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From the Gulf to the Hill, BP Stocks Slide, The Problem with Boycotting BP, Flash Floods in the Midwest

Aired June 15, 2010 - 12:59   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi. I'm in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. I'm going to be with you for the next two hours today and every weekday, taking every important topic that we cover a step further. That's why I'm here, because the most important topic we've been covering these days is this continued oil spill.

Let's get started. Here's what I've got on "The Rundown" and here's where we are going today.

The Gulf Coast commanding the nation's attention on day 57 of the oil disaster. We are live in Mississippi, in Bay St. Louis, as President Obama has left here. He has gone back to D.C. for tonight's Oval Office address.

Today's oil spill solution on our show, oil-eating bacteria. They gobble up everything. They gobble up all that goo. They leave behind nothing but water and CO2.

And over to Madrid, Spain. A ground zero in a global credit card theft ring. A major bust turns up thousands of cloned cards and stolen numbers from all over Europe and the U.S. We'll tell you all about that.

But first, let me tell you what is going on in this oil spill. Day 57. Hard to believe that we are as far into this as we are. Let me tell you exactly what's going on. I think you can see that camera, the live camera of the oil leak, 149,000 -- almost 150,000 barrels have been captured so far by the top hats that were installed on June the 3rd.

President Obama, I just mentioned, he was here yesterday. He was uh, in Mississippi in Alabama, in Louisiana, and in Florida. He is headed back to D.C. now because he has a -- he has got a prime time Oval Office speech. But before he left, here's what he had had to say about the oil spill while he was at Pensacola Naval Air Station. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, this is an unprecedented environmental disaster. It's the worst in our nation's history. But we're going to continue to meet it with an unprecedented federal response and recovery effort, the largest in our nation's history. This is an assault on our shores, and we're going to fight back with everything that we've got. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: All right, you consider that a preview of our live coverage to be able to -- the president is going to be speaking live from the Oval Office. Our coverage will begin at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. The address will be at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Look at the coverage we've got down here in the Gulf.

I'm on the eastern side of the Gulf, but we've got a whole team of our -- the best political team on television in Washington, D.C. Anderson is down in New Orleans. David Gergen will be in Boston. You'll see a bunch of us all over the place all day today. We're staying with this story until it's over.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the heads of the five big oil companies -- BP, Exxon Mobile, Conoco, Chevron and Shell -- all testifying before Congress. They are getting blistering questions and comments at hearings of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee. I want to first give you some of the words that came from Ed Markey. You can see him there. He is the chairman of the committee, and then Joe Barton, who is a republican member. Let's listen to Ed Markey first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Oil companies before us today amassed nearly $289 billion in profits over the last three years. They spent $39 billion to explore for new oil and gas. Yet the average investment in research and development for safety, accident prevention and spill response was a poultry $20 million per year, less than one- tenth of one percent of their profits.

REP. JOE BARTON (R), TEXAS: America needs the energy beneath the outer continental shelf off the coast of the United States of America, and the five men before us who represent five of the largest privately-owned oil companies in the world while they are part of the problem, they are a big part of the solution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: OK. That's the politics of the situation. That's not what I'm doing here in the Gulf coast. I'm in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Yesterday I was in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. I was in Daphne, Alabama. I was on Mobile Bay. But here in Mississippi, a little bit different.

So I want to talk to you about what's going on in this community here. Bay St. Louis is an area that some people actually go to work in New Orleans from. It's about as far east as you can be and still be working in New Orleans. Very established community. You can see the waters just over there, the bay. And there's this big storm rolling in.

We may get hit by it in a few minutes. But this is a community that's been around for a long time. A lot of local money, more expensive houses than some of the ones you'll see in the Gulf and a lot of tourism. Tourism has suffered in this area a lot over the last few years. Obviously, this was a very hard-hit town by Hurricane Katrina. I want to take you in here, to this store, Maggie May's, a beautiful store. It's got art and gifts and things like that, and in here, Nancy. Nancy is one of the co-owners.

NANCY MOYNAN, OWNER, MAGGIE MAY'S: Yes.

VELSHI: Good to see you. Thank you for being with us. A beautiful store you've got.

MOYNAN: Thank you.

VELSHI: Tell me what's happening in this community and what people are thinking and thinking about as a result of this looming disaster that keeps getting closer and closer to your own shores?

