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Burning off the Oil; BP's Tony Hayward to Testify; Death by Firing Squad for Utah Killer; Death by Firing Squad for Utah Killer; Oprah Defends Obama on Gulf; Breaking Down BP's $20 Billion Fund

Aired June 17, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Kyra Phillips on this very busy Thursday morning.

Fifty-nine days, millions of gallons, billions of dollars, 11 lives, many more livelihoods and a wrecked ecosystem. This morning the corporate face of the Gulf oil disaster will answer for all of it. We've got team coverage of Tony Hayward's big day on the Hill.

We'll also go to the Gulf and show you one method to keep the oil offshore, the burn method.

And if you love Gulf seafood get ready to pay for it. Shrimp alone prices are up nearly 50 percent.

From the bayou to the beltway, all eyes turn to the CEO of BP. Tony Hayward, barely two months ago, few of us even heard of him. On this day 59 of the Gulf oil disaster, BP's chief executive officer will be in the hot seat on Capitol Hill.

He'll arrive on the Hill this hour and once again apologize for the country's worst environmental disaster. And in an early release of his statement to Congress, he'll say he hears, quote, "the concerns, fears, frustrations, and anger," being voiced across America.

This a day after BP execs met with President Obama at the White House and agreed to set up a $20 billion escrow for oil spill claims.

We're covering this story from many angles, from New Orleans to New York, Atlanta to Washington.

All right, before we go to Washington and that testimony beginning about an hour from now, billowing towers of smoke hang over much of the Gulf of Mexico. And that's a welcomed sight for Gulf residents.

The smoke is coming from crews who are burning the blankets of oil before they actually reach ashore.

CNN's Ali Velshi went out on the water to see the practice up- close. He joins us now from New Orleans -- Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. This is as counterintuitive as you can imagine. You're seeing thick black acrid smoke burning from oil. And that's a good thing because that is oil that is not going to make it to shore.

It's being burned. They call it in situ, which means in place. About three to 12 miles away from the site of the Deepwater Horizon. That's where we were yesterday.

It's a team headed by the Coast Guard. It's overseen by the Coast Guard but it's private contractors who are out there. They hired these shrimpers, they take these two shrimp boats, attach boom to it, and basically coral the oil and until it's deep enough and sort of together enough.

And then they ignite it using diesel, a gallon of diesel. They set it on fire. They hope that it burns. And then you see the spectacular result of that burning. When we got there yesterday with the Coast Guard, about three hours of -- on a boat on the way in there, we saw seven of these plumes.

You can go up and follow them up into the sky and just see endless smoke. It's like tornadic smoke into the sky. In fact, the sky around us was bright. But above us was entirely dark.

And around it, Fred, airplanes are circling, monitoring to see where there are better collections of oil and then guiding the fleet about 15 vessels out there. Guiding the fleet to other patches of oil where they start those fires again.

So we saw about seven fires yesterday burning. Very hot and very big fires. They claim that they can get thousands of barrels a day out this way. And they're going to keep on doing it until there's no more oil to burn.

WHITFIELD: All right, so, Ali, extraordinary images but give me an idea what this smoke does to the environment, whether it be the water, the wildlife or perhaps even the air quality.

VELSHI: Well, interestingly enough, at one point it wasn't raining but it sounded like it was raining. And I looked over, and there were all these fish jumping in the sea, right, sort of near the oil at an area that had already been burned. I don't know whether they're eating some of the material that's been burned.

Look, this was not allowed for a long time because there were concerns that if you burn this kind of smoke it gets into the atmosphere and it pollutes the environment. It was determined now that it would be better to burn the smoke and create that pollution than allow that oil to move its way to coast because we've seen the damage that that does to wildlife, for the pelicans, to the spoonbills, to the other birds and then of course to the shrimp and the oyster, and the fish.

So the determination was that it is better to do this now, it's the better of two evils.

There is an EPA person on site where this burning is taking place. And the Coast Guard is making sure that they go around. We went with them, to everybody, to ask them if they're hot, if they're exhausted. They're taking measurements of their breathing. So far they are reporting lower than aloud incidents of the sorts of chemicals that come out burning oil.

But you can see from that smoke clearly something is going somewhere into the environment -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ali Velshi, thanks so much, joining us from New Orleans about that oil burn taking place there in the Gulf of Mexico.

