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Clearer Picture of Oil Disaster; van der Sloot to Re-enact Murder; Grim Milestone in Afghanistan; CNN iReporter & Musician Takes Us into the Disaster; C.I. Agent Solutions Oil/Water Separator
Aired June 09, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7 at CNN World Headquarters. The big stories for Wednesday, June, 9.
Returning to the scene of the crime. Alleged killed Joran van der Sloot being taken to a hotel room in Peru where police say he confessed to murdering a young woman.
Plus, the growing oil slick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNNY COLT, IREPORTER, FORMER BLACK CROWES & TRAIN BASSIST: It stinks out here. My face itches.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A CNN iReporter takes you to the pollution site in the Gulf of Mexico. We also take you over it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL ROBERT PAPP, COMMANDANT, U.S. COAST GUARD: Not in my wildest dreams. We've dealt with major spills before but nothing ever of this magnitude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The new Coast Guard commandant on his first flight over the oil leak. Our Rob Marciano takes you along for the ride.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Day 51, and we are getting the clearest images so far of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. BP released high-resolution video. It is brand new of the underwater gusher and response to demands by two lawmakers. They say it will help independent experts determine better how much oil is flowing from the well. These images were taken two days after robots cut the damaged pipe.
The Gulf disaster is front and center on Capitol Hill today. Three committees and two sub-committees are holding hearings, among the witnesses at the House hearing on cleanup, actor Kevin Costner. He has a device that he says removes oil from the water. And President Obama heads back to the Gulf region next week. It will be his fourth trip to the area. This time, he plans to visit Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
Another story we are closely following, Joran van der Sloot said to re-enact the murder of a young Peruvian woman. Police say he confessed to the killing. They plan to return van der Sloot to the scene of the crime after scratching those plans yesterday. CNN's Rafael Romo is outside the hotel in Lima where it is set to take place. And Rafael, as you know, it was supposed to happen yesterday. It didn't. Maybe you can tell us why it didn't happen yesterday.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, there's been delay after delay after delay. We understand that they were trying to do it yesterday. Today, they were supposed to do it at 5:00 this morning, but it hasn't happened yet. There may be some sort of legal problems relating to this re-enactment, and what they're trying to do is to bring Joran van der Sloot to this location. He's going to go to room 309, he crime scene, and he's going to tell investigators step by step exactly what happened the morning of Sunday, may 30th when 21- year-old Stephanie Flores died.
He's supposed to tell them what transpired that morning. We have learned through police some of the things that he said during the confession, during a seven-hour interrogation, what he told authorities and what he said was that he went out to a nearby store, a gas station here to get some coffee in the morning, he returned, and realized that Stephanie Flores was going through his computer, laptop computer learning that he had been linked to the disappearance case of Natalee Holloway in 2005.
He became very upset. They started arguing, and she slapped him on the face. He lost control and started beating her up and ultimately breaking her neck, and that's how she died, Tony.
HARRIS: Rafael, your reporting leads me to a couple of different questions. You mentioned that Stephanie Flores went through, was going through, according to van der Sloot, his personal computer. So, the authorities have that personal computer. Have they detailed any of the contents of that personal computer?
ROMO: No, at this point, Tony, we don't know if she was just going online and going through all the news about what happened in 2005 or whether he had some compromising information in a personal file in that computer. Police have not told us what the nature of that information that she saw in the computer was. This is the computer that he was carrying when he was caught in Chile after fleeing Peru, Tony.
HARRIS: OK. How confident are officials today? You mentioned some legal entanglements here. How confident are officials that this return, this re-enactment is actually going to happen today?
ROMO: Well, it's a legal process, and they want to make sure that they have everything in the right place. He has to be accompanied by prosecutors, by a defense attorney, by investigators, and they want to make sure that it's done in conditions where he's not interrupted where they were telling me they want to clear the floor of the hotel where this happened.
So, there's no guests, nobody interfering with the investigation so that the process goes smoothly. So, that's the problem right now that the ideal conditions for the re-enactment to happen are just not there yet.