MOYNAN: Well, we have hope and faith. So it hasn't arrived yet, and we're anticipating that it probably won't. And hopefully won't. We've got a few tar balls, but it's not hindering our business whatsoever.

VELSHI: This isn't a big, heavy fishing community, for instance, or a place that a lot of oil workers are stationed.

MOYNAN: Not a lot of oil workers. It is a big fishing community Recreationally. But, you know, when you get closer into the Gulf, into other parts of Mississippi, yes, I think there are charter fishing boats and fishing industry is definitely going to be affected.

VELSHI: What are the main industries here? The people who come and shop at your store, the split between folks who are here who live here all the time, versus tourists.

MOYNAN: People come here because of the art community. We're a fabulous art community. Not only do we have beautiful beaches, but there's so much more to do off of the beaches --

VELSHI: Yes.

MOYNAN: -- with shopping, art, food, music. We have a second Saturday art work walk every month. And that's still going strong. And it's amazing.

VELSHI: You haven't seen any weakness around here yet?

MOYNAN: No. No.

VELSHI: And you're hoping you'll skip that whole thing?

MOYNAN: We're hoping to skip that whole thing, because there is so much more to do down here in Bay St. Louis.

VELSHI: All right, Nancy, thank you very much for talking to us. We hope the business stays good for you, and we'll check in with you a little later.

MOYNAN: You got it.

VELSHI: All right, Nancy, thanks very much. All right. So Bay St. Louis not a community that is as hard hit just yet. It's got a little more of that tentative feeling about not knowing exactly what is going to happen with the oil and whether it's going to get here or not.

Now, another community that's not too far from here, though, much more hard hit is Bayou La Batre, Alabama. That is a fishing community. That's got oystermen and shrimp fishermen. Well, a few years ago their reefs were taken out by Hurricane Katrina, and as a result of that, that caused an unsafe mix of salt water and fresh water and they weren't able to get back on track in terms of their fishing.

They were hoping this was going to be the year that that happened. That didn't end up being the case. When we come back, I'm going to tell you the story of some people I spoke to Bay St. Louis, Alabama, and the plight they're facing now because of this oil spill. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK, on this program yesterday, we were captivated by live pictures of raging floods in Oklahoma City. We followed this, the pain staking rescue of a young woman who had swum for her life and clung to a tree while helicopters hovered, and first one boat then another, then another tried to reach her.

Finally, 17-year-old Raquel Dawson made it back to dry land. And this morning, she and two of her heroes told their stories on CNN. Raquel is a woman of few words, but I want you to hear them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At some points, I mean, all you can see is your head, and as you're swimming, and it's amazing that you're even able to keep yourself with that current, keep yourself swimming like that and above the water. I mean, it really is amazing. What was going knew through your mind when all of this was happening?

RAQUEL DAWSON, FLOOD SURVIVOR: I was concentrating on making it to land and people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And all told, it was about two hours that you were trapped?

DAWSON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're seeing --

DAWSON: Right. My mom said about three. I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About three hours. How did you get in that situation in the first place, Raquel? What was going on?

DAWSON: I was going to walk to work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were going to walk to work and you said at the time, you thought, it looks like there's some flooding out there, but it looks like it's about knee-deep. I think I can make it?

DAWSON: Yes, and I was going to turn around once I got like halfway up my thighs, I was just ready to turn around. But then I saw the lady off in the distance so I went deeper.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this was another woman who was stranded in her car and you thought I better get over there and see if I can help her out. So what happened after that?

DAWSON: I helped her to the tree line, and I gave her my kind of dark blue bag, but it sticks out a lot. And I left her to go find help. And then I made it to this area of concrete, but there was water on the other side, too. So I started swimming again. And I didn't make it that far away from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Across Oklahoma City yesterday, firefighters staged more than 60 swift water rescues. More rain fell overnight. The woman Raquel was trying to help when she waded into the floods, well she too was rescued.

All right, oystermen and shrimpers working from Bayou La Batre, Alabama -- I'm in Mississippi now, but we were in Alabama yesterday -- they suffered a huge set back when Hurricane Katrina took their reefs out five years ago. They haven't been able to harvest oysters or shrimp in the nearby area since then.

This year, they started rebuilding the reefs, hoping the result would be their first real harvest in years. Well that was before the oil spill. I went to Bayou La Batre for the story of increasingly desperate men who make their lives from the Gulf of Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDY WRIGHT, ALABAMA OYSTERMAN: This was going to be the comeback. We were looking for a good year. We had a plan, and things were looking good. And we had it going on.

