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Deepwater Horizon Explosion; Revisiting the Near-Perfect Game
Aired June 05, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD LUI, CNN HOST: We're going to speak with one of the fisherman down in that area coming up in the next hour.
But first we've got some more headlines for you and other news. President Obama has announced he will nominate retired air force General James Clapper to be the new director of national intelligence. Heading the nations spy agencies.>
Joran Van Der Sloot also in the news. He has arrived at police headquarters in Lima, a long-time suspect of the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway. Van Der Sloot now faces charges that he killed a woman in Peru.
Israeli commandos today boarding another aid ship heading for Gaza, this time without resistance it appears. The ship was taken to an Israeli port.
Our BP's latest attempt to cap the gushing oil in the Gulf is having some success but plenty of oil is still escaping when we see the live pictures. CNN's Ed Lavandera is following developments on the impact, this happening in Louisiana when we talk about this oil. Hey Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are some critical hours here underneath the Gulf of Mexico as BP crews are trying to really latch on that containment cap on the top of the blowout preventer. They are working with getting the pressure right so that it will get a good seal on top of that blowout preventer, but so far in the first 24 hours that that containment cap was put into place, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard says that about 250,000 gallons of oil were captured. That's about 6,000 barrels.
Clearly a small fraction of the amount of oil that's spilling into the Gulf of Mexico in this disaster as we speak. They say over the course of this weekend, they hope to close the valves that are on the side of that containment cap to start capturing more and more oil in the coming days. But obviously, we are a few days away to be able to figure out whether or not this will turn out to be a success at this point.
But clearly right now Richard this is only a containment operation. The real attempt to kill off this well and make sure that the gushing stops for good rests solely at this point in those relief wells that are being dug alongside where this oil disaster is occurring underneath the water. We are still at least several months away. Those wells need to go about 16,000 to 18,000 feet. So far they've only gone about 7,000 feet, so really not even half way there, still several months away. That's why the timeline of late August is really the time frame we are looking at fully killing off this well according to BP and the U.S. Coast Guard.
In the mean time, that concern in the environmental impact of what we are seeing is really starting to play itself out along the Gulf coast, as more and more we are seeing this oil start to creep eastward along the beaches from Mississippi to Alabama. We are starting to see globs of oil on the Pensacola Beach. In Florida, we've seen video of oily pelican wash ashore on the Pelican Beach on Pensacola Beach. That pelican was obviously killed, apparently, by that oily nature in the water. The Coast Guard said that they are concerned that this eastward trend will continue in the days and weeks ahead.
Richard.
LUI: At a later phase certainly in this process. So many folks thinking the oil would hit 30, 40 days ago. Now certainly eye-to-eye for a lot of residents as well as tourists in that area. Ed Lavendera, who is watching that happen for us over the course of that time. Thank you so much.
President Obama has made his choice for his national intelligence director just a few hours ago. We heard that the president nominated James Clapper. He is currently the undersecretary of defense for intelligence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S: Need to constantly evolve, adapt and improve. That's why I ordered a series of reforms to strengthen the intelligence earlier this year. That's why I look at Jim to make sure we have the most capable, efficient intelligence community possible. Intelligence must be collected and analyzed quickly. Must be shared and integrated effectively and acted upon decisively.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: We are just hearing about that. CNN Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve joins us live now from Washington. Jeanne you've been following the story for us. What are his chances here of being confirmed?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: There could be some problems. President Obama urged Congress today to move quickly on Clapper's nomination. But the president knew before he made this nomination that there would be some opposition. Dianne Feinstein chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee has raised concerns about Clapper being tied too closely to the military side of the intelligence community because of his long Pentagon career.
And Senator Kit Bond, the ranking Republican on that committee complains Clapper hasn't been forthcoming with Congress and has blocked recent efforts to give the DNI more power. Congress Pete Hoekstra the ranking Republican on the House intelligence Committee issued a hard-hitting statement this afternoon raising the same concerns of opposing the nomination and accusing the administration of trying to micromanage intelligence from the White House.
Richard.
