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Spill is Worse Than Thought; Feds Update on Spill

Aired June 11, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. It's the top of the hour. Let's check our top stories.

Pope Benedict XVI, begging for forgiveness. Today he told thousands of his followers gathered at the Vatican that he will never allow priests to abuse children again. But is this plea for forgiveness enough? Not for the critics. They want a full apology from the leader of the Catholic church.

First a confession to murder, now Joran van der Sloot revealing more details about the Natalee Holloway case. Police in Peru said Van der Sloot told investigators he knows the location of Holloway's body and will finally explain everything he knows to the Aruban authorities. Police say Van der Sloot has confessed to killing a 21- year-old woman in Peru.

And U.S. officials talking more about that fatal shooting earlier this week at the El Paso-Juarez border. A U.S. agent shot and killed a 15-year-old boy on the Mexican side. Border agents say the teen was involved in human smuggling and was on a list of repeat juvenile offenders. The family said he wasn't armed and he didn't pose any type of threat.

It's day 53 of the gulf oil disaster and we're waiting for the latest updates from the federal government. Admiral Thad Allen about to hold his news briefing. As you can see, we're there just waiting for it to begin. As soon as he steps up to the mike we'll take it live this hour. BP's high-resolution video of the underwater geyser is giving a clearer image of just how much oil is awash in the sea and the new numbers are staggering.

CNN's Ed Lavandera brings us more from New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Once again, the grim reality of this oil disaster keeps getting worse, the flow rate team of independent scientists has doubled its estimate of how much oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. It could be as much as 40,000 barrels a day. The new numbers have triggered another round of backlash toward BP.

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSSETTS: I think it's quite clear that BP has known that this is much more catastrophic right from the beginning. They have been hiding it from the American people, and from the federal government, and now we know the full dimension of what is unfolding in the gulf.

LAVANDERA: BP said in a statement that it fully supported this effort, providing scientific data and high-resolution video, but one of the scientists says this latest estimate was reached before it had full access to the enhanced video and the latest estimate also doesn't take into account the increased flow after BP cut the riser from the blowout preventer a week ago or the amount of oil BP is capturing with the containment cap. Still, expect the numbers to go up more.

DR. IRA LEIFER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA (ON THE PHONE): There probably will be some slight revisions to this estimate which is, for the past in the next few days, as it's finalized.

LAVANDERA: Congressman Ed Markey says the only way to get an accurate flow rate is to let the scientists inject a fluorescent dye into the well. He has asked BP to give scientists the access. BP hasn't responded.

MARKEY: My intent is to ensure that independent scientists can measure the accurate flow of oil into the gulf. BP can do it voluntarily or they can do it involuntarily.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And Kyra, what he's talking about there in the next couple of weeks or so that containment cap that is currently over the blowout preventer in the Gulf of Mexico will be changed out for another one, perhaps a more improved one that they hope will capture more oil.

So there will be a time there where that blowout preventer will not have anything over it. It's at that time that Representative Markey wants to have the scientists come in and do those fluorescent dye testing that they say will help give them the information they need.

But right now, it's clear, Kyra, the more time has passed that the amount of information that we're getting about what's going on down there is much slower that that gusher is coming out of the Gulf of Mexico. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Ed, thanks. Let's go straight to the president's point man leading the response to this disaster. Admiral Thad Allen live.

ADM. THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: ... and more than 2,000 vessels of opportunity utilizing local watermen in their knowledge and their vessels, 64 aircraft and 2.7 billion feet of boom either deployed or staged and ready to deploy.

We're also removing as much oil as we can from the surface around the well site, as you know and then further out as we get toward shore and significantly increased our skimming capability. We have skim to date about 18 million gallons of oily water. The oil has to be decanted from that. Our yield is usually somewhere between 10 and 15 percent on that. We have burned 3.8 million gallons of oil.

We have applied over one million gallons of dispersant. We are starting to limit the dispersants on the surface to where we need it for safety reasons for putting down volatile organic compounds when we have a spill of such magnitude, where dispersants have a direct effect and trying to limit out dispersant application to the subsea injections and over four million gallons have been recovered either through the riser insertion tube or our containment cap so far.

We continue to try and mobilize resources. I've empanelled a strategic resource team to take a look at our assets all around the country. They've been working on this for several weeks. Just to give you an idea of what's in the national inventory and we're going to have meetings later on today and through the weekend about how we might want to redeploy assets and how that might happen in the country.