VELSHI: For the moment, a lot of these shrimpers or oystermen are actually making more money than they would have been fishing.

WRIGHT: I think the majority at this time are probably doing as well or a little better than what they normally would. But once this is over, it's going to be devastating. This is a great community. This is a community that's founded on the fishing industry. Although we have a lot of boat building, you know, that goes on and puts a lot of people to work. And people down here work hard. They work for what they get. And they don't want handouts.

VELSHI: How do people feel about how the administration and the president have responded to this? WRIGHT: Well, you know, the president, he's human also, just like us. He's not going to physically get out and clean oil up. And I guess he's in a learning mode, you know, learning what to do. I think they're mainly are waiting on BP to do it. But as time goes on, if they see where they're not doing what they're supposed to do, then I feel that he'll step in with our work force and our government and maybe go to work and get this cleaned up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Gordy is the head of the Oyster Fishermens' Association. He's actually pretty well-established in Bayou La Batre. His brother is the mayor. His brother was with the president while we were talking. But Gordy was telling me a lot of these oystermen are actually doing better now than they were doing when they were working because they're contractors working for BP, helping them clean this up. But they're thinking that in a few months that work between the oil and the dispersants and the water and the lack of work in cleaning it up, there is real concern that their future might be decimated.

Okay, another topic still about oil though. Think about boycotting BP products? Good luck because they can turn up anywhere. Right down, believe it or not, to your lipstick. We'll talk about that when I come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: And we'll all be following that discussion tonight. President Obama's oval office address, addressing the Gulf oil spill. He'll be doing that from Washington. Our coverage will start at 7:00 p.m. Eastern with the best political team on television and Washington and a whole bunch of us spread out across the Gulf Coast.

We'll be watching with locals to get their reaction to what the president is saying. Meanwhile, BP, a very big presence around here right now employing a lot of people, but this is a company whose stock has been in free-fall, facing boycotts, facing all sorts of anger.

Let's join Christine Romans. She's in New York right now to give us the latest on it. First of all, what's going on with that stock, Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the stock is down, has been cut in half really since this whole debacle began, Ali. But it's stable here today. And what really everyone is waiting for is to hear what the president has to say tonight and what kind of framework is worked out with BP for paying these spill costs going forward.

We know they have already paid $1.6 billion. They have been given money to states. States have been saying, gee, thanks, but we'll be asking for more because this isn't enough to cover our costs. And interestingly enough, the stocks stable even after you've got Fitch, the credit rating agency, Ali, downgrading the debt again, which means in the future it could be more expensive if BP were to have to borrow money, for example. So stocks have been basically cut in half. And one of the interesting things we found, Ali, is that you know, the amount of value that this company has lost since the BP oil spill, meaning this company has lost its market value equal to twice the size of Bulgaria's economy -- think of it that way, or Kenya, Uruguay, and Costa Rica, those combined economies. It just gives you a sense of the size and scope of this country, and the size and scope of the decline of this company.

VELSHI: Christine, you and I talk fairly regularly about these moves to boycott BP. I get a lot of it in my Facebook pages and Twitter pages. Let's talk more about the effectiveness of it, who you're hitting and how effectively you can do it if you choose to boycott BP.

ROMANS: You know, gee, and I really admire, Ali, people who think and believe that the value of their dollar is something that they can take a difference with. You know, so not to take anything away from that, but to talk about just the fungible commodity that is crude oil, right.

Crude comes out of the ground, or from below the ocean. It comes out. It's put on a ship. It's taken to a refinery, right? It's refined into gasoline and other things. It's put into a pipeline. It's taken to a bulk terminal where then it is offloaded. It's commingled with other brands and other companies' oil, and gasoline and refined products.

And then it's put on trucks and it's shipped across the country. And I was just talking to Peter Beutel from Cameron and Hanover and I was saying, you know, do you know for sure if you're getting BP gas anywhere, if you're going to a BP-branded gas station? They're like -- he said no.

There's seven guys sitting in a room who are trading oil commodities. Oh, you need some in Oklahoma here? I have some in this Tennessee, and they're trading oil among these companies so it's all the same thing that goes together at the wholesale level.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: And as you and I both pointed out before, in 2008, BP got out of the gas station business because it just wasn't profitable enough.