LUI: You know, Jeanne, we all have job descriptions when we get a new job. This is a job description that has a lot of things underneath it. Is there an issue that might make this problematic when you talk about the DNI description?
MESERVE: There are a lot of problems. The best indicator of that may be the number of people who held this job during the short history, four people in five years. The DNI was created after the 9/11 attacks to coordinate the nation's 16 intelligence agencies. The idea was to break down stove pipes and improve information-sharing in hopes of preventing another attack.
Most experts will tell you things have improved, but they haven't improved enough. Our recent report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on the attempt to bring down a Northwest airline run, Christmas Day, said that the government still was not intergrading intelligence the way that it needs to. And some members pointed specifically at the National Counterterrorism Center which falls under the DNI saying that the NCTC didn't do its job or even understand what its job was.
LUI: You make a really good point there Jeanne on how important this job is. We cannot state how important this job is. Is there a way to make this whole thing operate more smoothly though?
MESERVE: There are different opinions. Some say that legislation needs to be passed to give the position more strength. Others say the person in the job won't ever have the power he or she needs unless the president is forcefully behind them. But another critical factor is the person in the job. Admiral Dennis Blair who was recently forced out of DNI after 16 months on the job didn't have the juice. He lost important power struggles to CIA director Leon Panetta and to John Brennan, the president's top counterterrorism advisor.
He reportedly did not click with President Obama himself. Some say all those things made him less effective than someone else might have been. And Panetta by the way put out a statement this afternoon saying he looked forward to working with Clapper in the new job.
Richard.
LUI: You definitely need the juice at that level. Jeanne Meserve thanks so much.
MESERVE: You bet.
LUI: One step away from perfection. So close that the Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga missed by one out because of an umpire's bad call. I will ask him about his brush with history, the way he thinks about it right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LUI: Some progress to report on day 47 of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard saying that the cap on the ruptured well has now collected about 250,000 gallons of oil in its first full day of use. That's about 1/3 of what federal officials estimate is gushing into the sea each and every day. More tar balls meanwhile, washing ashore overnight in Pensacola, Florida as they try to find out where those came from.
Israeli naval commandos have intercepted another humanitarian aid ship headed for Gaza. An Irish cargo ship tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza earlier today but was taken to an Israeli port instead. Unlike an Israeli raid on another aid flotilla earlier this week, there were no clashes between the crew and commandos today. In Monday's raid, nine activists were killed.
McDonald's is now recalling millions of drinking glasses sold to promote the latest "Shrek" movie. You might have one sitting in your kitchen, government officials say the painted designs you see on the glasses there contain cadmium which pose health risks. Officials say people who purchased these glasses need to stop using them immediately. The McDonalds website has information on how to return those glasses and request a refund.
All right. Here is Josh with a preview of some "Viral Videos" coming up for us as we have crowded as it might be in Beijing, he is going to talk about what's happening there for us, right?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a woman we are going to be showing you in this video here; who it seems can get a parking spot anywhere she wants one. She has magic going on. It might not be legal, but it certainly is impressive, maybe even genius. We'll show you that coming up in "Viral Video Rewind."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: The perfect game that wasn't. You've probably seen the highlights, but let's take a quick look again for you. The Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga had sat down 26 straight hitters, but he got cheated out of the key last one, number 27. The ground ball to first, there it is, the toss to Galarraga. The umpire yelled "safe." but replays showing the runner clearly out. Since then it's been a whirlwind for Galarraga and his teammates. We have him here live. Armando Galarraga joining us live from Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City where Tigers will face the Royals tonight. Good afternoon to you, my friend. How are you doing? Armando, can you hear me? This is Richard.
ARMANDO GALARRAGA, Yes, I hear you.
LUI: Very good. Armando, so I want to go back to some of the video when you first reacted after you heard that call. Let's take a look at that. I want to get your reaction. What were you thinking after you had heard that call? I saw you actually put on a bit of a smile as you're just like, what? What were you thinking?
GALARRAGA: So many feelings coming together. I was so nervous. I had a lot of feelings coming. When the game was over and I see the replay and I see the replay again and I see it over and over, I was like, oh, my god, it was out. It was not even a close play. Everything happened so fast. I started feeling a little bit sad.