HARRIS: OK. One final question for you, Rafael. Has van der Sloot's personal attorney arrived there in Peru? Also has his mother arrived? You mentioned yesterday that his mother may be arriving soon.
ROMO: Not as far as we know. What's been happening, Tony, is that, originally, he was assigned a defense attorney by the Peruvian government, but he indicated that he wanted to have his own attorney. As far as we know, Peruvian officials are not telling us whether he has now his own attorney. Also, as far as we know, his mother is not here. We understand that he spoke with her over the phone on Saturday when he arrived here in Lima. We don't really know what the nature of the conversation is, but he indicated to Peruvian officials that he wanted to see her and actually spoke on the phone with her on Saturday.
HARRIS: OK. Rafael Romo for us in Lima, Peru. Rafael, thank you. We are learning more about the possible criminal charges against Joran van der Sloot in the United States for extortion. Ines Ferre is following that part of the investigation, and we will talk to her in about 40 minutes right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Other big stories we're tracking this morning, Taliban militant in Southern Afghanistan have shot down a NATO helicopter killing four American troops. That brings the number of U.S. troops killed in the Afghan war to 1, 006. That grim milestone of a thousand dead was passed yesterday after an improvised bomb took the lives of two Americans.
The U.N. Security Council was expected to vote this morning on tougher sanctions against Iran. The vote has been delayed for now. Tehran still refuses to comply with previous U.N. resolutions on its nuclear development. The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge.
Big wins for women in political primaries in a dozen states. Among the closely-watched races, Meg Whitman's victory in California as Republican primary for governor, the former EBay CEO will now face Democratic state attorney general, Jerry Brown, in the general election. Brown is a former two-term governor. In Arkansas, Senator Blanche Lincoln beat back a challenge from Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter in the Democratic Senate primary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BLANCHE LINCOLN, (D) ARKANSAS: I have heard your message, and let me tell you, I cannot feel any stronger than I feel today as the daughter of the delta and Arkansas to know that your message is loud and clear, that Washington, Washington needs to work for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: OK. Lincoln faces a tough general election battle against the Republican congressman John Bozman.
He's been in charge of the Coast Guard just two weeks now and Admiral Papp is taking a look at the oil disaster for the first time. Our Rob Marciano goes with him.
And let's look at the markets. Guys, give me a peek of the big board here. Where are we here? We're in positive territory after big gains yesterday. The Dow up 86 points. We're following these numbers for you throughout the day right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Oil gushing into the Gulf for 51 days now. We've all seen the images from below. Now, a look from above. Rob Marciano joins the coast guard for an aerial tour of the disaster's ground zero, the actual well site. Something you will see only here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We arrived with the coast guard with newly appointed commandant, Admiral Robert Papp. He has yet to be out to the well site and neither have I, and you get to come along for the ride.
MARCIANO (voice-over): The plane is designed for search and rescue, but this is a recon mission.
Admiral Papp, Rob Marciano, CNN.
PAPP: Rob, how are you?
MARCIANO: My pleasure.
PAPP: Nice to meet you.
MARCIANO: Likewise.
He's been the coast guard's top boss in for only two weeks and already it's been a historic ride.
PAPP: I don't think in history have we ever put out this much boom to contain, a size of -- length of coastline as large as this, so this is pretty historic for us.
MARCIANO: Is it something that the coast guard even imagine to have to train for or do?
PAPP: Well, not to this magnitude.
MARCIANO: It's the first time he's seeing the spill up close.
PAPP: That's Dauphin Island that you see on the stern of us right now. MARCIANO: Parts of the Gulf seem completely clean. Its trademark blue water, clear. As we get closer to the well site, we see more boats and more oil.
We're getting on top of the spill site now and they just opened up the back door for us to get a better look. You can smell it. Oh, my goodness. There it is.
