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Remembering the 11 Who Died; Case against Joran Van Der Sloot; Mighty Microbes Devour the Oil; Admiral Thad Allen's Daily Briefing on the Oil Spill
Aired June 10, 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 Thursday, June, 10.
Fifty-two days into the Gulf oil disaster, the families are still not being compensated by BP.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to lose my home, you know, or anything for that matter, but I know that if we don't get some help soon, that we will definitely lose something.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Unable to work due to the oil slick. They fight to cut through red tape in BP's claim process.
Plus almost one year since the death of Michael Jackson, brother Randy speaks out for the first time. He is live in the CNN NEWSROOM and this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In this dream bag is a pair of soccer boots, a football and an outfit. And these kids can play football all day.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Football dreams keeping kids off the streets in South Africa. We will take you there as the nation prepares to kick off the World Cup Soccer Tournament.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Waves of oil ooze into another area of the Gulf Coast and the disaster stretches into day 52. We will get an update this hour on efforts to contain the oil gusher.
The government's pointman Admiral Thad Allen will hold a briefing at the bottom of the hour.
For the first time oil from the leak has moved into the inland waterway along the Alabama coast. That prompted the Coast Guard to close Perdido Pass, the main water access between the Gulf and the resort town of Orange Beach.
And Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal taking matters into his own hands. He demonstrated a vacuum that sucks the oil off the water. Jindal told CNN's Anderson Cooper the Gulf can't wait for BP to act.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, AC 360 HOST: So, Governor, what's your message to BP today?
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: My bottom line message is we're showing that it works, let's scale this up quickly, let's not wait. Don't wait for this world to hit the coastline. The plans they've got are not enough. This idea that they're just going to come out with absorbent pads or they're going to eventually send to shallow water. Skimmers is just not enough. Or that they're just going to leave the oil here is not enough.
They've got to fight this oil before it comes to our coastline. My message is, this is a war. And the way we win this war is to throw everything we've got to keep this oil out of the wetlands.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Remembering the 11 who died. Today President Obama meets with the families of the workers killed in the oil rig explosion.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux talked with relatives of one of the workers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty-eight-year-old Gordon Jones was a mud engineer on the Deepwater Horizon rig when it exploded and sank. His father Keith and brother Chris.
KEITH JONES, FATHER OF GORDON JONES: We don't know exactly what happened to Gordon. We're not certain exactly where Gordon was. There was mud that began shooting out of the well which means that a blowout was about to happen.
MALVEAUX: Chris got a call shortly after the rig went down.
(On camera): When you found out what happened that your brother was one of those who was killed on a rig, what's going on through your -- through your head and your heart?
CHRIS JONES, BROTHER OF GORDON JONES: Disbelief. After a while I got into the car and drove down to Port Fourchon because I wasn't satisfied -- number one -- with everybody was telling me.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Gordon's family has been fighting for answers ever since. Visiting Washington to testify on Capitol Hill to get better benefits for the families of those who perished in the rig explosion. And now an invitation from President Obama to the White House.
(On camera): Do you think the president has been doing enough?
K. JONES: I do. I -- I don't know what people expect him to do. If they expect him to go down and clean pelicans, but I think that the criticism of the president that I've seen is from a public relations standpoint.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): The last memories of Gordon with his wife Michelle and son Stafford are still fresh for the family.
K. JONES: We were at the golf course. Michelle had just taken the picture of Gordon giving Stafford his first golf lesson, and I was standing right behind Michelle when she took that picture.
And I remember driving away thinking they are so happy. Everything I remember about my last times with Gordon was good.
MALVEAUX: Gordon had just a couple of days left on the rig before he was scheduled to take seven weeks off for the birth of his second son.
(On camera): What was that like, that day, where his wife delivered his son -- a son that he never even saw born?
K. JONES: It was the ultimate bittersweet experience. There was the -- the joy of delivering a healthy baby boy who from the start looked like Gordon, and there was the sorrow with the realization that he would never meet his dad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And Gordon's dad wants the president to know what he was like. That he had a big heart, that he loved to make people laugh and that the family is rallying around his widow Michelle to try to take care of her as well as support those two young boys, his two sons now.
One of the things, Tony, that they would like to see the president do is just to support changing a law. It is called the Death on the High Seas Act to try to give more benefits and help for their family and the other 10 families who obviously had their relatives perish in that rig.
HARRIS: Yes, boy. A good conversation there, Suzanne. Appreciate it.
Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us.
And I should add here that I spoke to Gordon Jones' brother Chris just before he went to the White House just minutes ago, really, to meet with the president. Our conversation coming up in just a couple of minutes. He is still very angry, as you can imagine, with BP. That interview in just minutes right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Other stories that we're following for you this morning. New questions over the FBI's handling of the Joran van der Sloot case.
The FBI is defending its failure to arrest him in Aruba last month on extortion charges relating to missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway. They say they were close to making an arrest and didn't want to blow the investigation.
van der Sloot travelled from Aruba to Peru where he is accused of killing a woman in his hotel room.
A devastating bombing at a wedding ceremony in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province last night. A suicide bomber blew himself up wearing a vest loaded with explosives. Forty people dead and 80 were injured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They were all men and among that 73 initial counts of the wounded -- most of those men, too -- that we are told there were a few children killed as well.
This is explained, locals tell us, because the women for cultural reasons would not have been sitting down to eat with a man celebrating this wedding outside, as the men were who would very likely they're eating indoors and that's why it appears very few women have been injured in this particular attack.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Twelve thousand nurses in Minnesota walking picket lines today. At the heart of the dispute, staffing levels and pension benefits. The one-day strike affects more than a dozen hospitals.
Most say they've hired enough replacement nurses but some patients have already felt the impact. And the parents of quadruplets both Saturday moved their babies to another hospital on their doctor's recommendation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE, PATIENT: To be stuck in the middle of this, so you don't want -- you don't want to have to transfer your kid if you don't want to. You just want them to be in that level of care that they should have until they're ready for the next step, instead of transferring in the middle of this.
MAUREEN SCHRINER, HOSPITALS SPOKESWOMAN: When the patients come in are they going to receive services just like they always would? Yes.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Nurses in California called off a similar strike planned for today after a federal judge blocked it.
Almost a year after his death, Michael Jackson's doctor goes to court this week. They're in California trying to suspend his -- Conrad Murray's license to practice medicine.
I will talk to Michael's youngest brother Randy about Dr. Murray in his first interview since the death of his brother. Plus find out how the family plans to mark the anniversary.
That is live next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: As we mentioned just a moment ago, President Obama meets today with the families of the 11 workers killed in the Gulf oil rig explosion. Just a short time ago I spoke with the brother of one of those workers.
You may remember Chris Jones' emotional testimony during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
C. JONES: I want to take this opportunity to address recent remarks said by Tony Hayward, CEO of BP. In particular, he publicly stated 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 OF VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Here's my conversation with Jones about his testimony and what he hopes to hear from President Obama today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: After your testimony, which was so powerful, your congressional testimony, have you heard anything from BP, Transocean, anything at all?
C. JONES: Well, Transocean did put on a memorial event a while ago and they did a good job with it. BP, no. And we've said this in prior interviews. We've made public statements about BP not doing anything to reach out to the family and just extend their sympathies.
We're not asking them to call us to say we're at fault and it's our responsibility like they've done with the oil spill. All we want them to do is to reach out and say, you know, we're sorry that your brother's dead. And they haven't done that.
They've actually made every effort to avoid that. I mean, at the hearing two weeks ago in front of the House Judiciary Committee there was a BP representative, Daryl Willis, who sat 10 feet away from us for seven hours. He never even looked at us.
HARRIS: Chris, how angry -- I know there are a lot of emotions that you're feeling right now. You're feeling the deep sadness than comes with the loss of a loved one, in your case, a brother, for goodness sakes. But what are your feelings toward BP? I know it's probably a little complicated. But what are your feelings?
C. JONES: Well, as an attorney, I know that there's -- it's likely going to take a very long time, if ever, for us to find out what really happened. I'm not really thrilled with BP's response to everything. You know they're spending millions of dollars on daily advertisements.
I was walking the Hill yesterday and in a political newspaper that goes to all of the senators' offices, you know, they've taken out a full-page ad telling people that they're going to pay all legitimate claims.
Well, I don't know how many people in D.C. are making claims for the oil spill damage. You know, it's those kind of decisions that I'm not real thrilled about. You know they're doing what they're doing solely because the Oil Pollution Act imposes and affirmed an obligation for them to do it.
HARRIS: Yes. I know you've had a moment to think about your comments toward Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP, in the days before your testimony and certainly in the time that's passed since your testimony.
Boy, it really must get at you when you think about the comment, "I want my life back."