LUI: Some people were thinking why wasn't he more angry about that call and what had happened? When we talk about a perfect game, in the history of baseball, it would have been the 20th time. You would certainly have had a place in the history books.
And for folks who aren't familiar with the definition of what the perfect game is, we do have the definition for you right here. A perfect game basically according to the MOB is when you have a situation where the pitcher retires each batter on the opposing team during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings. That means that no batter ever reaches any base. The pitcher does not hit any of the hitters either. There are no walks. It is a very rare occurrence. When we have been looking at some of the reaction from different people, I want to get your reaction to this. Some folks are surprised about how you did react. Are you surprised about people being surprised?
GALARRAGA: Surprise for what?
LUI: How people are reacting to how you were so calm after this entire incident.
GALARRAGA: Oh, yes. You know how you say; a lot of people got angry watch the TV, watch the game. How did the umpire mess it up so bad and all that kind of stuff? We're human and we make mistakes. In that moment, I was so happy to throw a really good game.
LUI: It was an amazing game, Armando, absolutely up to that point. Still an amazing game when anybody takes a look at this. It has also been emotional in different ways. We were looking at the umpire and how he even reacted. Let's listen in to what the umpire said later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM JOYCE, MLB UMPIRE: When I walked down that tunnel and I got the reception that I did from the Tiger fans, I had to wipe the eyes. I didn't expect that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: Armando, later on you walked up to him on the field. What was that like? Was he emotional?
GALARRAGA: When I give the lineup to the guy?
LUI: Yes, right.
GALARRAGA: Yes. In that moment because the night before we talk and he apologized to me. I give you a hug. I feel bad, but I'm sure 100 percent the guy feels worse than me 20 times because he was like crying and telling me, I'm so sorry you were perfect. I can't be perfect in that situation and I'm so sorry. When you see the guy, he don't say too much. His body language, his face says a lot to me. The next day we turned the page. He is a professional, I'm a professional. I mean he is looking at my face, I look at his face. We keep going and move.
LUI: He hit you on the shoulder we are looking at that the video saying, hey, man, sorry about that. You can tell you're not holding any grudges against him. What is interesting also is that the manager of your team, the Detroit Tigers has taken this very personally, as well. Let's listen to what he had said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM LEYLAND, DETROIT TIGERS MANAGER: I couldn't be prouder of the Tiger fans today. I'm proud to be a manager of this franchise and I'm proud to manage for these fans. They showed me a lot of class today and it was a hard thing to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: What have you and your manager talked about, Armando, about how to handle that situation after? What sort of discussion have you had?
GALARRAGA: I'm sorry, can you say that again?
LUI: Sure Armando. What was the discussion that you and your manager had after this call had happened? What did you guys say to each other? You and your coach. You and your manager.
GALARRAGA: We don't say too much. We know what happened. A lot of people sit down and watch TV. Everything goes so fast, so crazy at that moment. Not many people say too many words. They don't want to make me more sad. Some people just give me a hug.
LUI: I want to finish with this, Armando. You mentioned you were going to tell your son that you had pitched a perfect game. Will you still tell your son that?
GALARRAGA: Say that again, sorry?
LUI: You had said you would tell your son that you had pitched a perfect game. Will you still tell your son that?
GALARRAGA: Oh, yes, yes. I believe with all my heart that I do throw a perfect game. I have the tape. My father said, I'm so proud of you. No matter what the umpire say, I know you threw a perfect game in the big leagues.
LUI: Armando, you are a classy guy.
GALARRAGA: Thank you.
LUI: Armando Galarraga here for the Detroit Tigers. Thank for stopping by to talk with us. No doubt your attitude is a lesson for youngsters. Galarraga was called up from the minor leagues just weeks ago. If this is any indication, look out for this guy. Thank you, sir, Armando Galarraga. Legendary basketball coach John Wooden has died. Wooden coached UCLA to seven consecutive titles in the 1960s and '70s. Earning him the nickname the "wizard of Westwood." We all know this guy. Includes an incredible streak of 88 straight wins. No one has ever come close to matching that or his ten career titles. The award for outstanding college basketball player also has his name on it. Amazing person, John Wooden. Dead of natural causes at 99 years old.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: There it is. One of our favorite parts of the show today. That is "Viral Videos," Josh Levs is here to break down some of the things that he's seen.