MARCIANO (on-camera): You're looking at the floor of this operation. The main platform that's stocking up the oil and the natural gas is flaring it and on either side are that the two relief wells that are being drilled to finally put this thing to bed some time in the middle or end of august.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Oil is being burned off the water throwing dense plumes of black smoke into the air. Alongside me, Admiral Papp looks over his flotilla battling the spill, please with the progress, but still awe struck by its scope.
MARCIANO (on-camera): In all of your years in the coast guard, did you ever think you'd see an operation like this?
PAPP: Never. Never. Not in my wildest dreams. We've dealt with major spills before but nothing ever of this magnitude.
MARCIANO (voice-over): This flight also gives the admiral a chance to thank his team below.
PAPP: This is coast guard 2301 commandant onboard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Admiral, good afternoon.
MARCIANO: From the cockpit jump seat, he'd radio his skimmer. His words of encouragement are piped throughout the ship.
PAPP: It does my heart good to see you out here. I wish we didn't have to send you on a mission like this, but I'm also glad that we have you to do a mission like this. So, really, does wish to (INAUDIBLE) and please keep up the good work out here over.
MARCIANO: Rob Marciano, CNN, over the Gulf of Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: A musician with a love for the Gulf Coast documents the disaster from the oil leak. Former Black Crows and trained bassist, Johnny Colt, a friend of the program has been traveling around the region getting a first hand look at damage. He collected samples from the back bay of Grand Isle, Louisiana. Here's a look at what he found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLT: We've got unattended boom wrapping around the island. They're on the shoreline. OK, I'm not a boom expert, but I know that it doesn't help being laying up against the island itself, and it's not out here catching this kind of stuff which is what boom is made for. We've seen quite of it as this goes by (ph). The water as a whole has a sheen. It's super thick.
There's more coming now, a super thick sheen of it and there it is. This is highly toxic. We shouldn't be breathing this. We should have our masks on, but you can't hear me talk with the mask. So, I'm going to keep this short. I think this really says it all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: It's nasty. Johnny Colt joins us live in the bottom of the hour to talk about the damage he has seen from the oil disaster.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. Happening now at the White House, President Obama meeting with Palestinian authority president, Mahmoud Abbas. Let's get to our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux. Suzanne, I'm curious as to how the president's agenda for this meeting really changed following Israel's raid last week on those aid ships heading to Gaza.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Tony, it's changed dramatically when you think about the focus here because he was supposed to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week following up with Mahmoud Abbas today to present a focus ongoing from indirect talks to direct talks, moving those Middle East peace talks forward. One of the things that we're going to focus on on the Israeli side was trying to freeze the halt and Jewish settlement on the Palestinian side to improve security all around for the Palestinians and the Israelis.
That is no longer the top issue on their agenda. I had a chance, Tony, to speak with a Palestinian official who's traveling with Mahmoud Abbas who said that he is going into this meeting, and it's all about Gaza, Gaza, Gaza. What do those folks need there? If you take a look at the situation on the ground, amnesty international says four out of five people in Gaza desperately need that humanitarian aid. And so, Mahmoud Abbas obviously does not want to see that blockade, that naval blockade, not allowing those ships to get to Gaza to deliver that aid, and Israelis are saying, look, this is a matter of our security here.
We don't want these ships to potentially deliver goods and weapons from Hamas. So, what the president -- what Obama is going to say is that, he, along with those in the European union, United Nations and other countries are going to try to up the aid, up the humanitarian aid for those living in Gaza who are suffering, and what we're going to hear from Mahmoud Abbas is he's going to say that, yes, you know what, all is not lost in those Middle East talks.
I am willing to go for it on the proximity talks and those are the initial talks about security and about boarders and then put aside some of the more other contentious issues like the state of Jerusalem and refugees later on down the line, but he says, look, I'm willing to move forward with this. Does President Obama have the political will to still push this through? So, that's what we're going to hear from today. Whether or not both these leaders are on the same page.
HARRIS: Boy, I can't wait for the outcome of that meeting and your reporting on it Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us.