C. JONES: Well, the worst part about this whole situation is that, you know, every time I come home from work, every time I open up the newspaper for the last two months, that's the -- that's the first thing I see.
And it's almost impossible to avoid hearing things like that, and of course, when he makes such an insensitive remark in a lot of different respects, it -- you know, I knew that I had to prepare a statement to make to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I knew that that had to be said because that's just -- there's no reason for saying that.
I know he, quote, unquote, "apologize," because his public relations people told him to, but I don't accept it. I don't think he was making it to me, to be quite honest with you. I think he was making it to the general public to try to save their image.
HARRIS: Hey, Chris, what are you going to say to President Obama today?
C. JONES: Well, you know, it's not very often that somebody like me is going to get an opportunity to meet the president and we're going to take the brief moment that we do have to talk to him and ask him for his support on amendment to the Death in the High Seas Act. That's the reason that we were here two days ago and the reason we're here a week and a half ago is ask for an amendment to the Death in the High Seas Act to make it equal for recovery of families of people who die on the high seas.
Currently there's an exception to the law for commercial aviation accidents, but it does not extend to families of victims who were killed on oil rigs or cruise ships or ferryboats. And that's not fair.
HARRIS: Tell us something about your brother Gordon.
C. JONES: Well, you know, everybody, after somebody dies they always say what a great guy he is. And -- and that's certainly true for Gordon as well. You know we didn't -- we didn't spend a lot of time talking about the oil business or the oil rig, and I've learned a lot about it -- that business -- over the last two months only.
You know we spent a lot of time just, you know, doing whatever brothers do. I mean, hanging out. And his son -- his oldest son is getting old enough to be able to play with my kids and we spend a lot of time just hanging out and spending the time while he was at home.
HARRIS: I hope you get some answers from the president, and I hope you get an opportunity to tell him exactly what's on your mind and get his support for what you're fighting for.
Chris, it's good to see you and thanks for your time.
C. JONES: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And tonight a special edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360." "The Gulf Oil Catastrophe, the Cause, Response and Toll on the Environment, Economy and the People." When and how will the recovery begin? A special "360" live from the Gulf, 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. We continue to follow the Joran van der Sloot case on several fronts. What's going on in Peru as well as the extortion case against him by U.S. authorities.
Ines Ferre is here with the very latest and we can start with a new attorney for the accused.
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. And we're just getting information on this. The attorney that's now representing van der Sloot says that he's going to ask a judge to strike down his client's confession.
Maximo Altez told one of our affiliates that when van der Sloot was being interrogated he was not properly represented. And, Tony, I'm just getting this information that Altez told -- said that police got a public defense attorney during the interrogation and confession, but Joran never agreed to him. And this is coming from Maximo Altez, who's the private defense for van der Sloot.
Now Peruvian authorities say that van der Sloot confessed on Monday night to killing Stephany Flores. And yesterday they said the reenactment that they were going to do with van der Sloot in the room where Flores was killed --
HARRIS: Right.
FERRE: -- may not happen now because the authorities could decide that they have enough evidence to formally charge him.
HARRIS: We had a pretty lively discussion about the FBI's involvement in this case. The FBI was clearly listening to that conversation and responded late in the evening yesterday. Is that correct?
FERRE: Yes. Because there's -- there were a lot of questions as to why van der Sloot wasn't arrested in Aruba after he allegedly tried to extort $250,000 from Natalee Holloway's mom in exchange for information on Holloway's disappearance.
Now as part of an undercover investigator, a rep for Natalee Holloway's mom met with van der Sloot in Aruba. van der Sloot was given $10,000 in cash and $15,000 as a wire transfer.
And we also had spoken with an investigative firm, Dietl and Associates, and they claimed that -- they were called into the operation early on before the FBI took over and that there's a videotape and van der Sloot even counted the money twice, and then he left several days later for Latin America.
Now as far as why the charges weren't brought in earlier.
HARRIS: Yes.
FERRE: The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office says that, "Despite having been in motion for several weeks at the time of Miss Flores' death. It," the investigation, "was not sufficiently developed to bring charges prior to the time van der Sloot left Aruba." And they also said that it's very complex -- a very complex situation to work outside of the United States and they were working as hard as they could.
HARRIS: OK. All right. That's -- that's the statement at this point.
FERRE: Yes.
HARRIS: And we'll go with that, but we want more. We want more. All right, Ines, see you next time.
FERRE: See you.
HARRIS: Thank you.