LEVS: It's Richard's first viral video rewind. Everybody welcome.
LUI: Hopefully I'll get it right.
LEVS: You can't mess this up. You get to enjoy it. This is where we find the hottest videos online. I've never seen anything like this. It's under water freefall. It shows a diver. It's a special dive.
LUI: Is that the hole right there?
LEVS: That is a sinkhole. Let's watch what's about to happen.
He is holding his breath the whole time. He is going to dive into it. This is filmed with him holding his breath. It was actually filmed by another free diving champion Julie Gauthier. You can read more about it at Deeperblue.com. Look at this. He goes all the way down. One thing we don't see whether it's one shot?
LUI: Is he wearing weights?
LEVS: He is wearing a little bit of a weight. He is a free diving champion under water so he knows what he is doing. The music playing "you make me feel" by Archive. This video and all the videos, they are all up on the facebook page, Joshlevscnn. I've never seen that before. Next thing is an ad. Sometimes these ads take off. An overseas ad that won a big award and it is called "Rewind City." Take a look at the beginning here. We'll lay out the scene. Let's listen.
It's a woman standing there in a busy section of India. This guy motions everyone to stop. Watch what's about to happen. Everyone goes backwards except her. She doesn't understand what's happening. Let's skip to the next section of the video. This bus comes back. Boyfriend steps out. It was Orange TV. And they won an award. And this ad was actually saying you can relive the great moments that you get on TV a month ago.
LUI: Well, this one did take some time to develop, I must say.
LEVS: What do you mean?
LUI: That was must have bought a lot of time. Well, again, this a (INAUDIBLE) this is on-line, so... LEVS: Yeah, exactly, hey you get to skip ahead.
LUI: And I was kind of like, come one.
LEVS: He's like, get to the point. all right, I forget, he's not Fred. He wants -- all right, let's do that right now. Next video. It's out of Beijing and we have to look into this more and learn how authentic it is or is not. But, take a look. So, these people are in their car.
LUI: The black car, there?
LEVS: Yeah, they see another car in front of them and they want her parking spot. But, look what happens when she steps out of her car. Turns out it's not a parking spot. She has a little bit of magic that she's been pulling off. This is going wild online. All these people are looking into it and everything we're seeing so far says this actually happened.
LUI: Look, she's laying out something on the concrete?
LEVS: She's is saying out her poster board and she's rolling up the lines that made it look like she could park there. And then she takes off the sign on the side of the road that makes you think she can park there, too.
LUI: Is this woman really doing this around town in Beijing?
LEVS: Well, everything we're seeing online says it's actually happening. But, I'm going to ask our international desk. Each week we have a video, is this real or is it not? I'm going to make that this one for the week. All right, we're going to take a look at that.
LUI: You definitely got to get that...
LEVS: She drives away.
LUI: In some of the cities in the United States, such as New York or San Francisco where it's tough to find spaces. You need at least two of those.
LEVS: You need at least two. Yeah, you need at least two of those. All right, and before we go, every week we have an adorable video. And we can't -- the thing about animals, let's go ahead, is they don't have to do anything. And I used to be like, well, they're not doing anything, who cares? These are the most popular ones I show.
LUI: The "aw-shucks" ones?
LEVS: friends and they're just hanging out
LUI: And evidentially cleaning each other.
LEVS: A little more than friendly.
LUI: Yeah. LEVS: Yeah, I mean, these two really, really bond.
LUI: Hello. Hello.
LEVS: But, it's cute that they love each other so much.
LUI: The "aw-shucks video" of the day.
LEVS: All right. All of these videos are up (INAUDIBLE) on the graphic where you can see all today's viral videos as always, it's up at FaceBook.com/JoshLevsCNN. The reason it's FaceBook, the address in the middle, is that FaceBook makes it easiest to call all these different Web addresses from all over the Internet. Take a look there and join, send them your -- us your favorites and tomorrow afternoon we'll bring some of your favorites as well as some more viral videos.
