You have that point in the blowout preventer that's pushing out all that oil. You have the attempt to put the cap on there. It didn't take the first time.

And the next video I've got for you, that's when they tried again, and they tried to get it on there, and they basically had a few of these efforts. And it makes sense that as they were trying to put a cap on, the oil would kind of push out to the sides. It would push in all directions. So, whenever you look, you often see this thick black smoke.

Before I go, let's go to this last animation. I want to show everyone the animation we have in here, because BP has been releasing some of these every couple of days.

And what this one does is it shows you the basic idea behind what they're trying to do right now and how it should work. And the basic idea, Tony, eventually, is that they want to strengthen this, they want to enhance what they've already put on, and they want to see it get better and better, so that as much oil is guided to the surface.

All that said, obviously, we don't have any solutions until this, behind me on the wall here, which is the relief wells, which are ahead in August. HARRIS: Well done. Thank you, Josh.

LEVS: You got it. Thank you.

HARRIS: Florida's beautiful beaches threatened by the oil disaster in the Gulf. Ines Ferre takes a look at how the leak is impacting Florida's tourism industry.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Oil disaster, day 46. Here's the latest on what we know.

BP says it will be a while before it knows whether the cap on the Gulf oil well is going to capture most of the crude. BP says some of the oil is being successfully siphoned today, but much of it is still escaping because pressure vents on top of the cap remain open. They'll be closed today, but very, very slowly.

Another top story we're following for you, another aid ship is approaching Gaza today, and the world is waiting to see Israel's response. The Rachel Corrie is expected to arrive tomorrow. Nine people, as you know, were killed this week when Israeli commandos raided aid ships.

And McDonald's is recalling 12 million Shrek drinking glasses. The artwork on the glasses contains the metal cadmium, which can be toxic. Customers can return the glasses to McDonald's and get their $2 back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Baby boomers heading for retirement. In 20 years, one in five Americans will be over the age of 65. So who's going to take care of them?

This week's CNN Hero is starting already, helping older Americans stay active, engaged and independent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IRENE ZOLA, CNN HERO: Before my mother's experience, seniors on the street were pretty much invisible to me. My mother went in the nursing home after a stroke. I didn't want to leave my mother in a place where people were ignoring her.

Here's my mom. This was a month before she passed away.

I was shocked that our culture doesn't have a place for very old people except in nursing homes, and I decided that I wanted to do something about that.

My name is Irene Zola, and my organization is Helping Seniors Age at Home.

Do you want to sit on a bench for a moment?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. OK.

ZOLA: So, we help to connect seniors with people in the community, and the volunteers provide any kind of informal care that is wanted by the seniors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I brought you chicken noodle soup.

ZOLA: There is a growing population of elders. Families are living great distances from one another.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.

ZOLA: So, this is one way that a community really makes a difference.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're a sweetie. She makes you feel enriched, and she has a way about her like somebody cares.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It definitely made me more aware. It's made me feel more connected to my own neighbors and my own neighborhood.

ZOLA: Some people believe that old age is a time when people stop learning, but it's not. Why not live life to the fullest? And that's what I love to see.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And remember, to nominate someone you think is literally changing the world, just go to CNNHeroes.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Frustration over BP's response to the Gulf oil leak is fueling protests as far away as Minnesota. Protesters in Bloomington demonstrated across from a BP gas station. They want Americans to support cleaner forms of energy and BP to clean up the mess.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mess has been going on long enough. They've got the money to clean it up, so they should be cleaning it up. They should be fixing it and just get it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Yes, get it done.

It is day 46 of the oil disaster and so far it hasn't slowed the demand for seafood even though prices have begun to spike. Here's Mike Owens of CNN affiliate KSKD in St. Louis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE OWENS, KSKD REPORTER (voice-over): The cupboards aren't bare at Bob's Seafood, but shortages because of the oil slick are limiting the kinds of fish available.

TONY RIVTUSO, MANAGER, BOB'S SEAFOOD: You've got redfish, crawfish, different types of like -- sheepshead, all kinds of marshy fish areas, you know, they're going to be shut down. They're seeing the oil floating in the tops of the water there, so it's affected all of that and we're seeing a decrease in -- I can't get sheepshead at all, can't get very little redfish.

OWENS: Shrimping off the Louisiana coast is virtually shut down because of the oil and the shrimp prices at Bob's are up because of that.

RIVTUSO: Price is definitely going up. It's already increased probably twice in the last few weeks, so you will probably still continue to see a few more increases.

OWENS (on camera): Until --

RIVTUSO: They don't know. They're telling us, I mean, from what you see on TV you're still hearing they might not shut it down until August. So, I mean, I don't understand how we can put people on the moon and we can't shut off a valve under water.