Almost a year after his death, Michael Jackson's doctor goes to court next week. I will talk to Randy Jackson about Dr. Conrad Murray in his first interview since his brother's death. Plus find out how the family plans to mark the anniversary of Michael's passing.
That is live next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Let's get a quick market check here before we go to break. Wow. We've got a rally. That's hot. A triple-digit rally here, and we're up 226 points.
We'll talk to Alison Kosik about this. What's going on here? First-time claims? Let me not guess. We'll talk to Alison in just a couple of minutes. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's get you caught up on top stories now.
A CNN oil alert on day 52 of the disaster in the Gulf. Some inland areas along the Alabama coast are seeing oil for the first time in Orange Beach. The Coast Guard has closed the main water access route.
Later today President Obama meets with the families of the 11 workers killed in the oil rig explosion. Right now we are awaiting a live update from Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen scheduled for 11:30 Eastern Time.
In other top stories now. In cyberspace, a serious breach. AT&T says it has fixed a security hole that may have allowed hackers to access the e-mail addresses of more than 100,000 iPad 3G owners.
And in Chicago, a raucous celebration -- look at this -- after the Blackhawks win hockey's Stanley Cup. Chicago beat Philadelphia in overtime. It is the team's first championship in almost a half century.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are back in the NEWSROOM. I'm Josh Levs. Tony gets a little break for a couple of minutes because every day CNN brings you five ideas that just might -- maybe -- get the oil out of the Gulf, at least some of it.
We've got ideas coming in all the time, around the clock, from scientists, inventors and in some cases from viewers.
Day 52, we are in our eighth week of this disaster, and joining me now is Todd Brown of RTG Recovery Systems in Detroit. We're going to talk about how tiny microbes can clean the water by eating it.
All right. Well, thanks very much for being here, Todd. TODD BROWN, PRES., RTG RECOVERY SYSTEMS: Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: Let's just do this. I know you have a little demonstration about how these little microbes can jump into the oil and start gobbling it up. Let's show it, and as it's going, talk to me about the process. What happens?
BROWN: Well, what we've done we've combined two processes. One is called PRP. It's actually developed by NASA, and today it's been really formulated by beeswax. And PRP basically encapsulates any part of oil that it touches.
So PRP is right here. It's a powder form that we can spread all over the Gulf. All the oil, dirt, water, we can even inject it into plumes of oil.
LEVS: You can inject it into plumes. And it's these living organisms and they could hang out in the surface of the water and eat it up, right?
BROWN: Actually it's not. It's like the beeswax. And what happens is it attracts living organisms.
LEVS: That's right.
BROWN: Microorganisms that will come out of that water or dirt wherever it's at.
LEVS: OK. So these gobbled up the oil, and then what do they do? Where do they go?
BROWN: Well, what happens is, you have your water and then you have an oil spill. So you have -- I don't know if you can see that, but you have oil and water right there.
LEVS: Yes.
BROWN: We put -- you spread the PRP on the water -- on the oil. It immediately attaches and encapsulates the oil and this is what it looks like. OK? What this is, is candy for microorganisms. It is beeswax that microorganisms thrive to go eat.
Now that we have this, we have what we call bio-fermentation, and our process that we patent is called "Microsphere Bio-Fermentation Application." So you take the PRP, you spread on the oil wherever it may be -- in the water, on the land, in the marshland.
LEVS: OK.
BROWN: And that encapsulates the oil so immediately it helps the wild life, the turtles, the birds, anything that they need the help. And then we --
(CROSSTALK)
LEVS: Let me jump in for a second. I'm going to tell our viewers, we're looking at all sorts of different ideas. And to some extent, we're all just getting schooled on what these things are, will work or not.
Todd, I want to tell you, we asked BP about this idea, bio mediation, they tell us -- we just spoke with them. They're telling us that what they're doing right now on the surface of the water are a lot of dispersants. And they say that using a dispersant forces the oil to break up into such tiny little particles that that, in turn, accelerates the natural degradation process.
What do you say to that? Is that a better idea than what you've got?
BROWN: No, that's -- what happens with dispersants, and I'm not the expert here. We have a team of experts that are behind me. But what happens to dispersants they actually sink the oil over time and it goes to the bottom of the ocean which is no good.