Nationally, there are a little over 2,000 skimmers or skimming- type vehicles that are potentially available for use. Probably a little over 430,000 feet of ocean boom, that's a heavy duty boom and probably 3.1 million feet of near coastal boom listed in the oil spot response organizations required to be on an index that the Coast Guard maintains.

What we're going to be doing over the next couple of days is doing a risk analysis of what we can bring to the area and also the international assets that we are seeking and try and come up the way to mask our forces more effectively especially in the area between the shoreline out to about 50 miles. As the oil gets there, it just aggregates into smaller flows and we're trying to figure out how to attack that with more scheming capacity and capability moving forward.

As you know, we've got part of the work done out of the flow rate technical group. Work continues and we're going to be aggregating that and plus making adjustments for the - whatever increase there might have been after they cut in the riser pipe. We also are looking to put pressure gauges down on the blowout preventer and see if we can come up with an actual empirical way to take data from the pressure readings and corroborate what might have happened in the difference between the flow before and after the riser cut.

That will all continue, and as I said, immense operations going on down there and we're also deploying teams today and will be next week under Tracy Waring (ph), our integrated services team to take a look at the claims processing and that continues with our oversight work with BP. With that, I'll be glad to take questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Admiral, thank you for taking my question. In your briefing on Monday, you (inaudible) by saying that the Discovery Enterprise and the Q-4000, which is en route right now will have a combined production capability, capacity of 20,000 barrels per day. Now your scientists are estimating that the flow of oil is between 25,000 and 30,000 barrels per day and maybe 40,000 barrels today. Isn't it true that today, 50 days after this leak was discovered, if you have a perfect seal, if we were getting everything through that riser that you could, you still don't have the capacity topside to deal with this?

ALLEN: Well, first of all, I think we're still dealing with the flow estimate. And we're trying to refine those numbers. One portion of the work, as we just indicated came up with a higher flow rate. As it stands right now the actual production capability and optimum for the Discovery Enterprise and the Q-4000 if they're operating at maximum efficiency is 18,000 and 10,000, respectively. So that's 28,000.

We have directed BP to provide us a plan to increase capacity and also increase redundancy. We've got that plan as I told you, we're completing a review of that today and later on today we will put out a statement regarding our review of the plan and the way to move forward, but we have told BP that we need not only increased capacity as we're able to bring the flow rate up but also redundancy.

We hope to - by the time we get to the new system put in and I talked to you about the floating riser pipe and the new production tankers, we should be in the range of somewhere between 40,000 to 50,000 barrels a day with that system once it's in place. The issue is for BP to move quickly to establish capacity and redundancy so as we're able to increase the flow, they got the capacity to produce it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But if you have had these numbers earlier perhaps, wouldn't it make sense to have the capacity now?

ALLEN: Well, we brought the capacity at the scene that was available. Actually, the tankers that have the dynamic positioning system that we'll use with the floating production platform that we talked about or are actually being brought from the north sea. Well, because of the way they produce oil in the gulf and a lot of it is piped in we don't use the same type of shuttle tankers that they do in the north sea that will be required to handle this production. That treatment is (inaudible) to other parts of the world. I say we, collectively it's the industry and everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Admiral, I'm curious (inaudible) about the cameras.

ALLEN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you using - are you open to using open vessels (inaudible) ad what environment or criteria (inaudible)?

ALLEN: That's exactly what we're doing. We call these vessels of opportunity. When you look at skimmers, some skimmers are what I call self-contained. It's actually a vessel that has skimming capability but other systems are booming systems that you tow behind any vessel, it used to have a way to evacuate it and what we're trying to do is get their skimming equipment in the hands of the vessels of opportunity out there. As you know, we have over 2,000 operating and we have a collection barge or a vessel nearby that can basically vacuum the oil out and they can continue working. That's exactly what they want to do.

So it depends on the type of boat, the capability to tow the equipment they need. There's training in the operator on how to deploy the boom. There's also some safety training related on how you work around that type of oil but that is exactly what we're about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In terms of (inaudible). Do you still trust Tony Hayward?

ALLEN: You know, I get the trust word all the time. The fact of the matter is we need to have a cooperative productive relationship for this thing to work moving forward. When I talk to him, I asked for answers, I give them. You can characterize that as trust partnership cooperation, collaboration or whatever but this has to be a unified effort moving forward if we're going to get this thing solved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, yes.