LUI: If you wonder what Josh does when he's not on air, he is looking at YouTube videos.
LEVS: I'm playing.
LUI: That's what you're doing.
LEVS: I get to have a little distraction.
LUI: Oh, no, certainly more that than. Josh, thanks a lot.
LEVS: Thank you, you bet.
LUI: Up next, helping senior citizens stay independent. She is this week's "CNN Hero."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: The pictures from the explosion were amazing, the Deepwater Horizon in flames, but all those ships trying to put out the fire and save lives. They've actually done more harm in the long term. CNN special investigations unit correspondent, Abbie Boudreau has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As flames engulf the Deepwater Horizon, after that thunderous explosion, supply vessels converted to act as fireboats and poured tons and tons of water on board, all in an effort to save any survivors, and the structure itself. But some in the oil industry say trying to put out the fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon was the wrong move, making the rig more likely to sink.
ERIC SMITH, TULANE ENERGY INSTITUTE: I think it sank not because of the explosions, but because we spent two days with the fireboats pumping water into it, and arguably you could say that in sinking, that's what collapsed -- collapsed the riser and started the oil flow.
BOUDREAU: Eric Smith is the executive director of Tulane's Energy Institute, and a 30-year veteran of the oil and gas business. He and others in the oil industry say the loss of the riser pipe was critical.
SMITH: Obviously gas was flowing at the time of the fire, probably some oil was being lifted up, but we'd be in a lot better shape today if the riser was intact, even if the boat was a burned-out hull, but as long as it was floating it would have, you know, remained connected to the riser.
BOUDREAU: Smith and others say the effort to put out the fire was a natural reaction but it may have been misguided.
SMITH: They were trying to cool the rig down and hope that the fire went out so they could get on board and stabilize things, so I don't think they were -- some guy was in the backroom saying, well, gee, let's see, if we pump water for two days, six fireboats, we'll probably sink the rig.
BOUDREAU: Of course, the Deepwater Horizon did sink, damaging the undersea network of pipes and cables, along with the riser and perhaps even the blowout preventer and contributing to the worst environmental disaster in American history.
In fact, guidelines from the National Fire Protection Association warn that using tons of water affects the stability of a structure and adds, "If this vulnerability is not properly understood and controlled, the consequences can impact all firefighting efforts severely."
Just who was directing the firefighting in the wake of the explosion still seems a mystery. Asked by CNN if he knew who was in charge that day, a Coast Guard official said, "I do not." He said an investigation will ultimately bring out the whole truth. He added, "The facts, as revealed by the investigation, will tell us how and why this tragedy happened, and how we can prevent a similar one."
The well owner, BP, told CNN it was up to the rig operator, Transocean, to handle the firefighting details. Transocean did not want to comment, but a source at the company suggested it was up to the Coast Guard to direct operations. Whoever was in charge that day, the conditions were brutal.
JOSEPH FARRELL, RESOLVE MARINE GROUP: It was pretty much of a pretty horrendous fire. Of course, it -- that was preceded by the explosion that caused it.
BOUDREAU: The Resolve Marine Group out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, had one of the biggest boats on the scene. The company president, Joseph Farrell, says there was a great deal of water poured onto the Deepwater Horizon.
FARRELL: Was it the water that caused it to sink or was it the explosion, the combination of both? The water from the vessels? I -- I honestly don't know. Anything's probable, but you can't fault the guys that are out there trying to save men and put that fire out. That's a given.
BOUDREAU: Salvage operators, like Joe Farrell, say the heat of the explosion may have compromised the integrity of the structure, so badly that all of that water that was supposed to have helped, just might have ended up hurting.
Abbie Boudreau, CNN, Houston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: All right, now in our top story, Joran van der Sloot is now in police custody in Peru. He's accused of killing a woman there. Van der Sloot was extradited from Chile and you'll remember him as the prime suspect in the disappearance of U.S. citizen Natalee Holloway in Aruba five years ago. He was arrested twice in connection with that case, but he was never charged in that.