Microorganisms have been around forever and ever and ever and what they do is they eat hydrocarbons which is oil. And they attach themselves, eat them, turn to water and CO2. So if we can catch them with the PRP and encapsulate them, it can't hurt the wild life. It floats on top of the water and then we spray it with our bio- fermentation.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Yes. The bio-fermentation is --
LEVS: Right. I got --
BROWN: -- an accelerator process --
LEVS: Accelerates it, yes, right. The idea that your bio- fermentation makes tons of this stuff. Listen, I appreciate that.
Before we go, though, I want to touch on one thing. I asked you before air how much it would cost. You said you'd be looking for about $100 million for your company as a retainer if you were to take this on. And you're saying that's a tiny fraction of what they're spending, right?
BROWN: Yes.
LEVS: OK.
BROWN: It's 1 to 2 percent of what they're spending currently today.
LEVS: All right.
BROWN: Every day. That's it. It's really inexpensive. But to deploy the 22 systems to make 40 tons of bacteria a day and to spray the PRP -- we have 20 tons of PRP ready to go --
LEVS: OK. BROWN: -- within 24 to 48 hours.
LEVS: Well, listen, thank you so much for sharing this. BP has also told us -- I said after I get off the air, I want them to take a specific look at your idea. They tell us that they will.
And I want all of you to know, lots of you have ideas, you want to know where to send them. We've actually posted a bunch of links for you at my page and also at the blog. \
Take a look right there, CNN.com/Josh and Tony. Facebook.com/JoshlevsCNN. And we have an iReport page, ireport.com/fixit.
HARRIS: Terrific.
LEVS: So, Todd, thank you so much to you for joining us today.
Tony, just the latest step. We're taking a look at what's out there in the hopes that some of these ideas would ultimately help.
HARRIS: We could use the help. There's a lot of oil out there.
LEVS: No kidding.
HARRIS: OK. Josh, appreciate it. Thank you.
Any moment now we are going hear from the government's pointman on this oil disaster. The daily briefing from Admiral Thad Allen in about five minutes' time from the Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Washington.
Of course, we will take you there live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Day 52 of the oil disaster and it's something we keep hearing. Oh, before we get to this piece, should we take everyone to the briefing?
Let's do that.
Admiral Thad Allen in his daily briefing on the disaster in the Gulf.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
ADM. THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: Tracy Wearing (ph) with me who leads our Integrated Services Team will be speaking to that. And the second letter was requesting that BP provide us a plan on spill containment, spill control , well containment, and well control. It would allow us to increase production, but also have redundancy in system, so if we lost one of the systems we could continue to operate.
For the 24-hour period that ended at midnight last night, we were able to produce 15,800 barrels of oil. This is in keeping with the trend that's trending up. We're also trying to bring in redundant capacity for the Discovery Enterprise that's out there right now, and will be joined by the Q-4,000, a mobile drilling unit, in the next week or so. We've directed, or will be directing BP to bring another production capability inside so we'll have redundancy, and that gets back to the letter that we sent.
But the most important thing we'd like to cover this morning is a meeting that was held yesterday, at my request, sending a letter to Tony Hayward to talk about claims processing. And I kicked off the meeting. We had senior BP representatives there. We also had representatives of the White House and my staff to talk specifically about claims, issues with claims, data transparency and a way forward.
I'd like Tracy W to give you an update on that right now -- Tracy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning. Thank you, Admiral.
As Admiral Allen indicated, yesterday we convened a meeting with top BP claims officials to ensure that BP's claims process is more transparent, prompt, and responsive to the unique needs of the communities and citizens that have been impacted by the oil spill.
During the meeting we directed BP to provide clearer public information on the entire life cycle of the claims process that they have produced, and ensure that we have greater accountability for the American people. We discussed a number of crucial issues during the meeting. I'm just going to highlight a couple that I think are very important and crucial to the impacted individuals and businesses along the Gulf.
One is a pressing concern about the length of time it is taking to pay businesses that have been impacted by the oil spill. We indicated that -- and they recognized -- BP recognized that the previous approach of waiting until basically after the books have closed each month to calculate losses will not work. It won't get dollars out quickly enough for the businesses that are struggling on the ground. And they have indicated that they will implement and are implementing a more expedited claims process for these larger lost business claims. That will basically take into account the ability to allow for those businesses to pay their expenses for the upcoming month, as opposed to reflective to the last month. That's an important update that we received from BP yesterday.