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: We know. You and I talk to gas station owners. They make more money selling a Snickers than they do a gallon of gasoline. You know, they're trying to sell car washes and car wash passes to make money. So if you are boycotting BP --

VELSHI: It's the least profitable part of the whole change.

ROMANS: -- Yes. That's right. And if you're boycotting a BP gas station, you very well could be just boycotting a local business owner. And BP --

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: -- actually we're told is paying for the signage in some of the places where you are right now so that BP gas stations will be able to put up new signs that say "We're called BP. We're not owned by BP, and the gas here could be from anywhere."

VELSHI: I do share your view, though, because I'm one of those people who like to think my dollar goes far --

ROMANS: Me too.

VELSHI: -- and I'd like to think that I can protest with my dollar if I don't like somebody's business. But in this case, it's worth knowing all the facts just to know who you might be boycotting; who you might be hurting. But for some people just not having their money attached to a BP printed receipt or a name might be important to them.

ROMANS: It's good enough for them.

VELSHI: It's good to know that. Christine, good to see you. Thanks for being with us.

ROMANS: And I have to bring in the lipstick, Ali.

VELSHI: Oh, yeah, the lipstick.

ROMANS: I know. Okay, so it's seven gallons of every barrel of crude oil -- seven gallons of that crude goes to consumer products. Like lipstick, the casing for your computer, clothing -- all different kinds of products. So even if you think you want to get big oil out of your life by what you're putting in it your gas tank, remember, these products are all over the place, and they are really the backbone for our consumer life. So it's hard to get big oil out of your life, even if you try.

VELSHI: Well, I'm not going at the wear lipstick after hearing that. Christine, good to see you, as always. Christine is here every day at this time. You can also watch us on "Your $$$" Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

OK, I want to bring you up to speed with some of the top stories that we're following here at CNN. It's Day 57 of the Gulf oil disaster. President Obama on the Florida coast pledged to fight the spill, quote, with everything we've got. He's going to deliver a prime time oval office speech to the nation tonight. CNN is going to bring it to you live, starting at 7:00. We'll give you the pregame on that and then tell you what the effect is of what he has said. We have a whole team of people in Washington, the best political team on television, and a team down here in the Gulf coast.

In Washington, a scary moment on Capitol Hill. General David Petraeus fainted after being escorted from a Senate hearing. A doctor checked him out and told our reporter he was okay, He just got a little dehydrated. He'll resume answering questions on the war in Afghanistan tomorrow.

And in southern California, a moderate earthquake last night caused play to stop briefly between my hometown Toronto Blue Jays and the San Diego Padres. The 5.7 magnitude quake was fell over a wide area, but no reports of damage or injuries.

All right, we got more flash floods on the way for already-soaked plains states. We're going to check out the forecast after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. We've been seeing some pretty bad weather in some of the plains states. Just minutes ago, we found out that a man whose car was stalled in Lawton, Oklahoma drowned last night when a flash flood swept through the road. These floods came out of nowhere. We're seeing so much devastation. What's next? Are we in for more? Bonnie Schneider is here with answers for us -- Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Ali, we're still waiting for weather to recede in so many areas and there's a reason for that. When you look at the rainfall totals, this is a composite of where we saw the heaviest rain and the numbers are so high, we're almost going off the charts here when we look at our legend.

So already, nine inches on the ground yesterday, most of the rain occurring between midnight and 6:00 a.m. That's when we saw the heaviest amounts of rain and we literally went from zero to eight inches in a matter of a couple hours. That's the reason why we saw so much in the way of flash flooding.

Now, looking ahead for the rest of the day today, there are still some counties in Oklahoma as you can see, just completely submerged of what it looked look yesterday. The water completely a red/brown from the red earth that covers Oklahoma. People getting rescued by boats and any means possible.

So many people were taken off guard with these flash floods. So looking ahead to right now, we have flash flood advisories still posted for much of the northeastern section of the state. Now I want to mention that does include Edmond. That's one place where we saw some of the worst flooding where we had nine inches plus in terms of rainfall.

Looking -- as we look at the big picture, we do have more rain that's possible to come through Oklahoma, but I want to mention, these are more of the scattered thunderstorm varieties, so hit or miss, you may not get it in Edmond, may not see it in Oklahoma city, but it's still possible we'll have scattered showers and thunderstorms.