ALLEN: If you go by trust? Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Admiral, yesterday some local Louisiana officials told us in a subcommittee about frustrations with the federal government's response, the mayor had to choke back tears describing his frustration and the parish president said he still didn't know who was in charge, BP or the Coast Guard. He spends more time fighting BP officials and Coast Guard officials than he does the oil. What's going on with the command structure?

ALLEN: Several weeks ago we deployed Coast Guard liaisons, rosters to every parish president. So any time one of those parish presidents has a problem he can turn to a Coast Guard officer who has direct contact with the incident command post in Houma and he can get whatever they need solved. They also have connections to the BP folks when it's regarding claims or anything else. I would ask the gentleman to say give me what your problem was, who did you ask and what happened? And I'll be able to respond to you. We've had Coast Guard officers standing next to those guys for three weeks?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not hear anything of this frustration.

ALLEN: We have a call every evening with all of those parish liaisons officers. Just specifically in Louisiana.

And we work the issues overnight and we have a conduit to us. The parish presidents have a conduit directly into the national incident command and the administration on a conference call. OK. So I would be glad to deal with the specific issues that they raise, but I met with them. I met with the president. We've been responsive. We brought the Coast Guard officers there and if they have specific issues they'd like to raise with me I would be happy to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Admiral, on the skimmers, in terms of the Jones Act, have you (inaudible) using foreign vessels.

ALLEN: Well, there's involving skimming capability offshore supply vessels or tankers or whatever we need and dredges for Louisiana, we are more than willing to consider Jones Act wavers, but we need to have a little bit of homework done upfront. Has there been an assessment of national inventory? Are there any other alternative methods to provide those platforms and other issues regarding crude or anything else. And nobody has come back to the Jones Act waiver but as I told everyone, we are prepared to consider them should that become necessary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there an element of too many vessels on the water maybe running into each other?

ALLEN: I'd say right at the well site itself there's a limit to how much activity you can bring there because we've got the "Discovery Enterprise" that is actually producing oil and we got the Q-4000 offset. That's a mobile drilling unit. We got a development driller 3, which is the primary relief well. We got some development driller two to join the second relief well.

All of those platforms use remotely operated vehicles so at any one particular time you can have 16 to 20 ROVs and every ROV has a platform above it that's being operated from. And having been out there on many occasions, you can have anywhere from 25 to 30 vessels in about two square miles. So there's an issue of (inaudible) of that space. There's an issue about deconfliction of the space on the sea floor regarding ROVs.

When you move beyond that we're not constrained and therefore as much skimming capacity to bring there or any places else is what we would want to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) you were hoping to capture 40,000 to 50,000 barrels of oil a he day? By what period of time and how much of that?

ALLEN: They're incrementally building it out. The proposal was given to us by BP as an incremental build out of capacity including bringing in production facilities and shuttle tankers that are not normally used in the Gulf of Mexico to the scene. In fact, they're en route right now.

So between the middle of June and the first week or so of July, we're going to start incrementally building out a new mooring system and production vessels that will be linked to shuttle tankers that can accommodate a greater flow rate. At that point once we know we can do that, we will probably shift from a containment cap we have right now to a more hard cap, which will help us to capture more if not all of the oil that's coming out of the wellhead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you give us a better idea of timing?

ALLEN: We're in the process of giving them feedback on their timelines and their proposal right now. That was the letter that we required them to have to us in 72 hours. We got that night before last.

PHILLIPS: We'll continue to follow everything that Admiral Thad Allen says, of course, to the response effort going on there in the Gulf of Mexico. Coming up right after the break, stay with us. Bonnie Schneider is going to give us a full report on the status of those beaches in the gulf as you get ready to take off for the weekend. So hold on, two more minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's not even summer yet, but I'll tell you what, the heat sure feels like summer and not only is it making it difficult for all those workers. You even pointed that, you know, in full gear working this oil disaster, but on a lighter note for folks wanting to go to the beach, it's not fun when it's 110 degrees.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, FOX NEWS: No, it's not. And look at these numbers, the high temperatures for much of Louisiana and now Mississippi will climb into the low 90s, Kyra, but the heat index will get all the way to 105 to 110, 110 in New Orleans. 110 with the humidity, if not not the dry heat of Arizona. But well, it's oppressive.

Let's talk about the beaches since it is the weekend. And we're getting ready to maybe head out to the beaches for the week and you're probably wondering what's open and what's not? Well, advisories are in place for Holly Beach in Louisiana. That's more to the southwest for swimming. We also have advisories in some other areas as well like in Martin, a swimming advisory.