Police in Peoria, Illinois, are searching rural land near Peoria, Illinois for signs of Stacey Peterson's body. Peterson, the fourth wife of a former Chicago police officer, has been missing since 2007. Drew Peterson was questioned in this case, but says he had nothing to do with her disappearance. He's facing a murder charge in the death of his third wife in 2004.
And President Obama chose the man he wants to head National Intelligence, today. Nominating retired Air Force Lieutenant General James Clapper as the new director, Clapper would replace Dennis Blair who quit last month and he must be approved by the Senate. But, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee says he's disappointed with that choice.
The baby boom is turning into an elderly explosion. In 20 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in five people will be over 65. This week's "CNN Hero" is tackling the growing need for elder care head-on. She's helping older U.S. citizens stay active, engaged, and most importantly, 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 from 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. Well, she makes you feel enriched, and she has a way about her, my God, 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)
LUI: Absolutely. Irene Zola and her team of volunteers have helped nearly 30 seniors remain independent. And if you'd like to see how a community has certainly become a family or to nominate someone who you think is changing the world in their specific way, go to CNN.com/heroes.
A spelling word worth $40,000. You'll hear from the 14-year-old spelling bee winner.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANAMIKA VEERAMANI, SPELLING BEE WINNER: Stromuhr, S-T-R-O-M-U-H-R.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: There she is, this year's national spelling bee champ. She just got 14 and correctly spelling the medical word Stromuhr, as you saw. She had to look this one up -- we had to look it up, rather. It's a gauge that measures how much blood is flowing through an artery. Now Anamika Veeramani is the third Indian-American in a row to win that prized spelling bee with these tough words we always have to test ourselves on. She's from a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, and she'll get more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.
Jacqui Jeras, every time we talk about these spelling bee winners, I'm always -- we have to look at ourselves and we kind of do that, not that it's all about us, but you know, some of these words...
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Would you have got it right?
LUI: No way. I have trouble with "I" before "e."
JERAS: Oh, except after "c." Or if it sounds like "a" as in neighbor and weigh. I don't think they teach that anymore, actually.
LUI: Yeah, well you got it.
So, how does weather look right now?
JERAS: Not great, actually.
(WEATHER REPORT).
LUI: And Jacqui, both of the areas, that you just mentioned, those two cities, at least, beautiful places, beautiful places.
JERAS: Oh, huge tourist destinations. It is very devastating.
LUI: We hope for the best. All right Jacqui, thank you.
CNN's Kyra Philips is with the president's point man in the gulf, the area that Jacqui was telling us about, we go there when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Now a CNN exclusive, following the go-to guy for president Obama and everybody else in this oil disaster on day 47. CNN's Kyra Phillips shows us a fairly typical day for Admiral Thad Allen.
BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's 6:00 a.m. and we're here in New Orleans, Louisiana. Admiral Thad Allen's day began hours ago. But we're getting ready to connect with him now and see what it's like for the next 48 hours as he leads the response to the worst oil disaster in U.S. history.
Good morning. Good to see you.
ADM THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: Good morning.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): The 61-year-old commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, officially had his change of command last month. But he's not on the toughest assignment of his long career.
First a jolt of caffeine. The admiral's security detail knows every coffee shop on the gulf coast.
(on camera): All right, I've got the next one.
ALLEN: Admiral Allen.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): And then the first calls of the very long day.
ALLEN: I can call the governor.
PHILLIPS: The White House, federal agencies, governors, the Army Corps of Engineers. They never stop. Today's top priority, hammering out an agreement on getting sand barriers built to protect the Louisiana Coast and paying for them.
ALLEN: We talked about a couple of things. No. 1 was the feasibility of constructing the barrier islands of the burns. The second one is their effectiveness.
PHILLIPS: It's an issue that's sharply divided state and federal government. The admiral has to be broker, diplomat, decision-maker.
ALLEN: You can suffer, you can adapt and you can manage. I'm trying to move to the manage.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: For this job, Thad Allen needs a thick skin. He's come in for plenty of criticism.