Meantime, let's go to Washington, D.C. now where we find senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash. We know this hearing is taking place about an hour from now.

Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP is likely to make his way to Capitol Hill somewhere within this hour.

While we do know, Dana, based on his early release of his statement, he'll give to House members, he's going to apologize, he'll knowledge mistakes were made. He's really got to expect that he will be the subject of a firing squad.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He certainly should if he was listening to anything that the senior members of this committee were saying, especially the Democrats beforehand.

I talked to the chairman of the committee that will be holding this hearing at the top of the hour, Bart Stupak. And I asked him about the fact that Tony Hayward the man before him, who will be sitting alone at the witness table, has sort of become not only the poster child but in many ways the villain of this whole drama and disaster.

And he said whether or not that's true. He said he is not sure but Bart Stupak did say that, look, he is worried and warning Tony Hayward not to come before this committee as a typical corporate executive saying he's sorry, saying that he didn't know -- Congressman Stupak and other members of Congress here say that they're not going to stand for that. They want answers to what happened and what led to this explosion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Almost feels like he's going to be facing a firing squad. Not necessarily a congressional hearing.

REP. BART STUPAK (D), MICHIGAN: Well --

BASH: Is it going to be tough?

STUPAK: Oh, yes, yes. The members are angry. The members are frustrated. I don't know what happened at the White House other than say congratulations to both the president and BP for getting this agreement but members are -- going to take his hide off. BASH: What about you?

STUPAK: As they should. I will be fair but firm.

BASH: I saw somewhere you were quoted as saying that he'll be sliced and diced.

STUPAK: But fairly sliced and diced.

BASH: These are documents that you have uncovered.

STUPAK: Correct.

BASH: One employee calling the Deepwater Horizon well a crazy well. Another a nightmare well.

STUPAK: Correct. Correct. And these are the top engineers. So when you say things like this in this corporate and this culture, what does that mean? Well, so we get crazy well. We get runaway wells. It's a nightmare. We'll keep moving forward. Cut corners. Get it done. Get the nightmare over with? And create a bigger nightmare for the American people.

BASH: But you think that Tony Hayward --

STUPAK: Well --

BASH: He carries the ultimate responsibility?

STUPAK: Yes. He's the head of -- he's head the corporation. He goes down with the ship, as they say. And in this case, they pay him well for having this responsibility. Now it's time for him to accept it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now Fredricka, on Monday, Congressman Stupak and the chairman of the full committee, Henry Waxman, sent Tony Hayward a 14- page letter. And in it they detailed some of the findings of their investigation. And specifically, five areas where they said that BP cut corners in crucial, crucial moments before the explosion.

And so what he -- what Congressman Stupak told me is that he expects Tony Hayward to be able to answer questions about why those things happened and he said he just won't believe that Hayward in this situation when this rig was 43 days overdue and going to its next stop, and millions and millions of dollars over budget, doesn't believe that he didn't know some of these cost-cutting decisions that ultimately led to this horrible disaster, according to Congressman Stupak.

One quick color -- want to tell you about some color here. Fredricka, you can probably see a lot of hustling and bustling at least while I was talking. The security here is not like it is for a normal CEO. We sometimes are kind of kept at bay when you have members of the president's Cabinet or dignitaries. Not when you see executives of companies. That is going on right here. There definitely is stepped- up security. So it is -- very noteworthy that this definitely feels not just from our perspective but from the people who are putting on this hearing and the people who secure the Capitol that this is not just any kind of hearing.

WHITFIELD: And Dana, give me an idea, maybe a timeline, of what we can expect this morning while people are filing in right now.

The expectation is once Mr. Tony Hayward and others enter and take their seats, they first have to listen to opening remarks coming from a number of the House members before Tony Hayward gets to go through his 11-page statement, perhaps even more if he's added a few more notes. And then there's more question and answer coming from members of Congress.

BASH: You got it. What's going to be interesting, and we saw this earlier this week when you had the five CEOs of the major oil companies before the same committee and the same committee room is that Tony Hayward is going to be sitting at that desk alone, listening to the opening statements of all of the panel members.