These beaches are open but of course, you're always advise to swim at your own risk. Be careful out there.

Here's a look at Alabama, for gulf shores Orange Beach, we have swimming advisories as Fort Organ as well. You can also see we have some of the beaches close to fishing and that includes gulf state pier in Alabama. Perdido Pass open. Once again, a lot of these are open for sunbathing but you are advised to be careful if you are swimming.

Well, the wind pattern for the oil has kind of been beneficial for Florida because we had more of a southeasterly flow. So that leaves these beaches here well open and open for swimming as well all the way down to Carrabelle Beach.

So the good news is most of the gulf beaches, from Mississippi and to Louisiana and Florida, Alabama are open, Kyra, but there are some advisories and of course, we'll keep you updated as we get them in. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Bonnie, thanks.

A winning walk for a high school graduate. A Virginia teen confined to a wheelchair for months walks across the stage to get his diploma. You're going to meet him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, Jawan Trotter had something to prove on his high school graduation night this week. He was confined to a wheelchair for months with a rare, life-threatening medical condition. Jawan's primary goal, to walk across the stage on commencement night to get his diploma and on Wednesday night, he did it, making his mark and the audience was in awe and to top it all, Jawan graduated with a 3.3 honors diploma. Congratulations, Jawan.

Checking other stories across America.

Minnesota nurses back at work today, but not much has changed since 12,000 of them went on strike yesterday. They still have no contract with their hospitals and their demand for smaller nurse/patient ratios hasn't even been met. We hear these scary stories at this time of the year, little kids who can't swim, falling or jumping into the pool, but this story in Maryland has a happy ending with an unlikely hero. A three-year-old girl jumped into the pool without her floatie and went under. Her cousin saved her and get this, he's three years old.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAYDON HAMPTON, SAVED HIS COUSIN: She fell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She did?

And what did you do?

HAMPTON: Save her.

DEBBIE LOCKARD-SHELLEY, BRAYDON HAMPTON'S GRANDMOTHER: She was sitting along the edge of the pool. He was in the pool with a lot of other kids and stuff, and so then she decides that she wants to jump in. So she jumped in without her floaties on, and he was right there and she was going under the water coughing and choking and everything so he grabbed a hold of her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Coming up, the biggest sporting event in the world kicked off today. No, the Super Bowl isn't in June this year. Come on, it's the World Cup. So if you're left scratching your head about the game of soccer. Guess what? We got the Atlanta silverbacks. That's right. Chick power in studio to demonstrate exactly what you're going to be seeing on the field.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILIPPE COUSTEAU: I'm Philippe Cousteau and together we can make an impact to ensure the gulf recovers from this oil spill and this kind go catastrophe. It never happens again.

This is the oil. This is what we're doing right here, right in my hands.

You have to remember that this is going on for years to come. There will be no shortage of opportunities for people to volunteer in these areas that are directly affected by the spill. Join the movement. Impact your world. Cnn.com/impact.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, every day CNN introduces five ways that might purge oil from the gulf. They're ideas from scientists, inventors and viewers, devastated fishermen on the gulf coast have had their livelihoods ripped from them and it's a feeling that people in Alaska know all too well.

20 years ago the accident Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons in the water there and fishermen say they're still dealing with that disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATIENCE ANDERSEN-FAULKNER, ALASKAN CITIZENS ADVISORY COUNCIL: Times are very, very tough. First of all, we have not got our herring back, 21 years later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So will they get their fishing back here?

FAULKNER: Well, we just went out for sure for the first time and shrimp for the first time in about 17 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So just how long will it be for our gulf fishermen and the seafood that we're used to getting? Our next guest has put it very bluntly. He said, quote, "my god, do we have to follow the same script?"

Mark Jones served as a supervisor for the U.S. Navy during the "Exxon Valdez" disaster and currently runs a company that consults the U.S. fishing industry. Mark, it's like you're watching history repeat itself.

MARC JONES, FORMER SUPERVISOR FOR U.S. NAVY DURING EXXON-VALDEZ SPILL: It is, indeed.

PHILLIPS: So, take me back to the Exxon Valdez. I mean, you were watching the fish die before your eyes. Kind of put in perspective how bad it was for you then.