Good to see you, Suzanne.
Back now to the Gulf. Day 51. So, the fix at this point is collecting a lot of the oil, but what's next and what happens if there is a hurricane? Have you thought about that much? Josh Levs will show us next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: A CNN oil alert for you. It is day 51 of the leak in the Gulf of Mexico, and the disaster is front and center on Capitol Hill. The House and senator are both holding hearings today. BP says no massive underwater oil plumes in large concentrations have been detected, but scientists say there is solid evidence of oil stretching far and wide below the water's surface.
Other top stories we're following for you, murder suspect, Joran van der Sloot, returns to the scene of the crime in Peru. Investigators staging a re-enactment today with van der Sloot to describe how the killing of a Peruvian woman took place.
And actress, Lindsay Lohan, has posted a $200,000 bond in her latest run-in with the law. A California judge has revote (ph) a lower a bond and issued a bench warrant for her arrest. That warrant issued after an alcohol detection bracelet indicted or indicated the presence of alcohol on Lohan that happened Sunday night.
We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So, here we are, 51 days since the explosion on the deepwater horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico led to the worst oil disaster in the nation's history. It claimed the lives of 11 workers. One of the survivors described the ordeal to CNN's Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW JACOBS, OIL RIG EXPLOSION SURVIVOR: I could feel the heat from the flames as soon as I came out to the smoke deck, but when I got out on the lifeboat deck, I just stopped, and I looked up, and I was, like, this can't be happening. I said, there is no way we can put that fire out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did it look like?
JACOBS: It -- it looked like you were looking at the face of death. I mean, you could hear it, see it, smell it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Boy. Anderson Cooper reports live from the Gulf tonight at 10:00 eastern on CNN. Day 51 of the oil disaster. So, what is BP's long-range plan and what happens if there's a hurricane? Josh Levs joining us now with that part of the story -- Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tony, let me tell you something, we have numbers that have been coming through about how things are going. Let's go to live pictures under water and I'll talk to you first about how much oil is spewing out. As you know, we've been watching how many gallons are they talking about everyday and barrels, and the number that we're hearing about today is 15,000 now. That is slightly more than what we heard the previous day, and the number I'm giving you here is how much BP thinks it's holding on to, things not going into the water, but it's actually managing to make it up to the ship on top.
That's what BP believes at this time. Basically, the short version here that there's been a slight increase over the last couple of days of how much oil they're managing to hold on to that does not get released into the water. We also have for you the high-res images, and we can go to that quickly because the more we see these high-res images, the more we're able to tell what we've not been seeing so far.
When you look at this, it's really important, you know that it's different from seeing a black cloud. The black cloud is oil mixed with water. These high-res images are what scientists can look at very specifically and try to break down how many actually oil particles are getting into the Gulf right now versus being picked up.
So, right now, that's what they're looking at. Now, I'm going to talk to you about what happens if there's a hurricane because they need this long-term containment and the current system isn't going to cut it if there is a hurricane. Here's what's happening right now. The basic idea what I've shown you in the past is you have the blowout preventer down here, you have a cap on top of it, and they're trying to guide as much oil as they can up to the shift here on the surface, "The Enterprise" drill ship. Well, you know, that's not going to be OK. If there's a hurricane, the ship has to go away or it can get picked up in the hurricane.
They need a system to make sure that they're continuing to do something as this storm starts to arrive which as we know happens every single year. So, this right here is the long-term containment, and I'm going to talk to you through it. Here's the basic idea of what they have planned. Can we zoom in way down here? This right here is what I was just showing you. This is the blowout preventer, but it no longer will have the line going directly out to the ship. It's not going to have that anymore. Instead what they're doing is they're putting these two things on either side, and they're basically going to try to start doing this reversal.
They're going to pull out and lead up to two ships up on the surface. One way is over here, if you follow my finger, and up to a ship called the Q-4,000 over here. That's somewhat they're going to do for this long-term containment to try to get a lot more of that oil, but actually, even this one has to go away if there's a hurricane. So, the hurricane plan is on the other side. It's right over here. This is the blowout preventer. This right here guides you for what they're going to do.