And it will likely take an hour, an hour and a half that he will have to listen to this before he even gets a chance to speak or before he raises his hand and is sworn in under oath. And then the barrage of questioning is going to begin. So he's going to have a good sense of where that panel is coming from, if he doesn't already before he even gets to open his mouth.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. Dana Bash, we'll check back with you periodically throughout the morning on Capitol Hill there.

OK, so the hearing before that House Energy Commerce Subcommittee is set to get under way next hour. CNN, of course, has obtained the opening statement that I have been referring to that Hayward will be presenting to lawmakers.

And here's a bit more of what he is expected to say before being grilled by lawmakers. BP's chief executive says, quote, "The explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon and the resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should never have happened. And I am deeply sorry that they did".

Hayward goes on to say that he was, quote, "personally devastated," when he learned 11 men had lost their lives and in his words, quote, "My sadness has only grown as the disaster continues," end quote.

So we'll have much more of that on Capitol Hill and beyond.

Also, coming up, death by firing squad. You don't hear that too often. But that's how the man in this orange jumpsuit is set to be executed in just a few hours. We're taking a look at how it will happen right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, execution by firing squad. Literally. It sounds like Wild West style justice. But just after midnight, a double murderer in Utah is scheduled to be hooded, strapped to a chair, and shot through the heart by a string of unnamed marksmen.

Forty-nine-year-old Ronnie Lee Gardner is now asking for a last- minute stay from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court and U.S. Supreme Court. And if they don't intervene, that is, the state Supreme Court, Gardner will be the first person to die by firing squad in the U.S. in 14 years. And he could be one of the last.

Utah officials say that Ronnie Gardner's life was troubled early on. By the age of six he was a drug addict, sent to a mental institution by the time he was 11. At 23, he killed bartender Melvin Otterstrom during a robbery. And in 1985 while heading into a courtroom in connection with that case, he murdered attorney Michael Burdell and shot a bailiff.

Overnight if everything goes as scheduled, Gardner will die in a hail of bullets.

So, Nate Carlisle is a crime reporter for "The Salt Lake Tribune." And he actually will witness this execution as scheduled.

So, Nate, thanks so much for joining us. Give me an idea of, logistically, how this will happen and really how did it come to this -- firing squad.

NATE CARLISLE, REPORTER, "SALT LAKE TRIBUNE": Well, first, the procedure is, he'll be led into the execution chamber, shortly after midnight. He'll be strapped into a chair. There will be a paper target placed over his heart. And then Gardner will be allowed to say a few final words until -- and then, a hood will be placed over his head and five gunmen will be given the order to fire.

WHITFIELD: This is awfully gruesome, is it not? I mean, ordinarily, people think about the death penalty in this country, they have become conditioned with lethal injection, the electric chair. How is it that firing squad was an option in the state of Utah?

CARLISLE: Well, it's a -- it's a hangover from our pioneer and frontier days. There's no question about that. This was the preferred method in Utah for -- since pioneers entered the valley. And for one reason or another, the legislature didn't do away with it until 2004. At that point, they made -- lethal injection the only option. However, if you were convicted prior to 2004, you still have the option of choosing the firing squad.

WHITFIELD: And so, now I understand that Gardner is asking for a stay of execution. On what grounds?

CARLISLE: Well, he's argued for the last 25 years that his original jury didn't know enough about his background. Viewers heard a little bit about that. Earlier, Gardner thinks that if jury members knew about his early drug use, about possible brain damage he suffered, that they would have voted for life in prison rather than death.

WHITFIELD: OK. And now, I understand these marksmen, they are unnamed, and give me an idea of -- I understand there's interesting information about whether all of them have bullets, whether all of them would be able to, you know, lethally determine this man's life. Give me an idea of how these marksmen came to be and what are the details.

CARLISLE: Well, the marksmen -- if they follow procedures they've done in the past, will take police officers from Salt Lake County sheriff's office. We don't know who those are going to be. There's about 400 officers in that office. It could possibly be any one of them.

The sheriffs have said in the past, they had so many volunteers, they have to have a lottery. And then, four of them will have a live round. They all have .30 caliber rifles and don't know which of them has the blank.

And then past procedures, one of the five has been designated the captain. And when everything is ready, the captain will sound off in a cadence. And at the end of that cadence, they are supposed to fire in unison.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

All right. Nate Carlisle, crime reporter for "Salt Lake Tribune" -- thanks so much. It is scheduled for midnight. And you are scheduled to be a witness for the execution by firing squad in Utah, of 49-year-old Ronnie Lee Gardner. Thanks so much.