JONES: Well, in terms of -- you don't see fish stuff. You see other wild life like sea otters and seals and lots of birds and that sort of thing. But you know if they're dying, other things are dying as well. It's just that you're not seeing them.

But you know, what's really difficult to deal with, and what will be difficult here is what are the long-term impacts? Are there going to be things that happen to various populations of fish and animals that are going to go on for a long time? And that certainly was the case in Valdez, as -- I think you had Ricky Ott on earlier talking about how the herring still haven't come back --

PHILLIPS: And what about the copper river salmon, right? That's something you saw die out for, like, a decade?

JONES: No, no, the salmon didn't die out. They were there. It took a long time, though, to get the market for them to recover.

PHILLIPS: Got it.

JONES: Because there was a perception --

PHILLIPS: That you couldn't eat it?

JONES: That they somehow were tainted.

Say it again?

PHILLIPS: You're saying, so even though they were there, for about a decade, people thought it wasn't safe to eat? Is that what happened?

JONES: It took quite a while for Alaska to fully re-establish their market. And of course, the market isn't static. If you have a change in it, there are other aspects of the world economy and that thing that take advantage of it. For instance, with salmon, the difficulties in Prince William Sound helped to open the door for the establishment of farm salmon, which took a significant part of the overall market away from Alaska's market.

PHILLIPS: Got it.

So, let me ask you this then. This was one of the big questions -- and I heard it when I was out in the Gulf. Oh, my gosh. We can't eat that shrimp. We can't have the oysters, we probably shouldn't even eat the seafood. There is the same perception going on right now in the Gulf that you can't eat those things.

You've been there. Can we eat it, and how is all that stuff being checked out? Because from what I understand, there are investigator types with NOAA going through and actually doing sniff tests on large packages of seafood. What can you tell us?

JONES: Not just NOAA, but the states, the Gulf coast states. They have inspectors as well. And they've ramped up the frequency, the depth, every aspect of the -- of the inspection process. And at this point, don't -- I would say if you're a consumer of seafood, Gulf Coast seafood is fine. They're checking that every way but upside down. So, they're determined want to sell you something that's tainted or isn't safe --

PHILLIPS: That's good news. That's what we want to hear.

So let me ask you this, Mark. Knowing what you know from Exxon Valdez, there must be all kinds of similarities that you're seeing with regard to what's happening in the Gulf Coast. Are there a couple of things that you could tell us, solutions-based, if you were able to sit right there down with the president of the United States and say, "look, I learned this from Exxon Valdez. you've got to be doing this in the Gulf." What would you tell them?

JONES: I would say the first and foremost thing is that -- and this is the difference between the Gulf and what happened in Alaska. The community -- people are talking about the fishermen, and that's good. They need help. But it isn't just the fishermen that need help and the seafood industry. It's the processors and distributors and in the case of the Gulf coast, the charter boat fishermen, and none of those folks are getting helped. There are small businesses, they're mom and pop, they need money. They need money now, or they're not going to survive. And whether or not they file a claim that gets adjudicating paid off ten years from now isn't going to help them because they're not going to survive that long.

PHILLIPS: It's just heart wrenching. Marc Jones, always appreciate your insight. Will you come back and join us? Because I know you're doing consulting out there, and you're able to bring us firsthand information. Can we do this more?

JONES: You betcha.

PHILLIPS: Fabulous. We'll be calling you. Thanks, Marc.

JONES: All right. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

Stay with us all next week because as we continue, we'll try to be the network that brings you five ideas a day on how to fix this disaster.

It's supposed to shut down an oil well if something goes wrong, but the tragedy in the Gulf shows what can happen when the blowout preventer fails. In the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, could the limitations of the safety device lead to another disaster?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Day 53 of the Gulf oil disaster. Admiral Thad Allen says the government -- all right. I apologize for that. Let me get in the right spot here. It's day 53 of the Gulf oil disaster, and here's the deal. We were listening to Admiral Thad Allen with his live briefing just about 20 minutes ago, and he had come forward to say about $140 million has been spent in cleaning up the oil right now and that federal authorities plan to keep pouring in the money. He's made that clear.

Meanwhile, scientists say the oil crisis bigger than anyone realized. They studied the high-resolution video of the gusher and said twice as much oil was spilling out than previously thought.

And Pope Benedict XVI today, he asked for forgiveness and promised he would never allow priests to abuse children again.

Rescuers on their way to a 16-year-old Abby Sunderland. She was trying to be the youngest person to sail around the world. But rough seas knocked out her boat's mast and left her adrift on the Indian Ocean.