We also discussed seasonal earnings. The fact that many of the impacted industries in the Gulf, for example, with the shrimping season, which would be begun officially -- or which began officially last week, workers make the majority of their money in a particular season, in a short span of time. And we indicated to BP that we wanted them to make sure that they're not simply providing a month's wages calculated by providing dividing the annual salary from last year by 12, but rather, verifying -- and we've asked them to verify this -- that they can calculate the damages to those individuals based on the earnings that they get in that short period of time and they've assured us that they will do that.
Probably most importantly at yesterday's meeting, we agreed to move forward with a meeting today with folks who work through their contractor and who maintain their data, that they keep on claims that come in to their system. With our team to ensure that we can make some changes to better explain to the American public what claims are being paid, what the status is of pending claims, and ensuring that they're being paid timely and fairly.
Finally, BP's senior person for claims operation, Daryl Willis, who joined us yesterday, is going to participate in a series of meetings with me across the Gulf over the next several days to discuss individual and small business claims process with each of the states. And allow the states to bring their concerns forward and again, try to get greater clarity and understanding and ensure that individuals, families, and small businesses in the communities are getting what they are due by the responsible party. And that we can help fulfill our oversight responsibilities in ensuring that they do that -- Admiral.
ALLEN: I would be glad to take any questions that you have for us.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) -- on the high definition video. When did you ask for that? Do you have a working list of what you asked for, like, was it before the cut and then after the cap was in place? And how much of it do you now have?
ALLEN: We made several requests for that and if you'd like a log we can actually get that when we requested it and when we got it.
Regarding high-resolution video, one of the challenges we've had, and this has to do with the flow rate technical group needing that to do volumetric estimates between frames. They were streaming that video ashore. But with the limitations on the satellite feed, there was low quality. And they keep that on a disk on the vessels that are actually operating the ROVs out there. In some cases we had to have that shipped in. To the cases where there were delays, sometimes the delay was because of the shipping. But we're certainly glad to give you the date of the request when we got it.
QUESTION: How about the flow rate? What's that coming out?
ALLEN: It's coming together. As you might imagine, it's really complicated. We divided several teams up to take a look at this from different angles -- literally different angles.
The two basic things we're trying to do are reconcile two views of how the oil might be determined. One of them is overhead use of satellite imagery and sensors from NASA aircraft. And what they do is they actually look at the reflectivity of the oil on the water. It's different from the water itself and because of that they actually take a measurement and see the extent of the thickness of the oil and they get a model for assessing the total that's out there.
The other team was actually looking at the oil coming up from the riser pipe and the leaks before themselves. And two different ways to look at that. One of them is actually to analyze the video itself and make some assumptions about what's in that stream. And there's oil, natural gas, water and sediment.
A fourth effort was done by the (INAUDIBLE) Graphic Institute that submitted a report to us, we're looking at right now. They actually took sensitive acoustic devices down there and actually tried to get a cross section of the volume by using a sonar-like apparatus. That's all there, it's all reviewed. As you can imagine, it's a massive amount of data and we're crunching it right now. As soon as we have something, we'll be making it available.
QUESTION: Is there a time frame? Are we talking weeks?
ALLEN: Well, we were hoping to make it available today. But it's kind of the (INAUDIBLE). They're in the room, we're shoving pizzas under the door, saying, don't come out until you get it done.
We want this, too, because it relates to ultimately what kind of production capacity we need. And this gets back to the letter we get to BP regarding redundant systems and having the capacity to keep production going if one system shuts down, which is what we asked them to provide us.
QUESTION: I don't want to monopolize but the evergreen burner, is that a back plan in case you don't have enough production capacity?
ALLEN: No, it was part of the plan to actually burn off the oil as part of the way to deal with the flow.
QUESTION: There are many people who say that the best dredgers and skimmers in the world come from countries like the Netherlands and France, and that they can't get in, or not being asked to come in because of the Jones Act.
Is that the case, and why not get around that, suspend that and bring that other technology in?
ALLEN: First of all, those are source countries. That's correct, they're available but we are using them. We are dealing with folks like Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, and other places. Any place that's got skimming capability that's available, we're willing to talk to them. And we actually have, in some cases, have actually transferred the equipment down, and we'll continue to do that.
It gets to the point where the Jones Act waiver required, we're willing to do that, too. Nobody's come to me with the request for a Jones Act waiver. But any skimming capability we can bring in, we're looking for.
QUESTION: So, are the actual boats being brought in, or just the equipment?