CARLISLE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Not one, not two, but eight tornadoes spotted just within a few miles of each other. We'll tell you what one actually did to the storm chaser who got these images.

And live pictures right now of Capitol Hill. Soon, CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, will be making his way to Capitol Hill for a House subcommittee hearing. He will be trying to apologize once again and trying to answer many questions, not just lawmakers have, but members of the general public have also, utter these same questions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now.

It is day 59 of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. And the expectation is, there will be fireworks on Capitol Hill this morning. BP chief executive officer, Tony Hayward, testifies before lawmakers who are outraged at the company's response to the oil spill.

And severe weather strikes the northwestern part of South Dakota. Take a look at these images. Storm chaser Andy Gabrielson (ph) spotted eight tornadoes, all within on few miles of each other. He says one of those tornadoes almost lifted his car.

And the maker of Benadryl and Tylenol is adding five more types of drugs to the company's list of recalled products. The voluntary recall was made because of a chemical odor with the product's shipping palette.

And live pictures right now of Capitol Hill of -- actually, threes not live. What you're seeing are taped pictures of BP's CEO Tony Hayward among others.

But Tony Hayward today will be in the hot seat on Capitol Hill. He will be testifying among -- to the House Energy Subcommittee. He'll try to apologize for the BP disaster. He will be acknowledging mistakes.

He says, of course, there are lots of questions like how could this have happened. He still does not have a complete answer to that. He, too, will be riddled with a number of questions from many angry lawmakers.

He will be on Capitol Hill later on this hour to testify in the next hour as well. We'll have much more on that here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is defending President Obama's handling of the Gulf Coast oil disaster. She also expressed heartfelt concern for the devastation in that region.

Our Don Lemon caught up with Oprah in Atlanta yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have to ask you this, because of the news. You have been so supportive of the folks down South and what's going on with the oil. What's going on in your heart with that?

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: What's going on in my heart is the same thing that's happening -- I think everybody feels for what is happening to all of the fishermen and all of the families who this time of the year would be hosting people from all over the country and all over the world there. You know, we can only hope and pray that this will soon be resolved in a way that people can pick themselves up and begin to move forward.

LEMON: And the criticism for the president's handling --

WINFREY: I think the president is doing the best anybody can. I really don't understand what people want him to do. I think that he's the president of the United States. You're not supposed to be emotional. You're supposed to take action and get things done and make sure those things happen. So, I really don't know what it is people want him to do. LEMON: Yes. You're so charitable. Are you going to help do anything for the folks down there?

WINFREY: Well, I -- I don't have any plans right now to do anything specifically because -- it's going to take more money than I have to do that. So I think that all of us being united in our sense of understanding, what is going on, and what is happening not only to the people but to the animals which is what breaks my heart, too, watching that every day.

LEMON: Thank you, Oprah.

WINFREY: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Oprah Winfrey was in Atlanta to speak to the inaugural eighth grade graduating class at the Ron Clark Academy. She's donated some $2 million to that private school.

All right. BP's $20 billion fund for oil spill victims -- we'll break down the numbers and see how this all might work.

And all of this a day after that commitment of $20 billion. Now, the CEO of BP is expected to be on Capitol Hill. He is to arrive there momentarily to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee. He will likely be apologizing according to his release of his statement and also explain that even he is still looking for answers for many questions that still continue to riddle much of America.

Much more of our coverage -- right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta.

Live pictures of Capitol Hill right now as we get ready for what is likely to be a day of fiery questions being posed from lawmakers with the House Subcommittee of Energy and Commerce who'll be posing these questions to the CEO, Tony Hayward, of BP. He is expected to stick with his 11-page script. He has a statement that we have also been privy to where he will apologize profusely. He will acknowledge that mistakes have been made involving BP and that oil spill that took place now 59 days ago.

But will that be enough? I'm also joined in Washington by my colleague, John King, host of "JOHN KING USA".