We're not anticipating this same deluge we saw yesterday. More of the heavier rain is actually pushed farther to the north and east associated with this system. So we're seeing some moderate to heavy rain sweeping across the Midwest, and because of that there is a reason we have these flood warnings posted in advance of the system into parts of Nebraska and Kansas and that has to do with the history of the amount of rain that it produced.

But luckily, as the system travels north and east, it seems to be a little bit less intense. We are still seeing some very heavy rain as you can see here, sweeping on into areas of the Midwest, and that's where we're getting the heftiest rain.

But really, Ali, when you look at the big picture, the loop from last night, this is what it looked like midnight to 6:00 a.m., unbelievable. It just did not stop.

VELSHI: Wow.

SCHNEIDER: Luckily now it's slowed down. People can at least try to get their bearings again after nine inches of water and up to here where people just were completely stranded on the roadways, as you saw.

VELSHI: Completely amazing to see how it went yesterday. Bonnie, thanks for your help on that yesterday, and you'll keep on a on any new developments on any of these flash floods if they occur today. Bonnie Schneider in our Severe Weather Center.

Coming up next, we're going to check the latest developments on this Day 57 of the oil disaster, and we're going to check in with CNN's Anderson Cooper. He's live not too far from me in New Orleans. )

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: President Obama is going to be delivering an address from the Oval office tonight about the Gulf oil disaster. We'll be all over that. We'll be covering it starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Those are pictures of him. I'm in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi right now. But that was the president yesterday in the Florida panhandle, walking along the beach talking to folks about the effects in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil executives are on the hot seat.

On the right side of your screen, you can see Ed Markey there testifying on Capitol Hill, Ed Markey is the chairman of the House Energy Committee. They are testifying really trying to distance themselves from BP.

These are executives from Exxonmoblie, from Chevron, from the other companies. Some Senators, however, and Congressmen are not having it, accusing them all of less than robust emergency spill plans. In fact, the CEO of Exxon was saying their spill plan would be different except it was prepared by same company that prepared BPs spill plan.

Meanwhile, back down here on the Gulf coast federal authorities are working to allow more international ships in to help in the clean- up. They've announced guidelines today to speed up the necessary waivers and permissions.

All right. We are -- we've got a lot of coverage along the Gulf coast. A few things happening here. One is there is the attempt to stop the oil from spilling into the ocean and then there is the attempt to skim that oil or burn it or clean it up. Then there they are the attempts to deal with it as it comes to the ocean . Then there are the fishermen, the oil workers, concerned about a moratorium.

And then there is this whole underlying theme playing out here in Bay St. Louis, a city that was utterly devastated by hurricane Katrina.

And when you think of hurricane Katrina, while it was a lot of these communities along the Gulf coast, we certainly, certainly think of New Orleans, that's where CNN's Anderson Cooper spent a great deal of time, during hurricane Katrina and he is there right now. He joins us on the phone ,. from Anderson, Anderson what are you seeing in New Orleans?

ANDERSON COOPER CNN. CORRESPONDENT (through telephone) You know, a lot of people very curious to see what President Obama has to say tonight in his address from the Oval Office.

As you have been reporting, he's on his fourth trip to the region, where he actually spent the night in the region since the disaster struck. But, you know, there's a lot of skepticism and a lot of people very concerned that BP isn't going to live up to the promises that they've made.

You know, there is this $75 million capital liability. They say they're not going to pay attention to it, but really, that's -- nothing legally right now is forcing them to do that. I think that's going to be a big part of President Obama's address, trying to, you know, talk about the idea of there being some sort of set-aside money that can be independently used to pay out claims to try to get claims paid in a more timely manner.

Whether or not that's actually going to happen, though, and exactly how it's going to be set up remains to be seen.

VELSHI: Anderson, one of the things that I've been finding in the--along the Gulf coast is that people really are mixed.

They know they're sort of dependent on BP finding a solution for this, they're dependent on the administration trying to do the right thing by BP to get this all straight. So there is a mix of anger and frustration and yet dependence on the very people they're not quite sure did the right thing by them in the first place.

That confusion is meaning the people aren't clear on who they should be mad at and who they should be supporting.

COOPER: Well, you know there is competing interests here, obviously. I mean you look oil is incredibly important to this region economically. Their people-you know employs a lot of people. They feel it's around to stay. They don't want it to disappear.