They'll have the pipes set up that are designed to pull out as much oil as possible, and it's going to lead all the way up here to a ship on this surface, and the reason that they think that this will help if there's a hurricane is that these ships can go away, and they believe they can leave this piping right here even if there's a hurricane. It's going to be weighted down so it's just enough feet under water that even if there's a hurricane it should not be picking up all of this material.
That way, the ships can go away in the storm. As soon as the storm is over, they come right back. They plug right back in. They don't have to connect all the way down. They believe that this right here is their hurricane plan. So, Tony, they are working on long-term containment in that sense, but I'm going to remind everyone that we're only getting some of the oil.
This whole time, the only actual solution and the long-term is this, the relief wells, and this is ultimately what we want to see. You know, they have this giant reserve of oil underneath and what they want to see, basically, is as much oil as possible get moved into the two relief wells they're building on either side. That is what could take until August, and that's what we're watching very closely, Tony, in the hopes that, you know, get more and more oil each day.
HARRIS: As you look at the plan to handle the oil in the event of a hurricane, man, you've got to hope there's no hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.
LEVS: Right.
HARRIS: Are you kidding me with that?
LEVS: I mean, in general, you got to hope for a lot of things. The fact is that the hurricane plan they have is still just a plan, and it isn't even in place. So, how strong it will be, how it will play out is just as much guesswork as anything else that we've seen throughout this entire crisis. Just letting you know that they do have a plan at all, but yet, I mean, obviously, it's yet another potential disaster.
HARRIS: Refine that plan. All right, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you.
LEVS: Thank you.
HARRIS: And how about this? A new Orleans-style jazz funeral for the Gulf Coast. IReporter Andrew Alvarez sent us this video. The event was a way to draw attention to stopping the oil leak and saving the Gulf Region. Demonstrators also paused for a moment of silence to remember the 11 workers killed in the oil rig explosion.
You know, we have heard a lot about vast underwater plumes in the Gulf. Scientists went out and investigated. Now, they say they have solid evidence of something huge.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: You know, we told you earlier there was a big vote scheduled at the U.N. on a new round of sanctions, a new sanctions regime against Iran. We can tell you that that vote has happened and that the vote has passed.
There you see the U.N. Ambassador to the United States Susan Rice. Once again, the vote has happened and the new round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program has passed. More on that story in just a couple minutes here.
51 days into the Gulf oil disaster. We want to show you emotional testimony that came during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the risky business of big oil. The brother of one of the workers killed in the BP oil rig explosion blasted the company's CEO.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER JONES, BROTHER KILLED IN RIG EXPLOSION: I want to take this opportunity to address recent remarks made by Tony Hayward, CEO of BP. In particular, he publicly stated that he wants his life back. Mr. Hayward, I want my brother's life back. And I know the families of the other 10 men want their lives back. We will never get Gordon's life back, and his wife will live a life without a husband, and her two children, a life without a father.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I will talk to that man, Christopher Jones before he goes to the White House to meet with President Obama tomorrow. You can see that conversation at 11:00 Eastern, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The Gulf oil disaster strikes a real chord with musician Johnny Colt, a friend of the program to be sure. He goes on a mission to chronicle the damage and the response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
There's not another boat in this water for as far as we can see. We have not seen anything else today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The former Black Crowes and Train bassist joins us live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The oil disaster in the Gulf struck a chord with musician Johnny Colt. He and his family have been vacationing in the region for 20 years. Now, the former Black Crowes and Train bassist is traveling around the region documenting the damage from the oil leak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COLT: The air out here is filthy. It stinks. The water is covered in iridescent oils. It looks like the Silver Surfer's body. Now, we've got crude over here. We're going to try to catch it. But I'm telling you, we are not supposed to be in these kind of waters without this respirator. I'm supposed to be in gear like this. And so is everybody else. According to our sources and our experts everybody should be geared up like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Johnny Colt, joining us live from Destin, Florida.