And so John, while we see this 11-page testimony that Tony Hayward will be sticking to, this really is going to be an aside because the lawmakers have a host of questions. They want to know what BP knew about this. What was their contingency plan? Why they didn't have a better contingency plan for an accident like this to happen when drilling a 5,000 feet below? His statement of apology is no way going to soften the blow of questioning from these lawmakers? JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING USA": Not at all, Fredricka, good morning to you.

This will be a day of great drama in Washington. The big question is will it be a day where we get any new details about what happened on the deepwater horizon on April 20th, and perhaps, any new details about how optimistic or pessimistic Mr. Hayward is about when they will able to finally stop that leak, but you're dead right. Remember this, as he testifies today, this is America's favorite new villain. This committee is going to treat him like a pinata. That has been made perfectly clear.

We will have an hour at least before we even hear from Mr. Hayward because every member of the committee has requested time for an opening statement, and you can be sure that none of them will be complimentary to Mr. Hayward and BP. The question is when we get to him and the questioning, this is a committee that has thousands of pages of documents from BP.

The committee believes that what happen on this rig was negligent, if not criminal. They say it was behind schedule, over budget, and there was pressure to get the job done and that leaders on the rig, BP officials, ignored warnings from the staff that they had a problem and that they should shut things down.

But remember this, number one, Mr. Hayward is the CEO of a publicly traded company whose stock has fallen in value by roughly half since this disaster. Anything he says will affect the market and the value of the company. Watch that during the day. There are also criminal investigations of the company and the potential of dozens of civil lawsuits, and anything he says to borrow a cliche can and will be used against him in a court of law down the road, Fredricka.

So, this is a CEO who while he has to be there, he understands his obligation to the American people to testify before the Congress, he is going to be very, very careful. He's also a guy, though, this is why this could be so dramatic, who has made some mistakes in his public statements in the past.

Remember early on, he told Sky News this will be a very modest environmental impact. He also said BP would be a model in its response after this. And he famously said at one point, I want my life back. And I have for you before I break some of our others into the conversation, I just want on show you this.

We brought this T-shirt back from my recent trip down to the Gulf Coast. And it is a dirty pelican. An oily pelican saying, "I want my life back, too." So, Tony Hayward has become the poster child, if you will, for the outrage at BP about this, Fred. And to that point, I want to bring our national political correspondent, Jessica Yellin, into the conversation.

So, for Congress, they see a chance to score points with the American public. The question is will we learn anything today?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think a little bit. I think it's both a fact-finding mission genuinely because they do want to get some answers. And this is the first time Hayward has been in to testify.

So, they can get some answers, though, we all know he has to be cautious and guarded for the reasons you point out, but a lot of it is theater. I mean, I think back to not so long ago, that Goldman Sachs hearing where we saw all these members of Congress who were supposed to be doing oversight during the years that the financial crisis was unraveling, and suddenly, they're so indignant and outraged that this was going on under their noses.

I think we will see some of that again today where we'll hear this indignant rage, Washington theater. And you got to ask Congress had a role in this, too. Where were they during the oversight process? And it's going to be a lingering question.

KING: It is an excellent question not only in this case but when those miners died in West Virginia a few months ago the same thing. Congressmen, oh, my gosh, we have to look at this agency. Why does this have to happen? Why does tragedy have to happen before Congress does oversight means you're looking over things as they happen not after they happen. Let's go up to Capitol Hill.

Our senior Congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, had an exclusive interview with the chairman of the subcommittee and can give us essentially a sneak peek of what we're about to hear.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. Look, he made very clear. We're talking about Bart Stupak who is going to be chairing this hearing, made very clear that apologies are not going to be enough. And that what they want, particularly the Democrats, on this committee, what they want from Tony Hayward are detailed answers. And he told me, look, they gave him the answers to the test.

What this committee did on Monday is sent tony Hayward a 14-page letter going through the narrative that this committee has built through its investigation into what they say are five incidents that they called crucial incidents where corners were cut, where costs were -- they tried to save costs for time, for money and you name it.

Where they say that -- those were the -- crucial, crucial times that perhaps led to this explosion and would -- Congressman Stupak told me is that he doesn't buy that Tony Hayward as the head of this company when such a massive project was going on, 43 days behind schedule, millions of dollars over budget. He didn't know about why these corners were cut. So, that's, I think, going to be one of the major thrusts of the questions. Really looking back at culpability and as many of these members have said, they want to build a record to show that BP, from their perspective, really does have a lot of culpability in what happen.