OWENS: While all of the fish is getting to be top of mind for some consumers buying fish for home consumption is not yet a big issue at some area restaurants like this one on the West End.

(voice-over): Josh Roland is the executive chef at Wildflower. The unnatural fish oil not an issue so far.

JOSH ROLAND, EXECUTIVE CHEF: I haven't seen any difference in the way people are ordering right now.

OWENS: Are people asking questions about it?

ROLAND: They haven't quite yet. I'm imaging in the next couple of months they're going to start asking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: OK, yes, companies add jobs in May, but not enough to make much of a dent. We will break down the May jobs report with Georgia Tech economics professor Thomas "Danny" Boston, that regal, good-looking gentleman right there is next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: That guy's an economic engine unto himself. That Lebron James -- man.

Thomas "Danny" Boston is with us now. We're looking at the Dow together here, down 224 points. And man, we're obviously going to follow these numbers throughout the day. Where is the Nasdaq now, Markey Markey? Down 45, the tech heavy -- as we like to say -- Nasdaq.

You know, what? I don't need that lead. Let's just talk to Thomas.

You look at the numbers with the Dow, what's going on there? Is it linked to the jobs report?

DR. THOMAS "DANNY" BOSTON, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, GEORGIA TECH UNIVERSITY: It is. It's linked to the jobs report. I mean, have we ever had a period with such incredibly bad news concentrated in such a short time?

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

THOMAS: I mean, think about this. We started with the tornados and floods that devastated large parts of the country prodded up with the volcano that disrupted trade and commerce, then the Gulf oil spill and then we get technical glitches that spook the stock market.

HARRIS: Right.

THOMAS: We've had all of those things concentrated and then, of course, the euro debt crisis.

HARRIS: Right.

THOMAS: All of it concentrated at one time. The economy has not had a span of time to just breathe.

HARRIS: Yes.

THOMAS: And -- and --

HARRIS: Well, specifically on the May jobs report, we're talking about 400,000 -- 431,000 positions created. We're talking about coming down from 9.9 percent to 9.7 percent for overall unemployment, and yet the market is looking negatively at that number. Why, because it expected more?

THOMAS: Right. More private sector jobs. We only had 41,000 private sector jobs and that's the problem. We had a lot of jobs, 390,000 though were government jobs presumably related to census takers.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

THOMAS: And so that's the real challenge. But the thing is, if you look at those figures historically, what you find is there is as much volatility in private sector employment as there is in the stock market. So that number jumps around, so we shouldn't put too much --

HARRIS: Right.

THOMAS: -- emphasis on one month. We have to look and see what's going to happen next report.

HARRIS: Well the market seems to. I mean, look, you get a good jobs report last month and then you've got a big sell-off because of concerns about possible contagion in the euro zone, so you don't get the benefit from the markets from a good jobs report. You see this jobs report that doesn't come in as expected but still is created 431,000 -- mind you, a lot of that is temporary because of the census --

THOMAS: Right.

HARRIS: -- and you see this kind of a selloff. At what point do you start to wonder about the markets? Do you still believe in these markets?

THOMAS: I think what's happened is we are so inundated to data and have so much access to data right at our fingertips that we're beginning to treat unemployment figures like we treat the Dow figures or earnings reports. And so we're putting so much credibility on just one number --

HARRIS: Well, that's spooky. That's scary.

THOMAS: It is. It is. And I think that's what's happening. Along with the fact that if you go back to January, there's been a consistent increase in private sector employment significantly from January until now, and the expectation was that it would be an even larger increase. But historically, that number has always moved around.

HARRIS: Now, look, there are a lot of ideas out there and we know that one of the problems with the economy and job creation right now is that there are a lot of people with innovative ideas -- I don't know if they're all bankable, but I would suggest that some of them are and many more are bankable that aren't being funded right now because we still have this clogged-up system where banks aren't lending to small businesses to the degree that this administration would like and certainly small businesses would like.

THOMAS: Right.

HARRIS: OK, so is there an opportunity here -- I'm just asking you.

THOMAS: Right.

HARRIS: Is there an opportunity to create a new banking model so that it is a banking model that is set aside specifically to fund some of these innovative, creative ideas so that some of these small businesses and entrepreneurs can go around what is a traditional banking system that is saying no to them more often than is saying yes to them?

THOMAS: Absolutely. We have to come up with that because if you look at what's been happening in terms of job integration, that's been created by businesses with 50 to fewer employees that are growing very significantly, the innovative small companies.

And what's happening is that those companies that have been able to survive the recession are really the real entrepreneurial companies. They figured out a way. A lot of people had to bootstrap, rob Peter to pay Paul, but they made it. But they also made it with a very bad credit report and so now they borrow money to expand and to grow and they're in a position that they can't get it because they're constrained by bank regulating.

So we got to -- we have to come up with a way, to give those companies access to a kind of credit and finance that they need in order to grow and expand.