A lot of people obviously furious at BP, angry at BP, feeling that they have been lied to, and a lot of the statements BP have made are just factually incorrect.

But at the same time, anger, does that mean they want BP to go out of business? No, they want the claims to be paid. If BP declares bankruptcy there's questions about, you know -- would all these claims be paid. So there is this, this-these competing pressures and competing feelings and it-it's adds to the sort of sense of helplessness, that a lot of the people I talked to say they feel. This is something which is-seems beyond their control, I mean they like the rest of the world are kind of watching this happen on television and just out their front doors. So, you know, it adds - there's that real sense of helplessness and frustration.

VELSHI: All right Anderson, great work down in the gulf, we'll be following all of your continued reporting from here Anderson on tonight 10:00 eastern as he always is. But he'll be part of our coverage of the president's address from the Oval Office.

Anderson Cooper, in New Orleans .

Let's shift over to the war in Afghanistan now, setback on the battlefield, and politicians on Capitol Hill are expressing concern. We'll sort them out when we go "Globe Trekking: right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. I'm Ali Velshi. I am in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. We're trekking around the Gulf, but I want to take you "Globe Trekking" as we do every day around the world.

First up the war in, Afghanistan, and concern over some recent setbacks. General David Petraeus the man directing the war, responded to questions about the direction of the war on Capitol Hill this morning. Here you see in him in Washington back in March.

His bottom line despite calls for a review of strategy. He insists on staying on course in Afghanistan. President Obama spelled out his war strategy last December. That was focusing on counter insurgency, and if you will recall, it included the deployment of an additional 30,000 troops to the war zone.

By the end of August, some 100,000 troops are expected in Afghanistan. Now withdrawal of U.S. troops is scheduled to begin in July of 2011. Here's some file pictures of Taliban fighters, they are very good of pulling out of a fight when they are outnumbered and filtering back into the area later.

Critics say that's due to either an unwillingness or lack of training by Afghan military, and police force to be able to nail them down. Other problems triggering grumbling on Capitol Hill include continued Taliban violence in southern Afghanistan.

In Helmand, Province. Setbacks in that US operation in Marja, which we talked about so much in January and February. That was -- that was -- that hasn't been as successful as they were hoping. Afghan president Hamid Karzai fired two key security officials who were widely trusted by the U.S. Now Karzai recently expressed doubt that the U.S. can defeat the Taliban, and the delay in the start of a major U.S. operation in the southern stronghold of Kandahar is also adding to these doubts.

Let's turn to Spain now. Police in Madrid announced the arrest of nearly 180 people suspected of cloning credit cards in an international scam worth more than $24 million.

The arrests took place both in Europe and in the United States. Police in 14 countries took part. It was a two-year investigation. The probe started in Spain, where police discovered 120,000 stolen credit card numbers, and 5,000 actual cloned credit cards. Those arrested are also suspected of armed robbery, blackmail, sexual exploitation and money laundering.

And finally in "Globe Trekking" today, I want to take you to Mexico. A slightly lighter topic for you. A children's story about Ferdinand, the bull that would rather smell flowers than fight you remember that?.

Well, Christian Hernandez (ph) is a bull fighter who apparently would rather run than fight.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

As you can see here, he started off the right way, but then suddenly bolted and jumps over the barrier! there he goes. Whoa! he reentered the ring, but the not for long. He was then arrested, and then released for paying a fine for breach of contract.

Can you imagine running away from a bull who is about to gore you and then getting arrested?

This guy has got a reason, by the way, to be concerned about this Several months ago, a bull severely gored Hernandez (ph) in the leg.

And let me tell you, after the first time a bull gores me in the leg, he ain't getting a second chance. After Sunday's debacle Hernandez (ph) admitted he no longer had the courage to fight bulls.

OK. We tell you we're looking for solutions to the oil mess I the Gulf of Mexico that's why we're here. We have one coming up, it's a bacteria that eats oil and then expels a carbon dioxide byproduct. We'll tell you about that when we come back

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Let me bring you up to speed with some of the top stories happening right now at CNN. It's day 57 right here in the Gulf of Mexico, and the oil disaster.

We've got a lot of news here today. Oil companies are on Capitol Hill today, discussing their plans for cleanup solutions. One Congressman said they put zero time and money into fixing this. Now tonight President Obama will address the nation about the disaster from the Oval Office at 8:00 p.m. Tune into CNN on TV online or on your iphone. Live at 8 :00 PM We've got you covered.