KING: We're checking with Dana in a minute off of this big hearing days in Washington are Washington dramas and political dramas. Maybe out there in the country, you don't think they're all important to you, just of those of us who cover Washington, but this is an American drama, and indeed, an international drama. Nowhere more do they care about what they might hear today, answers they are looking for today down along the Gulf Coast.

That's where CNN's Chris Lawrence is now. He's live in New Orleans.

And Chris, what are folks down there saying before this appearance?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John, I think two things, one on emotional level and the second thing on a specific level. Under the emotional level, they want to hear something from the BP official that speaks to him understanding what he's caused here. What the company has caused down here. You know, fishing, food, there are more than just industries down here. They are really engrained in the culture. They're part of the way of life down here. And I think a lot of people have just privately said, you know, do they understand what they've done?

Do they really understand it? So, I think on an emotional level, they want to see some understanding of the damage that's been caused. More specifically, I've been talking to a lot of small businesses, especially the supporting businesses, not necessarily just the workers who work on the rig. They're not covered under that $100 million BP fund that was set up. They're going go through the claims process to that $2 billion fund. A lot of them want to hear some specific assurances that they are going to get their money.

You know, historically in spills like this, small businesses often end up in years of litigation, recovering just a fraction of their losses. A lot of people here have been telling me they're going to get their money. When BP says they're going to get their money, they say I will believe that when I see it. So, you mentioned earlier about saying things on the record, statements that can then come back to haunt you, so to speak. I think a lot of people here want to hear some statements on the record from the BP's CEO that locks the company in to paying some of the damages that some of these businesses have suffered here.

KING: And yet, Chris, I'm willing to bet especially given the legacy in the region of Katrina and Rita and what the people believe are unfulfilled promises from their government in Washington and from others to help them get back on their feet, but there's not a lot of trust, not just for Tony Hayward, but perhaps, not for the federal government as well.

LAWRENCE: No. You know, I don't want to, by any means, you know, I don't want to say, you know, the frustration and the anger here is only directed at BP. You know, as much praise as we have lavished on Admiral Thad Allen, and some, you know, justifiably so for the job he has done down here, there's a lot of frustration from people I spoke to hear about the coast guard.

Feeling that the coast guard has not taken the reins of leadership, you know, used some of its authority and power that a lot of people here felt they had and felt that the coast guard and the administration, especially early on but even, you know, up until the last couple of weeks, just too cozy with BP and not challenging them enough.

KING: Chris Lawrence on the scene for us. We'll check back with Chris as this drama today unfolds. We're looking -- we can show you live pictures of the committee hearing where Tony Hayward, the BP CEO and just about 20 minutes will be sitting down. It will be awhile, though, before we hear him. And as we go to break, remember that picture in the middle.

As the BP CEO testifies today, the sad fact is oil, millions of gallons of oil, continue to spew into the Gulf of Mexico. The middle of August, two months from now, the earliest the company says it thinks they will able to shut that off completely.

Stay with our special coverage. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. You're looking at live pictures right now of Capitol Hill as people await the arrival of BP's CEO, Tony Hayward. He is in the hot seat today. He is to testify today in part to apologize, to acknowledge mistakes were made, and also make promise that BP will try to do right as we're now in day 59 of the continued oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. We got team coverage on the testimony on Capitol Hill and the ripple effect from coast to coast.

Our John King, host of "JK USA" is in Washington. We also got congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, on Capitol Hill, and we got Christine Romans in New York. Let's begin with Christine because this testimony is now coming one day after BP promises $20 billion for an escrow account to help in paying out the claims to people who've lost their lives and livelihoods from this oil spill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, welcome back. You are looking at live pictures right now of Capitol Hill as people await the arrival of BP's CEO Tony Hayward. He is in the hot seat today. He is to testify today in part to apologize, to acknowledge mistakes were made and also make promise that BP will try to do right as we're now in day 59 of the continued oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

We've got team coverage on the testimony on Capitol Hill and the ripple effect from coast to coast. Our John King, host of "JK USA" is in Washington, we've also got our Congressional correspondent Dana Bash on Capitol Hill and we've got Christine Romans in New York.