It's good to see you, again, Johnny. Thanks for your time.
COLT: Hey, Tony. How are you, sir?
HARRIS: Terrific. We should first of all tell folks that you don't come to this story and issues concerning the environment lightly. The last time you were with us you were here helping to launch the Discovery Channel's Green channel. And so it's good to have you back. And just to let folks know that you have a long- standing interest in these issues.
Let me do this, let me sort of set this up and then I want you to describe what you've been seeing. You really are serving as an independent journalist right now. You hired a buddy of yours who is also a videographer, and you also hired a local fisherman to take a boat out on to the Gulf. I think U have this correct. And you sent us back these pictures.
If you would, describe what you found as we look at some of these photos and video.
COLT: Thank you, Tony.
Yes, Harold Sellers (ph), my cameraman and editor, and Derek Delano (ph), the fisherman -- I want to thanks to them for putting themselves in jeopardy out there, along with me.
We went into the back bay off Grand Isle. When I arrived at Grand Isle, I walked beaches full of oil. I bobbed and weaved through the National Guard. There's protest cemeteries in people's front yards. And then Derek took us out on a skiff into the marsh on the back bay area. When we got out there we were the only boat for as far as we can see. We had a small skiff so we could navigate the marsh without causing damage and what we saw was a complete dead zone.
HARRIS: Oh, boy. Do you need more of those skiffs?
We're hearing from Thad Allen that you need smaller boats now out there in big numbers to sort of target the various smaller spills because we're talking about one big, monolithic spill at this point.
Do you need smaller boats, even like the one that you were on, working on getting the oil off the surface? COLT: What becomes evident is that these marshes are covered in oil and they're small pieces of land, some that you could walk across in a minute or two. We try not to walk across the marshes. I guess us walking on them can't be worse than the oil. But we walked across one to try to document the situation.
There's unattended boom everywhere. Boom is up in the marshes two and three feet, which is actually holding the oil against the soil. We dug into one soil -- it was saturated down as far as about a foot. We didn't really want to start digging through the marshes, again, for the safety of the marsh. But I collected samples and have sent them back to Atlanta to be tested by an independent lab.
HARRIS: Anything surprise you beyond what you're describing? Anything surprise you about what you found?
COLT: You know, when I got the news, when we heard about the spill in the beginning, there was so little information it felt like the tail was wagging the dog. I really felt it seemed like the corporation had our government held hostage. I jumped in my car and went straight down there and I was shocked by the epic proportions of the disaster. I expected it to be bad, but not that bad.
The thing that stood out was the Cajun community, the resilience, their communication, their awareness, their level of education on all sides. The Cajun community was more prepared than BP appears to be or the news media for that matter.
HARRIS: Wow.
What do you think in terms of, you know, sort of the long-term solution to this? I guess I'm asking where do you stand on this whole idea of offshore drilling? It seems that it has to continue, certainly in the short run, and America's energy demands.
COLT: I think this is a very important question. I'm going to answer it in two parts.
Personally, I think for me, personally this is an issue that's 50 percent me and 50 percent BP. I think in a situation like this you've got to look at your personal responsibility around your choices having to do with oil. Oil's in everything we have from anesthetics to aspirations, to aspirins to most part of the cell phone contain oil. We interface with oil in every part of our life. You've got to look at your part in this.
Second, that doesn't absolve BP from not being prepared for the disaster, their contingency plans not being there and their general attitude toward the community as a whole.
Now, having said that, the Cajun community spoke to me directly about the fact that drilling is a big part of their life and they're pro- offshore drilling. They see the rigs as beautiful. They see them as fish estuaries, they seem them as a part of the community. And those people only really do two things: They fish and work on the rigs, or the community services the people that do those two things. To lose the fishing life and now lose -- with the moratorium on drilling -- for them to lose the jobs on the rigs, these people are in serious trouble.
