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Previewing Gulf Telethon; Federal Response to Gulf Spill; World Cup French Drama

Aired June 21, 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: It's the top of the 10:00 Eastern hour. Right now, a special edition of CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Kyra Phillips, here in New Orleans on the first day of summer and you can feel the heat. Today I'm going to be talking with people who live here, work here, talking about their lives, how their lives have changed so radically in the 63 days since the gulf oil disaster began.

I will also tell you how you can help make a difference. It's the telethon, a special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight. That Bryan Batt and I were just talking about.

All right. A quick look now at day 63 of the gulf oil disaster. BP says it spent about $2 billion so far on the spill response, claims and other expenses. The man overseeing BP's $20 billion compensation fund tells CNN that the company needs to speed up the payment process. The government thinks up to 2.5 million gallons of crude oil are gushing into the gulf every day.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu tells CNN that nobody knows yet just how catastrophic this event is. His city has asked BP for $75 million to soften the oil's blow on tourism, and in this hour, in this city, several companies will ask a federal judge to end the six-month ban on deep water drilling.

Well, those companies say that there is no proof that the rigs and wells out there now pose a threat to the gulf and they say that this ban will really hurt this region's economy at a time that it needs all the help it can get. Chris Lawrence is here with me to talk exactly about that. Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, sure. A lot of people, Kyra, saying we can't survive like this. You know, they're saying that this was an arbitrary decision, that there were additional tests made on a lot of these deepwater wells, 29 of them. 27 passed. So they're saying that the government really doesn't have any proof that these wells are unsafe, so it doesn't really have a basis for keeping them shut down.

So that's one problem people are dealing with. People are also dealing with the problem of getting their claims obviously. Some say they haven't got their money. Others are wondering how BP is deciding exactly how much their claim is worth.

PHILLIPS: Let's take a look at your piece.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): There's one boat left for this oil field cleaning company. One last bit of oil and drilling mud to scrub.

VELMA MOCK, COASTAL ENVIRONMENTAL OPERATIONS: Once this job is finished, this boat will no longer have a job because of the moratorium.

LAWRENCE: That's how the dominos fall. The president shuts down deepwater drilling which dried out the boats that supply the rigs.

MOCK: We went (INAUDIBLE) this boat again because we won't have a job to go offshore, to bring mud back to us to clean.

LAWRENCE: Velma Mock says that the president's six-month moratorium could kill here company on it's 20th anniversary.

MOCK: July, August, if the drilling is not back into effect, these deep water rigs aren't working, we're not working. Next week, we won't be working.

LAWRENCE (on camera): That's hard to argue against.

AARON VILES, GULF RESTORATION NETWORK: It absolutely is.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): But environmentalist Aaron Viles is going to try.

VILES: How can you look at the this ecological nightmare that's happening right now and say let's keep going. We have got to get answers.

LAWRENCE: President Obama has ordered a commission to expect the deep water rigs and decide when it's safe to start drilling again.

VILES: There shouldn't be a gun to the head of the commission saying, "look, every week your take means 25,000 more jobs or something like that."

LAWRENCE: He says in addition to BP's new $20 billion cleanup fund another $100 million has been set aside to pay oil rig workers sidelined by the moratorium.

VILES: That I think removes the pressure on the commission to do their work quickly and instead do it well.

LAWRENCE (on camera): Your gut feeling, the oil company stick around and wait out the moratorium?

MOCK: Some will. The ones that can go overseas are going to go overseas. The rig that go overseas, you're looking at two to five years. These rigs will not be back here. So this is not going to affect us for six months. This is going to affect us for a few years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: So basically you got a group of companies that are suing the secretary of the interior and really by extension, the Obama administration for imposing what they call this arbitrary moratorium on deepwater drilling. The hearing is going to get started now in about 25 minutes. So we'll keep an eye on that.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll follow up. Chris Lawrence, thanks so much.

Well, a wildlife in Arizona has forced evacuations and the closing of a major highway, north of Flagstaff this morning. That fire has burned more than 5,000 acres. Hundreds of people have been evacuated in that area. We'll see if firefighters have any chance of containing this today.

On the phone with me now, KPHO reporter Elizabeth Irwin in Flagstaff, Elizabeth, what are firefighters telling you about any chance of containment at this point?

All right, I apologize. Will try to get connected to Elizabeth Irwin there at KPHO. We'll try to get her back on the phone. She is covering that wildfire, 5,000 acres, we are told not. Not able to get any word on containment at this point. We will try and check in with our reporter there, on the scene, at Flagstaff, coming up.