Let's begin with Christine. Because this testimony is now coming one day after BP promises $20 billion for an escrow account to help in paying out the claims to people who have lost their lives and livelihoods from this oil spill.

Break it down for us. How will this $20 billion fund be managed?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And this is -- Fredricka, the United States government saying to BP preemptively -- we want to make sure the money is there. We want to make sure that you are going to pay for the victims of this spill and that there will be money available.

How does it break down? $20 billion paid out $5 billion each year for four years. The company will have to put up assets to guarantee that next year it will put another $5 billion in and the like so that in total, there'll be $20 billion -- this is unprecedented, by the way.

This is simply -- we've never seen a government sort of demand -- this government in particular demand money set aside from a company like this to cover an unprecedented problem.

Does -- does the company have the money? Well, yes. I mean, up until the April 20th spill, this company's financial statements clearly show that it was a cash machine; $7 billion in cash on hand at the end of the first quarter. It can very easily and quickly borrow $17 billion. It has lines of credit for that.

And keep in mind, it also has other things here. Like a dividend of $10 billion a year, they said it will suspend its dividend. It will not be paying investors that money for being share holders. Also it's going to cut back on research and development and some of its capital expenditures and investments and the like. So it's got more money available along those lines.

It could sell up to $10 billion of -- of assets that it has, divest itself of some assets and partnerships so that it can free up more money. So it identified places where there's an awful lot of money and scope there to fill this fund but also to pay for what's happening right now, trying to cap the well, relief wells, trying to immediately burn off oil that's spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.

So very wide range of estimates, Fredricka, about just what that oil you're seeing on your screen right now is going to do, how much cost damage it will be. No one really knows for sure. BP says it can and will pay. The government says we want $20 billion in the bank to make sure.

WHITFIELD: All right, Christine Romans, thanks so much for breaking that down.

So the money is there, says BP. The White House feels pretty confident that that $20 billion fund is going to help.

However, the oil continues to gush. This as CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, will be making his way to Capitol Hill for that testimony to begin. Our live coverage continues right after this.

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WHITFIELD: Well, welcome back to the NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta, live pictures right now of all points. In the center, Capitol Hill there in the nation's capital as they await the arrive of BP's CEO Tony Hayward. He is to testify today and acknowledge in his words that the oil spill in the Gulf is unacceptable and that his sadness grows, and in his words during an 11-page statement he is expected to read, that he will, quote, "not rest until the well is under control".

We have team coverage of the testimony that's expected to be rather fiery there on Capitol Hill today before a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee. We have team coverage from Atlanta to the Gulf Coast and of course to Washington as well.

I'm going to send it over to my colleague John King, host of "JK USA". You can see there are correspondents all across the map covering this. This is likely to be a very fiery, very tough testimony for Mr. Hayward. I hope he has got his Mitchell on today.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "JK USA": Pinata day in Washington today, Fredricka as we wait. We're just moments away from the beginning of that hearing. We should make clear to our viewers that it will be a while before they hear directly from Mr. Hayward because the angry member of this committee first want to make opening statements and you can be sure they will not be kind to the BP CEO or to the conduct of his company.

As we await this traumatic testimony, let's bring in someone who can give us some perspective of what it's like to lead a big oil company and perhaps what it's like to be in the situation Tony Hayward finds himself in today.

John Hoffmeister is the former president of Shell Oil, he joins us from Houston this morning. Mr. Hoffmeister, first and foremost, explain to someone who has led a big company, the box Tony Hayward was in today. The Congress wants answers but Tony Hayward has to worry not only about his shareholders and the markets but about potential criminal and civil lawsuits.

JOHN HOFFMEISTER, FORMER PRESIDENT, SHELL OIL: One of the guidance that I would give Tony Hayward, which was given to me, is try to do no more harm. In other words, don't make your position any worse in your testimony. He will clearly be on the back foot. He has a huge problem still spewing --

KING: Mr. Hoffmeister, Mr. Hoffmeister, I'm sorry. I want to interrupt for just one second. We are watching Tony Hayward pass through the security, the visitor's entrance up on Capitol Hill. There you see some of the Capitol police officers. Mr. Hayward was in the shot and then stepped out.

Just to our viewers, as we continue the conversation with Mr. Hoffmeister, you may see Tony Hayward, there you see him right there coming into Capitol Hill. Like everyone else, including reporters and visitors, he has to go through a bit of security.