ALLEN: In some cases it's the skimmer itself. In some cases the skimming equipment is organic to the vessel itself. It depends on what you're talking about. To my knowledge what we've brought in is actually skimming equipment rather than the vessels themselves. But we can give you a detailed listing.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE). Did you get any resistance from BP in turning over that disk? Did they you want them to be happy with the satellite feed? Was there any argument at all at getting access to that high definition?
ALLEN: No, I think early on at the start of the event when they were streaming video, there was some issue about who owned the video and who had access to it.
BP is not the firm that's actually operating the remotely operated vehicles. I think it's a firm called Oceaneering (ph). So we have a sub, sub, sub. It was more of an issue of getting the question to the right place and having them provide it back to us. But I think you've seen for well over a month now the video feeds are coming in. And when we need a high-resolution stuff, that has to be on a disk that has to be brought to shore.
QUESTION: They didn't stand in the way of your getting that disk, right?
ALLEN: Not to my knowledge.
Now, there was an issue early on about who owned the data, who could release it initially. But past that they've been responsive to any requests we've made.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any more questions from the room?
QUESTION: Are you still convinced that the super tanker oil (INAUDIBLE) in other places when we're here? And why is that, if you (INAUDIBLE)?
ALLEN: A couple of differences. The spill they operated in was a very large concentrated -- what I would call -- a monolithic spill. Where they could actually make changes to the tanker design would allow the stuff to flow in through the hull. The difference here is, number one, it's not a large monolithic spill. And the concentrations are separated depending on when they came to the surface and what the wind and current had done to them.
And the second issue is the pure density of vessels that are out there. IN and around the spill site, where the largest concentration of oil would come up, where that might be something you could do. At any one particular time in in those two or three square miles -- that could be anywhere between 25 to 30 vessels doing production off the wellhead, drilling the relief wells, offshore supply vessels. It's very, very packed there.
The final thing is there is no tanker that's been outfitted to do that right now. The tankers would have to be modified and we have some technical issues about what that would entail regarding the stability of the ships and the structural issues associated with that.
So just in general, not quite the same set of circumstances, not the same environment, not the same type of spill. And the density of vessels (INAUDIBLE) would make it very, very difficult.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Operator, we'll start taking calls from the phone.
ANNOUNCEE: The first audio question comes from the line of Stephen (INAUDIBLE) with ABC News.
QUESTION: Hi, Admiral. Good morning.
ALLEN: Good morning.
QUESTION: Last night in Escambia County, Florida, officials held a news conference in which they expressed concern of the fact that they were only informed that oil was reported inside Perdido Pass after the fact in a conference call with unified command. And they expressed concern about the Coast Guard.
Senator Nelson of Florida said in Washington, saying the folks in Florida are as mad as wet hens right now. We've got to get this command and control straightened out with communications going to everybody at the local level. This is a concern that the senator is expressing on Day 52.
Sir, what's your response?
ALLEN: First of all, I've flown over Perdido Pass. I'm very familiar with both the booming strategy we have right now, and our attempts to actually drive piles and make a more permanent booming strategy there. Perdido Pass has very strong currents at the ebb and the flow.
Our plan right now is to allow vessels to leave on the ebb when there's less chance of oil coming in and then try to seal that off during the flood. There's no 100 percent guarantee that oil won't get through, but one of the more robust booming strategies we have in and around that area is in Perdido Pass.
I don't know the exact details of the report you're talking about. I'd be happy to release a statement later on when we look into the details. That has been a focus area of Governor Riley, I know that. It's a focus area of Captain Steve Poulin, who runs our Incident Command in Mobile. As I said, I've overflown it myself. There's a fairly robust booming system in effect there and we're going to put another one in that will actually add a higher degree of protection by able to actually close the cut during flood tide, which is the maximum threat of oil at that time. But we will look into it and release a statement. But again, we have a robust booming strategy there.
ANNOUNCER: Your next question comes from the line of (INAUDIBLE) Bloomberg News.
QUESTION: Yes, Admiral, I'm sorry. You may have answered this from the room, but BP said this morning that they planned to flare the oil from the Q-4,000. You said yesterday, I think, that you expect them to take half of it. Is that a significant change, and did you approve that change?
ALLEN: No, I don't think it was a change. I think I may have been talking about the capacity. We originally listed it at 5,000, we think it can go to 10,000. But I think the intent always was to flare the gas and flare the oil. If I described it where it was confusing, that would be my mistake.