ALLEN: I'm careful about the rents space in my head. I try to keep a pretty even keel. It's almost impossible to insult me.
PHILLIPS: The incident command post, the nerve center of the massive operation to deal with the spill. This is where all the federal agencies involve and BP come together.
ALLEN: All of the operations in Louisiana are directed out of here.
PHILLIPS (on camera): We're only an hour into the day and the admiral has to make a number of conference calls throughout the day that we will not be able to record, they're off the record. He's getting ready to get on the phone with senior Obama administration officials and cabinets secretaries about building barrier islands to protect the marshlands.
(voice-over): Admiral Allen is also the public face of the administration's efforts to tackle the worst environmental disaster in modern U.S. history.
ALLEN: Good morning. The briefing this morning is coming from our incident command post in Houma, Louisiana.
PHILLIPS: Back on the road again headed for Houma Terrebonne Airport. The White House called again. What's the progress on a sand barrier deal. The president had promised local officials he would fast-track a decision.
(on camera): How many times a day does the White House call you?
ALLEN: Depends on the issue.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Then it's up and away in a Coast Guard plane for a firsthand look of the spreading slick.
ALLEN: I've asked them to fly over to get a really good look at the Mississippi River and the marshlands and all the stuff we're talking about. It gives you a very good idea of the vastness of this marshland. We're talking hundreds and hundreds of miles. That's breeding ground for they said 25 or 30 percent of the seafood that's consumed in this country.
PHILLIPS (on camera): We headed east out of Houma and came through to see where the oil has spread across the Mississippi where the marshlands are. And now, we're actually headed over to where the rig exploded. How many vessels do you have out here?
ALLEN: In our entire operation (INAUDIBLE) around 1,500 (INAUDIBLE) 50 miles and I'd say a couple hundred.
PHILLIPS: So, we just wrapped up the fly-over. And now apparently the attorney general wants to talk with the admiral. It is about 2:30 now in the afternoon and it could be about the criminal charges that possibly may be weighed against BP.
(voice-over): Allen assures the attorney general, he'll keep him informed of anything that could impact potential legal action. Not the sort of job he was trained for.
ALLEN: Lisa. How are you?
LISA JACKSON, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: How you doing, darlin'.
ALLEN: Good to see you.
PHILLIPS: Armed with the aerial overview, the admiral catches up with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency in Cocodrie, Louisiana. Their talk is of booms, dispersants and the workforce now deployed across the gulf coast.
ALLEN: One thing about Lisa, she can talk.
JACKSON: In this area, these wetlands are something that all of us have (INAUDIBLE) to make sure we not only maintained but rebuild.
PHILLIPS (on camera): The admiral is going to meet with all of the workers here that are deploying all of this equipment out in the water, booms, et cetera.
ALLEN: The president wants to triple the resources in an oil-impacted area, and there's always a problem with space, burning, nothing you can't handle.
PHILLIPS: After 14 hours of command and control this day, still time to rally the troops. Dinner with contractors, members of the National Guard and others.
ALLEN: Tell them where you're from. If you go out and treat anybody that's been impacted by this event in the local community here, anybody you're dealing with, if you treat them as they're your brother, your mother, your sister, your father, somebody you care about you're going to be all right because if you err, you're going to err on the side of doing too much. PHILLIPS: And then some good news.
ALLEN: The news of the day is the president approved the Louisiana burn project that the Corp of Engineers approved.
PHILLIPS (on camera): So at the end of the day, you do a call with your staff. And you have to do it from wherever you are. I mean, here we are in Cocodrie and you're doing it at a Cajun restaurant.
ALLEN: Well, I'm in the office in a Cajun restaurant, yeah. Hi folks, what I'd like to do is kind of go over the -- what's happened today operationally.
PHILLIPS: What did you achieve today?
ALLEN: Well, major step forward in dealing with the state of Louisiana on the barrier island, the burn question.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): But Admiral Allen knows that only sealing the spill will mark the beginning of the end of his mission here.
Kyra Phillips, CNN, New Orleans, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