I'm sorry sir, I interrupted you, please go ahead.

HOFFMEISTER: Yes, so the key point is, do no more harm because enough harm has already been done. Don't dig your hole any deeper. So he'll do a lot of listening, undoubtedly, he will hear some very passionate remarks from very respectable people, who really do feel as they are expressing themselves.

But also, there's a bit of theater in all of this as well. If there was true culpability here, not just culpability for BP for this blowout but culpability for the U.S. Congress and its failure to set energy policy in motion which enables us to deliver on the energy independence which we've been promised for almost 40 years.

I think the American people ought to be having a hearing with the Congress about why have you failed us as a leadership group in terms of enabling an energy policy that doesn't push us into the high risk deepwater in the first place.

KING: I think you make an interesting point, that the Congress has a role in oversight, the Congress also has a role in setting energy policy.

As we continue the conversation, I want to tell our viewers. You are looking at BP CEO Tony Hayward right there. He has just entered the hearing room and he will be grilled today by Congress. He also will deliver a lengthy opening statement in which he apologizes profusely and says BP is trying to get to the bottom of the spill.

Mr. Hoffmeister, I want to continue the conversation. You're dead right, Congress should also look in the mirror because it has an oversight responsibility here.

Congress and the administration, past and present should perhaps look in the mirror because they have promised for a long time going back to Jimmy Carter for new energy policy that they have not delivered to the American people.

But I want to talk about the industry that you have worked in for some time because one of the seeds of this disaster is what many describe is an incestuous relationship between the oil industry and the agency of the government, the MMS, that is supposed to regulate that agency, a revolving door of people going through, corruption, bribery and the like.

When you were leading shell oil is that a fair characterization of the relationship?

HOFFMEISTER: I don't even recognize the terms. I think that there was a 2007 inspector general report which talked about some isolated incidences in Colorado, and that has been magnified in painting the entire industry with a broad brush stroke. I think people are using some anecdotal evidence to suggest there is a permeating corruption across the industry.

I didn't experience it. I know for the three years running that my company attempted to get permits from the MMS to drill off the coast of Alaska. For three years running, we failed to get the permits because the environmental requirements kept changing. And we were always rushing to catch up to the new definitions or the new standards being put in place by the previous administration running MMS. And so I did not find a cozy relationship whatsoever, and I can't recognize -- I can't deny things may have happened but I can't recognize this as a broad brush way of behaving within the MMS.

KING: Mr. Hoffmeister, we appreciate your perspective. We're going to ask you to stay with us as the drama unfolds.

I want to bring in to the conversation, our national political correspondent Jessica Yellin who's sitting here with me. And Jess, as we watch these pictures, this is the prelude. This is -- if you're in the movie theater -- this is the coming attraction.

We see Tony Hayward, we see him with his staff and with his attorneys in the room. We see a full house of journalists in the room. Just moments ago, those chairs were empty. The members are beginning to come in.

This is America's new villain at the moment. Fairly or unfairly, the American people, and especially the people in the Gulf Coast -- I just spent a little more than a week down there -- and the mention of his name causes outright visceral anger. A huge challenge for him today but as Mr. Hoffmeister says, and also a challenge for the Congress.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: For both of them, John. And this is -- it's a performance also for both of them as you point out. I think of it, it's obviously in no way criminal but it's a bit like a court case where they want to hear does the suspect show remorse. Is he going to come on and express in adequate terms how much he understands what people are going through.

We've seen BP officials start to do that increasingly in recent days, especially yesterday at the White House, expressing how sorry they are in very compassionate terms. You know, there is clearly nothing he's going to say today that's going to satisfy Americans' outrage. It's really about not saying anything, as the CEO just said, makes it worse, and how much can Congress show how angry they are.

KING: you see him there speaking to the chairman of the larger committee, Henry Waxman. It is Bart Stupak who's the chairman of sub- committee. This committee has thousands of documents from BP that the committee says proves that this DeepWater Horizon rig was over-budget, behind schedule.

BP wanted that rig to move on to another project and they were rushing ahead and ignored warnings from their workers on the desk, from some of their subcontractors, including Halliburton. That they had a problem, they should shut it down.

You see already right there in the drama, "BP lies"; "BP kills".