We've go some updates on the couple who tried to enter the Macdill Air Force base in Florida with fake ID's. Searchers found weapons, ammunition and other gear in the car. No explosives though we now know that the man in the duo is an active duty military member on AWOL status.

The couple is being held at the central command base.

And in Germany, a hostage standoff has ended in the eastern city of Leipzig. The hostage taker held the people captive in the H & M clothing store. Parts of the city were evacuated. It ended several hours later with no violence, thankfully.

All right. We talk about solutions here every when we can about the oil spill, how to stop how to clean it up. Today we've got an interesting one. Victoria Finley joins me from Tampa, Florida, the VP of business development in Osprey Biotechnics, and you've got a product, Victoria, that you think can help the situation. Describe it for me.

VICTORIA FINLEY, VP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, OSPREY BIOTECHNICS: Well that's right. Thank you for having us on the show today. Osprey Biotechnics business is industrial microbiology. And for the last 20 years our business everyday business has been degrading petroleum hydrocarbons from spills that have found their way into soil and ground water.

It's very simple technology in fact it's an ancient technology, nature's little house keepers, naturally occurring microbes that have been targeted from other petroleum contaminated sites over the years, commercialized for industrial production, stabilized, and then packaged to be able to deliver to a site, such as this, in various applications on the coastal waters and what not.

To degrade petroleum all the way down to co2, minute amounts of co2 and water, natural byproduct.

VELSHI: All right so how easily is this applied? Just walk me through exactly how it works. What form is it in, what do you do with it? And how does it work?

FINLEY: The form is a liquid format, a stable concentration of the microbes, and application will depend on the site being re- mediated. In the case of coastal disaster or coastal contamination, the beaches will be consisted of sometimes sand, different coarseness of sand.

Sometimes it will be shells. Sometimes it will get into the marsh lands like you see in Louisiana. So the mode of application will depend upon site evaluation. In most case, it will be dispensed through spray mechanism. The beaches, for example, a likely application method, might be like you would see a farmer and his tractor applying a liquid fertilizer into the soil. That would be a typical approach that may be taken.

On the coastal waters, possibly coming in by boat, and spraying the Munox application, Munox being the name of the product, in order to prevent any further damage to the very sensitive environment that a marsh would have.

VELSHI: Have you talked to BP about this?

FINLEY: We have reached out to BP. Through the only way that they allow you to do, and that's via online. To date, as of right now, we have not yet heard back from them.

VELSHI: Victoria, good to have you here telling us about it. Thanks so much. Victoria Finley is with Osprey Biotechnics joining me from Tampa, Florida.

FINLEY: Thank you.

VELSHI: All right when you think about a green environment, you probably don't think about the South Bronx. We've got a report that may surprise you about a group that's making a difference in some of New York's grittiest neighborhoods, that's coming up just ahead.

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VELSHI: That's my beautiful ride, by the way. That's the CNN express that I spend so much time over the last two or three years riding across the country. It lets us get into little towns and talk to people that we otherwise, may not get a chance to talk to.

Towns that are maybe smaller towns than we would typically go into. Right now I'm in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, talking to people about the effect of the Gulf oil spill.

Our "Big I" today. Some of the workers helping with the clean- up here in the Gulf came surprisingly enough from the gritty streets of New York. They're graduates of a program that is changing the landscape of the South Bronx. I love this story. Poppy Harlow's got it for us.

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\ POPPY HARLOW CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On a rundown block in the heart of the South Bronx, there's a quiet revolution.

MIQUELA CRAYTOR EXEC DIRECTOR, SUSTAINABLE SOUTH BRONX: People in the South Bronx were forgotten. The South Bronx is a poster child of diabetes, of asthma, of all the things you would not want your child or your community to have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all dealing with poverty and how I see poverty is like a disease. And this training is a cure.

HARLOW: This abandoned lot represents what had become of the industrial part of the city. But then became the inspiration for change.

CRAYTOR: It was basically a landfill. It wasn't legal. But like a lot of empty lots across New York City, people dump their trash, dump their tires. We don't want to wait till somebody to come up with a plan for us. We want to be proactive and plan for our future and our community. So this park represents that.

HARLOW: This park is the work of Sustainable South Bronx. Since 2001, it has grown from a mission of greening the ghetto to giving a second chance to men and women who want to make a difference but just need a break.