The referee's blind. He missed a sitter. Not sure what I'm talking about? You'll get 411 on World Cup lingo so you can keep it up at the water cooler. Plus, the Atlanta silverbacks in the house showing us what we'll see this weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes. Girl power at its best. The movie "Bend it like Beckham" kicked soccer to the big screen in the story of an English teen's passion for football and the battle she faces in trying to play the sport that she loves. The movie was even nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Film in 2003.

Well, this morning we have our own girl power in the house to celebrate the kickoff of the World Cup players. The Atlanta Silverbacks will show case some of your moves -- or some of the moves, rather -- that you'll be seeing on the soccer field during this year's World Cup.

But first, more about the World Cup itself. It's the biggest sporting event on earth, but a lot of us here in this country not exactly experts on it. So, we'll go to Josh Levs for a little one-on- one with World Cup. Josh, we should point out -- uh-oh, I have my hands full, but I'll try.

Now, we want to point out the reason why we have the gals in studio is because Atlanta doesn't have a men's soccer team, but that's okay.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, like they wouldn't be here if we also had a men's soccer team?

PHILLIPS: Yes, I just want to make the point that I'm a little biased. I wanted girl power in studio here as we're talking all about the men in the World Cup, OK?

LEVS: That's actually a really good point. It turns out Lauren Fredrigo (ph) is the general manager of Silverbacks was telling me there's actually one for women, too. She's not quite as famous. People don't realize, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yep.

LEVS: OK, so here's what we're going to -- by the way, I'm so clueless about soccer. The first thing I said to her was can you spin it on your finger? Check out what they do instead. Show everybody, This is such great action.

Look at this. Look at that. How awesome is that?

(LAUGHTER)

LEVS: Also, you heard it pomp on the mike along the way.

PHILLIPS: She makes it look so easy!

LEVS: That's why I'm so not going to try it on camera today. But this I can handle. I can handle moving things across the board. So, we're going to talk the basics of the World Cup, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yep.

LEVS: All right, so, first of all, it happens every four years, kind of like the Olympics. And it's always one month long, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yep.

LEVS: This is where I need your help. There are 32 teams. There are more countries that want to be in it. So, what happens? There's basically a contest. You have to -- how is it? How do they determine who's in it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are actually World Cup qualifiers, and so you play games prior to the actual World Cup to see if you can get in and qualify.

LEVS: OK. And then they're drawn (ph) into eight groups. And the way it's working out this year, the U.S. happens to be in a group in the very beginning. Our first game tomorrow is actually our biggest rivalry in a way, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We're playing England. Big game to kick off the World Cup for the U.S. this year.

LEVS: And we don't have a great record of beating them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't.

LEVS: So, fingers crossed across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a big year.

LEVS: OK, that right there is a good reason for a lot of people to care.

OK, let's go through these. The terms that we have no clue what they mean, I need you to help me with these. All right. So, there's some stuff on CNN.com. I saw this. "He missed a sitter," what does that even mean?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Basically means you missed a freebie goal. Meaning it was sitting on your foot, all you had to do was pass it in, and you missed it.

LEVS: it was sitting right there. Could have just kicked it in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was sitting right there.

LEVS: It was sitting right there.

All right. We have one more for you here. "It was a blatant dive!" And that's not what it sounds like. It's not like diving. What does that mean? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It kind of is and it isn't. Essentially, a player can take a dive, meaning they can overexaggerate a trip or a bump in order to get a foul, a call or a card. So, when they dive, sometimes they scream, sometimes they yell, sometimes they grab the ankle and go down. Anything to exaggerate the injury.

LEVS: All right, well, listen, thank you for that. And all of the details are at CNN.com/worldcup. Now, as I understand it, you all will do a little action, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are. We are.

LEVS: All right. Take it away. Go for it.

PHILLIPS: Come on over with me, Laura. Okay.

We're talking about headers, crosses, volleys. It sounds like a different language, right? It's not. It's just soccer speak, and so what does that all mean? We have the Atlanta Silverbacks right here with us here this morning to help school us. We have Megan, Tara, Michelle. You guys, wave to everybody here. There we go.

Now, Tara, how did you get into playing soccer?

TARA, ATLANTA SILVERBACKS PLAYER: My brother played, and my mom was actually the coach so they kind of roped me in.

PHILLIPS: And are you player than your brother? C'mon. Be honest.