HARRIS: All right. Let's create it.

(LAUGHTER)

Let's go to work. Good to see you.

THOMAS: My pleasure.

HARRIS: Have a good weekend, man. Say hello to the family for me.

THOMAS: Will do.

HARRIS: You know, they say necessity is the mother of invention and in this case, it certainly was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He helped me cut a bag and sew it together and we filled it with dirt right out of the ditch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A father becomes an overnight inventor to help his son's baseball swing. Watch -- this is good stuff. Watch our "Next Big Thing" series on American innovation, pitching baseball, coming up next hour.

A CNN oil alert. On day 46 of the disaster in the Gulf, President Obama is on his way to the Gulf coast to get another look at the damage. BP says it is now siphoning some of the oil from the gushing well and will try to close four vents on the cap put in place yesterday. Meanwhile, two relief wells are being drilled to permanently seal the well.

Other top stories that we're following for you right now. Budget airline EasyJet says it is working on an inventor on a special radar that detects volcanic ash. The carrier says it could prevent another shutdown of European airspace.

And Dutchman Joran Van Der Sloot is being transferred from Chile to Peru where he is a suspect in the death of a young woman. He was also a suspect, as you know, in the unsolved disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway five years ago in Aruba.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, I'm just -- Ines Ferre joining me now. I'm just trying to put myself in the place of the officials in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana right now. A couple of those states are already seeing the effects of the oil washing ashore in the wetlands and the marshes. Obviously, in Louisiana, we're getting tar balls and everything else in Mississippi and Alabama. And now there is the encroaching army of oil sheen, tar balls and everything else, moving toward -- toward Florida right now. And you are in an untenable situation if you're an official in one of those states trying to figure out what to do next.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're bracing for the worst right now and you're on the lookout. And joining me now on the phone, we've got Pensacola's mayor, Mike Wiggins.

Thanks for joining me, Mr. Mayor Wiggins. Can you tell me about the reports of tar balls, the ones seen along the national park shore and some on beaches?

MAYOR MIKE WIGGINS, PENSACOLA, FLORIDA (via telephone): Yes, and those reports are accurate this morning. We noticed and we discovered some tar balls and what we call tar mats which are really just large tar balls. I'd say, you know, about the size of a Frisbee. Those have been observed on Pensacola Beach. And, of course, what we've done is put our action plans into movement here.

What we've got is about 150 (ph) people who have been dispatched to the beach in order to do cleanup and observation and monitoring of the situation. We are beginning to enact our action plan in so far as booming very sensitive water ways within the city of Pensacola. and of course, we'll continue our reconnaissance and hopefully after noon we'll have a better idea of exactly where exactly the oil sheen is. That's that very light film of oil on the Gulf of Mexico that is, at last reports, within about ten miles of Pensacola.

FERRE: Do you still have to test the tar balls to make sure they're from the oil spill?

WIGGINS: Oh, absolutely. They will be collected. And, of course, what we're telling our visitors and residents alike is don't collect the tar balls. We have a number for people to call if they observe them so they can bring in one of these teams that are in place on our beaches to gather the tar balls and send them off for analysis.

FERRE: And mayor --

WIGGINS: We're asking people not to mess with them.

FERRE: Mayor Wiggins, can you tell us what is the mood there like? You guys have been bracing for this for days. What are people saying and what's going through your head?

WIGGINS: Let me put it to you this way. Our people are very frustrated and quite frankly, some are very angry in that our way of life, our economy and environment has been threatened by this oil. As you know in the state of Florida, we don't have offshore drilling so we're dealing with oil (AUDIO GAP) that is not even in our waters. And to us that is very frustrating and as I say, many of our small businesses, our hotels, our service businesses are downright scared because what the future holds is unknown at this point.

FERRE: Thank you very much, Mayor Wiggins, the mayor of Pensacola, Florida.

HARRIS: That's terrific stuff. OK, Ines, thank you. See you again next hour.

Preparing to blast off into a new era. We will go live to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the details on a launch that could change the future of space travel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's see, I think we have some live pictures.

OK, the president boarding Air Force One right now at Andrews Air Force Base heading back to the Gulf, the second trip in a couple of weeks and his third trip to the region here in the aftermath of the huge oil spill, the disaster in the Gulf right now. The president heading down to get an assessment of where things stand.

The effort underway right now to cap that with the containment dome. The effort that is underway right now. And we will, of course, bring you live pictures whenever we see the picture pop up of the president on the Gulf right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Set for blastoff. Private rocket company SpaceX launching the first test flight from Cape Canaveral really any minute now. You are looking here at live pictures just over this shoulder of the Falcon 9 rocket. Our John Zarrella reports hopes are riding on a plan to take over transportation to the International Space Station.