HARRIS: Would you like to see the moratorium lifted?
COLT: I don't know about that. But what I do know is that unless BP is going to seriously subsidize the Louisiana coast, these people aren't going to have an opportunity to make a living any other way.
BP is asking for -- listen, you know when people come together on a common enemy and BP has really bound that whole coastline and that community is coming together in a strong way and they're prepared to take this whole situation on themselves. I have no idea where this will lead, but that's a strong group of people and we're going to continue to hear from them.
HARRIS: Hey, Johnny, appreciate it. Thanks for your time. It's good to see you again.
COLT: Thanks, Tony. Thanks for having us.
HARRIS: Yes, yes. My pleasure.
Let's get you caught up top stories. A CNN oil alert on this 51st day of the disaster in the Gulf. Capitol hill, a wash in oil hearings today. The House and Senate consider issues ranging from safety, to cleanup, to liability. President Obama makes a fourth visit to the region Monday. BP's CEO has been called to testify before lawmakers June 17.
June is turning into a deadly month for international forces in Afghanistan. Four U.S. troops were killed when their helicopter was brought down by hostile fire in Helmand Province today. More than a thousand have died since the war began.
The U.S. Senate this week confirmed Lucy Koh as U.S. district court judge for Northern California. This makes her the nation's first Korean-American federal judge.
(WEATHER REPORT)
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's the latest on the weather situation. Tony's going to be back in the NEWSROOM right after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Joran van der Sloot, the longtime suspect in the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway could be formally charged as early as today in the death of a Peruvian woman. Van der Sloot has also been charged in a plot to extort money possibly from Natalee Holloway's mother.
Ines Ferre joining me with details. And you have been very busy this morning on the story.
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, definitely, digging into this story.
We've got a lot of information from this Interpol document that CNN was able to obtain. And it states that van der Sloot was trying to extort $250,000 from the Holloways. Around March 29th, the document says that van der Sloot contacted a representative for Natalee Holloway, her mother. Also, he said that he would reveal the location of Holloway's body and how she died.
Now when he met with the Holloway rep in Aruba, the document says that he received a payment of $10,000, followed by a wire transfer of $15,000 to his account in the Netherlands. And van der Sloot showed a house where Holloway's remains supposedly were. But when records showed that the house wasn't even built at the time of the disappearance, van der Sloot admitted that he lied. Now that's all according to this Interpol document that we were able to obtain.
HARRIS: But the FBI is involved in this so explain us to that involvement.
FERRE: Yes. So the FBI got involved and I spoke with Bo Dietl who has an investigative firm. He says his firm was contacted by John Kelly, by Holloway's lawyer when this happening. And then they contacted the FBI to get involved.
He said that the FBI -- the meeting took place on May 10th. And he said that the FBI videotaped that meeting and that it was all on videotape. Dietl even says that there's incriminating evidence also on that videotape. So on May 13th, he says that then van der Sloot, that's when he left Aruba. So he received this money, then he left Aruba on May 13th.
So the question is why wasn't he arrested when he received the $10,000 --
HARRIS: Absolutely.
FERRE: -- and after the wire transfer?
So I spoke with the FBI. They say that they can't comment on this investigation. The U.S. Attorney's office won't comment either. Well, it's an ongoing investigation.
Now, I did speak to a former FBI assistant director who said, look, this is really complicated because you're dealing with another country so you have to have Aruban authorities that are involved in this. And also the U.S. Attorney's office. -- they may have wanted more evidence. They may have wanted a bigger case out of this, more than just extortion.
HARRIS: Explain that to -- they would have to explain that to Stephany Flores' family because at some point they've got evidence. The FBI is saying that they've got evidence on camera of extortion taking place. Pure and simple extortion. That's the suggestion. We've got evidence camera, right?
FERRE: That's from this investigative --
HARRIS: That's from O'Neill (ph).
FERRE: Exactly.
HARRIS: That the FBI is involved?