(END COVERAGE)
HARRIS: Just a couple of quick notes from this briefing. We learned that in the last 24 hours, 15,800 gallons of oil have been siphoned off from the gusher. That's trending certainly in the right direction. More oil is being captured from the well head. And you just heard real pressure being applied to get BP to expedite claims. The truth is, folks with claims against BP are still waiting for checks.
Admiral Allen sent a letter to BP's Tony Hayward demanding transparency and access to BP's database of claims as soon as possible. So a lot of meetings to be held on the claims issue over the next couple of days as the government tries to get BP. More quickly to settle claims.
Ed Lavandera reports, it can't come soon enough.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EILENE BOURGEOIS, BOURGEOIS CHARTERS: I'm having to fax this paperwork again and again.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Its 9:00 at night and Eilene Bourgeois is angry. She is faxing another round of financial paperwork to the BP claims officer. She's done this over and over for 30 days, fighting for money from BP.
(on camera): Do you feel like they're just dragging their feet?
E. BOURGEOIS: I'm not really sure exactly what they're trying to get, but I know that it's -- it's a long process, and entirely too long, because, next month, I don't know that I'll be able to pay my house note, because I'm sitting here with no money, no help from BP.
THEOPHILE BOURGEOIS, CHARTER FISHERMAN: So, all this paperwork here, we have got to take it, copy it, send it in.
LAVANDERA: Eilene and her husband, Theophile own a lucrative charter fishing business on the Louisiana Bayou South of New Orleans, but the fishing business has disappeared. They have received the initial $5,000 check from BP, but that doesn't begin to cover what they've lost.
He has had to lay off all 10 of his employees and he estimates that he's lost almost $300,000 in summer business. But the bills keep coming. Theophile Bourgeois says it costs almost $25,000 a month just to run the fishing lodge. BP, he says, is moving too slow, asking for detailed monthly financial statements dating back three years.
T. BOURGEOIS: So, right now, everything is on the table. What we're going to do is, we're going to help you out. We will do everything we can.
And it isn't working, meaning there's no payment received on the bayou yet. Mortgage is still coming, so the thing is, what do we do?
LAVANDERA: What do we do? It's a question you hear in nearly every marina and fishing village we visited: what do we do?
(on camera): BP says it has opened up some 39,000 claims across the Gulf Coast. And the company says it's also brought in some 531 adjusters to handle those claims. But that means each of those adjusters is handling almost 75 claims on their own. The manpower simply isn't enough to keep up.
(voice-over): BP says it's paid $48 million in claims already and vows to keep paying personal and business claims as long as the oil disaster keeps people out of work.
BOB FRYER, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, BP: We will continue to be adding people, offices and resources as required, and we're committing the full resources of BP to make this process work for the people of Florida and for the other Gulf Coast states.
LAVANDERA: But it's not working for Eilene. The process is taking a stressful toll, and she worries the charter fishing business she and her husband have built the last 15 years might not survive the oil disaster.
E. BOURGEOIS: I don't want to lose my home, you know, or -- or anything, for that matter. But I know that, if we don't get some help soon, that we will definitely lose something.
LAVANDERA: At the Bourgeois Charter Fishing Lodge, the lights are out for the night
T. BOURGEOIS: Turn out the lights, baby.
LAVANDERA: But these are rough times, and the hope is, they'll come on tomorrow and in the days and years ahead.
T. BOURGEOIS: Well, then you'll going to win the pot here.
LAVENDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: OK. The stock market absolutely soaring right now. Balance that off with the foreclosures hitting a record high. We are tracking your money right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: President Obama's signature education initiative race to the top could impact how and what your child learns. So I set out to get you details from Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Tell us why you are advocating to get more African- American males into classrooms, recruiting them to become teachers.
ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Our students need great teachers of every color and every gender, and every ethnicity, and background. But as part of that mosaic, as part of that team, we don't have enough black males. That's the disturbing fact.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: Don't miss my entire interview with Arne Duncan. "Education: The Next Generation." The three-part series begins next Monday, June 14th, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Once again, CNN gains exclusive access. Our John Roberts gets a first-hand look at oil disaster in the Gulf with BP's man in charge of the operation. John flies over the deepwater site with BP Chief Operating Office Doug Suttles in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
Plus, June 25th will mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson. His little brother Randy, the youngest of the Jackson brothers, talks publicly about Michael for the very first time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Analysts say the economy is recovering, but it is going to take a long time to dig out of the hole that we're in. It's a deep one. If you want proof of that just listen to this. Bank repossessions hit a record high last month.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