TARA: Absolutely!

PHILLIPS: Of course! You've got the moves.

OK, Michelle, how about you? How'd you get playing soccer?

MICHELLE, ATLANTA SILVERBACKS PLAYER: To be honest, I was an overweight kid and my parents threw me in some sports, and I found out keepers don't have to run.

(LAUGHTER)

So, that's how I am where I am today.

PHILLIPS: She's blunt. I love it!

OK, same story for you, Megan? What's your background. How'd you get playing soccer?

MEGAN, ATLANTA SILVERBACKS PLAYER: I just -- I was an athletic kid and I wanted to try something new. Something more active for me, so.

PHILLIPS: You guys are definitely active. OK, now what do you think? What should we demonstrate? What would be the most visual? A header, a volley? Show me some tricks. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I think we'll demonstrate a volley first because it's a lot more commonly used than a header. Everyone talks about a header because they think it is so exciting.

PHILLIPS: Well, it looks cool! Right!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks cool. But really, you use your feet most of the time. We can demonstrate a couple of volleys. You know, the best way - you know, the most common goals scored are off the volleys or goals off your laces. We'll demonstrate this, a quick little kick. I think Megan will do it off her laces here, which is a nice little volley. We're expecting to see a lot of goals in the World Cup -

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: If we don't knock Kyra out, right?

And, Laura, while they're doing a few things for us, how do you -- put in perspective for us. We talked so much about the guys' soccer teams during the World Cup, but and soccer is huge among female athletes. I mean, the names you remember. Brandi Chasthain, right, and Mia Hamm. They got so many gals playing soccer and brought a lot of attention to the sport. It's not just World Cup, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, and the national team really helped do that in the U.S. because their success in '95 and '96 World Cup in Olympics back-to-back really helped pave the way for more college teams, more club teams and opportunities to play. It's actually one of the top participation sports for girls in the country.

PHILLIPS: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: it's a great opportunity for them to learn some skills in leadership, dedication and work ethic. And kids are starting younger and younger these days.

PHILLIPS: Now we're seeing the header. I love it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now we're seeing the header.

PHILLIPS: Now, be honest, gals. When you do these, all right, Megan -- is there any time where you're, like, ooh, that hurt, I've got to sit down?

MEGAN: A couple of times.

PHILLIPS: A couple of times.

MEGAN: A few here and there.

PHILLIPS: Michelle, Tara, what do you think? Has there ever been a move you've done where you thought, whoo, OK, that was a little much.

MICHELLE: I've been knocked out on camera before by heading a ball. It hit me wrong, and I was actually knocked it. So, yes, I understand the ball can take you out.

PHILLIPS: OK. Hopefully that is not going to happen here. Let's try not to do that.

All right, I've got to ask you gals, you're watching the World Cup, obviously. This is your sport, you love it, male, female, it doesn't matter. What are you guys paying attention to? Is there something you're looking for? Is there a certain player? Tara, what do you think?

TARA: I'm really -- I love Messi (ph) and watching him play. He's a great (INAUDIBLE) artist. He knows how to find the back of the net, so I'm looking forward to seeing him play.

PHILLIPS: You know, maybe we should bring up our full screens here. I was kind of flipping through. All right, can I be a little biased here, when we were talking about the hottest players, not just talent wise. Oh, my gosh, Cristiano Ronaldo, hel-lo! Is like that the heartthrob among the World Cup?

MEGAN: He's my heartthrob.

PHILLIPS: He's your heartthrob. Is he your hero?

MEGAN: He is.

PHILLIPS: OK, tell me why. Not just because he's hot, but tell me about him as an athlete.

MEGAN: He's great to look at and also a great goal scorer -- and playing forward, just like him. I want to be just like him.

PHILLIPS: Look at -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And sign a $300 million contract as well.

PHILLIPS: I don't blame you.

Michelle, how about you? Lionel Messi - Tara, you'll talk about Lionel in a minute. Cristiano, Wayne Rooney, who have you got your eye on?

MICHELLE: I mean, I'd say Rooney. I hate to admit it, I hate goals. I'm a keeper, but he's got 100 plus within the league in England, so I'd say him. I mean, I don't think he's as good to look at as Cristiano, but he gets it done.

PHILLIPS: But he gets it done. I love it. And Tara, your guy, Lionel from Argentina, baby! What is it about him?