FERRE: Exactly.
HARRIS: OK. I'll stop there. We'll see you next hour.
FERRE: OK .
HARRIS: OK.
CNN showing you five ideas a day. Five ideas a day to help sop up the oil in the Gulf. We will show you one company's way of turning the gooey mess into a rubber-like solid that can be recycled into plastic cups or even asphalt.
We're back in a moment.
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HARRIS: So, of course, CNN is your source for financial news. Let's get to you the best financial news web site on the web, CNNMoney.com.
I'm looking at the main page and the item that sticks out to me here is Gulf Businesses Fight for BP Payments. That can't be happening. Look, BP has set up a claims office. It's invited claims. And this can't be going on. You can't have businesses fighting over payments. So that's something for us to continue to watch.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
HARRIS: Mexico is demanding answers from the United States after a teenage boy is shot and killed by a border patrol agent and his body winds up on the Mexican side of the border. Our Jeanne Meserve brings us up to date on that story in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
Plus, entertainer and radio show host John Tesh joins us to talk about a new program that throws a lifeline to commercial fishermen. Their livelihoods have been put on hold because of the BP oil leak.
We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: So, every day CNN brings you five ways that just might get the oil out of the gulf, ideas from scientists and inventors and viewers like you. Day 51 of the disaster. We want to go to Dauphin Island, Alabama, where a company called C.I. Agent Solutions has created what some call the longest oil/water separator in the world. Dan coons is part of the team behind it. Joining me via Skype.
Dan, good to see you. Dan, can you hear me OK?
DAN KOON, C.I. AGENT SOLUTIONS: I can hear you fine, Tony, go ahead.
HARRIS: Terrific. My first question is, is the National Guard still helping you build this, your system out right now?
KOONS: Well, the system is essentially done. We do have a small contingency of National Guard personnel on the ground in a maintenance mode. Some days we have as many as 200 people down here actually building it. But we're now in a maintenance contingency.
HARRIS: Yes. How long is this separator?
KOONS: We actually we have two sections of it. On Dauphin Island, the north shore is about four and a half miles long. Then you cross the ferry and go over to Fort Morgan and there's another about three quarters of a mile.
HARRIS: Do you think that's going to be enough.
KOONS: Well it's certainly going to be enough to protect the north shore of these two islands. The primary reason we're here is that the Alabama Department of Environmental Management wanted to protect the bird sanctuary and nesting grounds on this side of the island.
HARRIS: All right. We're going to see a little tape here, Dan, but maybe you can explain to us how your device actually works -- the oil/water separator.
KOONS: Certainly.
We use a polymer technology, some people refer to it as solidifiers. But the technology, it's been around about a decade. And most response companies are aware of it. However, for reasons I don't know, elected not to use it.
BP has used this on a number of incidents for the past several years and that's how we got brought into this situation, because they were willing to use technology instead of, you know, relying on mass labor.
But as the water passes into the cells which are gaping basket, each one of them functions as a oil/water separator. We put C.I. agent into the center of the basket. If there's oil in water, the oil will pass into the center, the C.I. agent will solidify it, turning it into a solid mass, which prevents it from moving onto the beach or returning back to the bay.
HARRIS: How -- is it going to hold up against heavy crude? I you've know tested it against diesel. But some of the stuff that's coming out of that well that could potentially could come ashore is pretty dense stuff. KOONS: Yes. It's actually been used on crude a number of times. They use it in Australia quite often. It will solidify any organic hydrocarbon, everything from crude oil to light sheens. It also would include sea oil (ph), vegetable oil, animal fat. It really doesn't make any difference, as long as it's a hydrocarbon and it's organic, it will solidify.
HARRIS: All right. Well, Dan, appreciate your time. And let's hope you don't need to use it. And if you have to use it, that it works just as designed.
Good to see you. Thanks for your time.
KOONS: Thank you. And this is it from Dauphin Island.
HARRIS: Well done. Thanks, Dan.
KOONS: Yes.