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JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are looking at the future of space travel. After half a century of flying astronauts into space, NASA is hoping commercial companies will soon be ready to take over its responsibility of flying astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station.

ELON MUSK, CEO, SPACEX: It is time for NASA to hand that over to commercial industry who can then optimize the technology and make it more reliable, make it much lower cost, make it much more routine.

ZARRELLA: Elon Musk is the founder and visionary behind SpaceX and there is literally a lot riding on what is the most critical test to date of his company's Falcon 9 rocket. If it works, Falcon 9 will lift off from Cape Canaveral and make it to orbit. Several companies are developing commercial rockets, SpaceX is furthest along. GEORGE MUSSER, EDITOR, "SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN": They probably hate each other's guts, but their competition is really good for space and for all of us. I mean ultimately, what do we want from this? We want to get into space cheaply.

ZARRELLA: That's the Obama administration's hope too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touchdown, 195.

ZARRELLA: By the middle of next year, the space shuttle is expected to be retired. SpaceX and other commercial companies would take over the shuttle's role, freeing up NASA's limited money allowing the space agency to focus on getting humans to the planets.

The catch? There is a several years gap between shuttle retirement and when a commercial rocket will be ready. Until then, the U.S. will rely on Russia to fly astronauts to the station.

MIKE LEINBACH, DIRECTOR, NASA SHUTTLE LAUNCH: If I were setting policy for the country, I would set a policy that we fly the shuttle until the next manned American rocket is up and running and we can transition very smoothly from the shuttle program to the next program, whatever that may be.

ZARRELLA: SpaceX is targeting a cargo flight next year and astronauts by 2013, even if there are setbacks.

MUSK: There is a very good chance there will be problems in the early launches. Because this is an all new rocket, you know, there is a lot that can go wrong. And during the test phase, that's why you have a test phase, because things may go wrong.

ZARRELLA: NASA has yet to decide which company or companies will ferry it's astronauts to the Space Station, prudent to wait until they at least make it to orbit.

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ZARRELLA: Now, we're not sure exactly what time there might be a launch today. There's a an issue that's cropped up between the flight termination system onboard the vehicle, a communications system error, and the folks that handle that termination program. So until they can get that worked out, Tony -- at range safety, not getting a communications link from the rocket -- until they can get that worked out, they're not going to be able to lift off because those are the guys that if something were to go wrong, would have to push the button to detonate the rocket in case it were going out of control.

So they want to make sure they get that worked out before they liftoff. They've got until 3:00 this afternoon -- Tony.

HARRIS: Tremendous promise here. It is rally fascinating. John Zarrella for us. John, thank you.

CNN is the only news network with a correspondent reporting from the deck of one of the drilling rigs. Our Kyra Phillips flew out to the rig with U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen. She really got a detailed play-by-play, moment-by-moment explainer on what exactly is happening. And she talked with workers helping to stop the worst oil disaster in U.S. history. Extended time with Kyra next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Plus, a father found his inner inventor when his baseball-playing son needed help with his swing. It is the second piece in our "Next Big Thing" series next hour.

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HARRIS: Swimmer Eric Shanteau took on the 2008 Olympics and cancer simultaneously. He also squeezed in time to help "Fit Nation." CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Olympic swimmer Eric Shanteau the sport used to be about competition, but since his testicular cancer diagnosis just weeks before his first Olympic games in Beijing, Eric has changed his tune a bit.

ERIC SHANTEAU, OLYMPIC SWIMMER: This is kind of a new role that I'm going to take on. You know, being a cancer awareness advocate, we're going to be basically making this swimming world aware of the cancer community.

GUPTA: And in between planning a charity swim event, training for world championships and living the life of a 26-year-old, Eric took time to give some rookies, our "Fit Nation" triathletes, a few tips.

(on camera): You've met our triathletes, you're familiar with this program, what do you think of them?

SHANTEAU: You know, I think -- I think they're going to be a great group when the time comes, and they're going to be ready to race. And what's fun is, is that this is all new to them. And so you see the enthusiasm on their faces.

GUPTA: Swimming is the first event, as you know, in a triathlon. Do you have any -- this is always an impossible question to ask people who do this for a living, essentially -- but do you have tips or is there anything you would tell people who are doing this for the first time?

SHANTEAU: Well, you know, I think, depending on if swimming is your strength, then I think you need to establish your position in the race, in the swim, and really put yourself out there, because if you can get out to that early lead, that's kind of a mental advantage. If swimming isn't your thing, then that's where you need to really make sure and conserve your energy and really be able to push the back half of the race.

GUPTA (voice-over): As for Eric's future -- SHANTEAU: I definitely won't be doing triathlons, because I can't run to save my life. I really have enjoyed kind of taking on this new role that I have. So, I would like to explore that option a little more.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

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