TARA: He's so confident on the ball. We all like a confident man, you know? I really like Messi and how he controls, especially in the 18 yard box. He just gets the job done.

PHILLIPS: I love it to hear these ladies. They know what they want; they know how to play. All right, ladies, I'll tell you what, give me a few moves while we take it to break. We sure appreciate you joining us.

The Atlanta Silverbacks in the house. Also, there are tons of excited soccer fans in London, as you know. England takes on the U.S. tomorrow. We'll go live to London right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: As you know, we've been talking World Cup this morning, and millions of people all around the world are watching the first game going on right now between South Africa and Mexico.

Our Zain Verjee is actually in London, where fans are especially riled up right now. Of course, you know, England's always had good soccer players. It's a part of the culture. Zain, give me a feel for what's going on.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Kyra, you are going to call this football for the next four weeks, okay, in that's what this is. There you go.

(LAUGHTER)

Now, what's going on here is that these are just some of the 1 billion people around the world watching what's known as the beautiful game. Kyra, it is bigger than the Olympics. It is way bigger than Super Bowl. We're almost reaching halftime in a match between South Africa's Bafana Bafana and Mexico.

You know, a home team has never lost a world cup match, the first one, so it's really going to be a big deal to see what happens. Everyone's dancing a little bit now and blowing these trumpets. It's called the vuvuzela, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: The Vuvuzela? Am I saying that right?

VERJEE: Vuvuzela!

PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh!

If all of you really knew Zain Verjee, believe me, she loves to dance and she loves to have a good time and she has grown up overseas and knows all about this football craze. All right, so, Zain, talk us to about the U.S. team. What do you think? How are they expected to do?

VERJEE: Well, a lot of people are looking at the U.S. team and they're saying, okay, the U.S. team are rookies, but they have a lot of respect for them. The U.S. is in a group with three other teams: England, Algeria and Slovenia. They play England tomorrow. And England is a pretty tough team, they invented this game.

Basically, the U.S. has to look for two weaknesses that England has. One is they take a while to warm up during the World Cup. The other is that they're kind of short tempered. They get petulant. They get annoyed and every now and then, they get kicked off the field because of that. The leader - the U.S. would hope that they would get two yellow cards -- that's what you get when you're bad or one red card which is what you get when you're very bad.

Leave the pitch, no substitute, and you can't play in the next match. Kyra!

PHILLIPS: Zain, how many times have we been doing live shots together, and we've had producers throwing down red cards and yellow cards, so this is perfect that we're talking about this.

VERJEE: That is exactly right, Kyra. A lot of people here are saying that even if South Africa does not win today, this is a moment of pride, Kyra, for all of Africa. It's a small step for football, but a big step for the continent. We're not not just poor, -- and, hey! Bafana Bafana!

They want to show the world a great, positive image of Africa and that Africa can deliver.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

PHILLIPS: Oh, it will be a positive event, all right. It's going to be one big party. Let me tell you, everyone will be watching.

Zain Verjee, thank you so much! We'll continue to watch the World Cup in addition to the other day's news. Quick break from the CNN NEWSROOM. More ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: There's a new victim of the Gulf oil spill, and it's a fixture of New Orleans' French Quarter. The P & J Oyster company has been around for 134 years. It's weathered the Depression and two World Wars. But for the first time, it has had to lay off the people who shuck those oysters. The oil spill has choked off the supply of the company's lifeblood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL SUNSERI, PRESIDENT, P & J OYSTER COMPANY: They closed one of the main growing areas in which we get a lot of our oysters from.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be hard for us. I don't know what we're going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The company says at least for now it will buy oysters from Alabama. They're already shucked, but those suppliers are also dwindling. Once those oysters run out, the company said it may end its 134-year run.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: Every day at this time, we're lifting up the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. We call it "Home and Away." We'll tell you how you can be a part of it.

But right now we want to tell you about Sergeant Ralph Porras. He was killed in Iraq in September 2006. A neighbor wrote in to us to tell us about Ralph. She said, quote, "He was always there for me, no matter what I needed. Never asked for anything in return." She called him a quote, "dedicated soldier who wanted nothing more than to be with his fellow troops and fight for his country."

If you know someone like Ralph, we want to hear from you. Go to CNN.com/homeandaway. Click on a hometown, pull up the service member's bio. Add your thoughts, your pictures. We'll keep those memories alive, I promise.

Have a fabulous weekend. Thanks for sharing your Friday with us. Tony Harris picks it up from here.