It's a hand-up, not a handout. And it starts with green job training.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is almost like a boot camp.

HARLOW: There are dozens of courses. Landscape 101, water and soil testing, green roof installation, and even hazardous waste removal.

HARLOW (on camera): From what I've heard from all of you, this really has been a total second chance?

UNIDENTIDIED MALE: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIDIED MALE : Completing these classes is a way I see that -- with the green and the new movement that's coming up that I want to be a part of that. I don't want to go back to just being a maintenance worker.

UNIDENTIDIED FEMALE It's like paying it forward to our kids. What we're learning now we can pass on to our kids and our kids could pass it on to so that we'll make it a better world.

HARLOW (voice over):: It's a place where even ex-cons get a fresh start. Felix Molina graduated in January after serving seven years in prison.

FELIX MOLINA, GRADUATE, SUSTAINABLE SOUTH BRONX: I was young. I was misled. And I made some bad choices. If I didn't hook up with sustainable South Bronx, most likely I would have been back in the streets.

HARLOW : But his future now is a career in green construction.

MOLINA: Really a change in my life it keeps me on a right path. I'm able to work and contribute back to society. They saved me.

HARLOW: : So far, nearly 300 students have graduated. And although the oil disaster in the Gulf is a long way from here, 15 of the graduates were hired to help clean it up. As they say, paying it forward. In Bronx, New York, Poppy Harlow reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Great story, great "big I" for us. Hey listen we are always talking about briefings. We got briefings on Capitol Hill we got briefings here in the Gulf because of the oil spill.

This is the briefing I like the best - the World Cup briefing coming up. Teams David and Goliath are about to meet on the pitch. You might think of that as the field.

We're going to talk about it when we get back.

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VELSHI: Time for our World Cup briefing. World Cup is under way, June 11 it started. Ends with the final on July 11. Big mismatch today of teams. A virtual unknown for obvious reasons.

North Korea in about half an hour is about to take on the soccer powerhouse, Brazil. Brazil tends to be everybody's favorite in the world or everybody's second favorite.. CNN's Isha Sesay is in Johannesburg covering this for us half an hour. Is anybody wondering about the outcome of this game Isha?

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, you never can tell, I mean right now on paper, as you say it really does look like a mismatch Ali, a David and Goliath matchup.

You know the team's highest ranked player in the tournament which would be Brazil versus the lowest ranked team which would be North Korea. But you know these things have a funny way of going just the way you wouldn't predict.

Ali did you know that the last time North Korea was in the World Cup was back in 1966 and they made their way all the way to the quarterfinals. Did you know that? So you know OK that was a long time--

VELSHI: I didn't know that.

SESAY: But you it just goes to show that: See. Strange things can happen. As you rightly point out. Not much known about this North Korean team. We do know a great deal about the Brazilian side, looking to get their record sixth World Cup title.

They have got new coach right now Ali. And the thing a lot of people are talking about is that is a team that's not really playing beautiful football.

They're hard-working, they grind the results out. But if you're looking for that samba (ph) virtuoso of football, you're not going to get it here Ali I'm sorry.

VELSHI: Hey, let's talk about this ball. I've got one of them in Atlanta. Supposedly it is a high tech ball Adidas keeps redesigning them. This thing's got ridges and it's supposed to be able to be gripped better.

Everybody's complaining about this ball, at least everybody who has to play with it.

SESAY: : Yes, absolutely. I've got the ball here as well. It's called the Jabulani as you say every tournament they release a new ball. The thing about this one, they're saying it's just really unpredictable and hard to handle.

You have some really, really top-notch goalkeepers complain about it. And keepers form Italy and from U.K. and Australia all saying it's just a little bit too unpredictable.

But Adidas who maker the ball for the tournament say they have met the requirements for the ball, it meets all the technical specifications. And Ali we must point out. There hasn't been an official complaint to FIFA yet. So some of the people are just saying you know to like winge (ph) And this is just one other thing they're complaining about. Just like those vuvuzelas.

VELSHI: Like the vuvuzelas the little buzzers you know I complain about it, too. Because I'm worried when I'm going to be at that final game that it's going to be overwhelming. But guess who's going to be blowing their vuvuzela the most, I'll be right there.. Good to see you, Isha as always we'll talk to Isha every day while she's down there covering the World Cup. .