Meanwhile, let's see how the weather is affecting that fire, shall we? CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf following that part for us. He's in the severe weather center. Reynolds, what can you tell us?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Kyra, what I can tell you that it is actually something that you are used to, you being a lady from southern California. You know what the wildfire season is like and what the climate can be like. It's conducive for wildfires.

Southern California, very similar to parts of the four corners. Let me zoom in a little bit more near Flagstaff. Well, we can expect very low humidity and breezy conditions as we make our way later today. The wind anywhere from 15 to 20 miles per hour, wind gusts, approaching 30. These conditions may last, not just through the day, not just into tomorrow but possibly into parts of Wednesday also.

So it looks like things won't improve for quite some time. So Kyra, bottom line, they got their work cut out for them. We may have our work cut out for us in terms of the rough condition, in terms of the heat. Very quickly, highs approaching 100 degrees in Dallas. Along parts of the gulf coast exactly where you are, Kyra. Every one is trying to clean up the oil and contain it. Highs in the 90s with a high humidity. It's going to feel like it's up to 100 and beyond. That's the latest, more on your forecast coming up soon.

PHILLIPS: OK. Reynolds, appreciate it.

And I understand we have Elizabeth Irwin on the line with us now. She's a reporter for KPHO. Elizabeth, can you hear me OK? Elizabeth Irwin, can you hear me OK? I apologize. We will still once again try to connect with our - do we have her? OK. Apologize for that. We will try to get our technical situation cleared up there and bring you more from that fire there, near Flagstaff. Quick break. More from CNN here in New Orleans in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: With the oil spill about to invade its waters, one gulf coast county is not waiting on the feds to save it. The county came up with its own plan to use a boom, an underwater curtain and some barges to keep the oil from getting into the bay.

CNN's David Mattingly has the story from Oskaloosa Island, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there's a fundamental flaw in the federal response. I mean, you know, to some degree it's there and it has its usefulness on a higher level but when you are down in the trenches trying to respond like we are, it doesn't work.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This no-wait strategy that you're talking about almost got you in trouble with the feds, didn't it?

Yes, very much so.

MATTINGLY: Were you prepared to go to jail? Would it have come to that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wasn't and I didn't want him to and neither did the commissioners.

MATTINGLY: But you talked about it?

COMM. WAYNE HARRIS, OKALOOSA COUNTY, FLORIDA: Sure, we talked about it. We knew that that was the possibility. In fact, the Coast Guard told us, commissioners if you that there is a potential for you going to jail, but we said, well, so be it. But we got to protect our waterways and our people.

MATTINGLY: You know what you've done, don't you? You have gone out and set an example for every city on the panhandle. Do you think they're going to take matters in their own hands now, the way you have?

HARRIS: Well, I certainly hope they do. That's what you're paid for, that's what your responsibilities are when you are a leader of a particular county or city or whatever the agency is.

MATTINGLY: So the lesson we learned from this, don't wait on the federal response?

HARRIS: You can't. It wasn't that we were giving them an ultimatum. In fact, we were but the bottom line was this. If they were not going to act, we were going to act whether we had their permission or not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: But, you know, I do have a guest with me that's no stranger to breaking the rules, General Russell Honore talking about other small towns that are taking it upon themselves now to protect themselves. I mean, they have to? They have no other choice, right? Tell me in this situation why you are not against what folks in Okaloosa, Florida are doing in other parts of the region?

GEN. RUSSELL HONORE (RET.), CNN CONTRIBUTOR: From my experience, the first thing you go to do in a disaster is figure out what rules you're going to break. Because the rules are based for normal peacetime, and they're based with all of the government agencies telling you what you can and can't do. The problem here is the oil. And we got to stop the oil from attacking the gulf shore.

As they did in Florida, here in a Mobile Bait, a little place called Magnolia Springs, Magnolia River area, and the (INAUDIBLE) river, the community, the volunteer fire department put together a plan where they would use barges and a curtain. I have been reading this with much interest. I'm looking forward to going to see it in the next couple days.

And it took their own initiative and they forced this thing through the state who wouldn't initially listen to them. They got the approval of everybody, and BP gave them a $200,000 grant to put that barge in so it can protect this fragile estuary. That's people (INAUDIBLE). That's the American spirit to defend your homeland, to defend what your way of life. And that's what they're doing, just like we got it from the revolutionary war on.

PHILLIPS: OK. And I hear you. I see what you're saying get it. I would want to take matters into my own hands too, and do whatever I needed to do to save my people, my region. But when you look logistically at what's taking place on a higher level, OK, with the government and with BP. If all these areas start taking the responsibility upon themselves to start doing something, does that affect the overall mission with what BP and the government is trying to do?

HONORE: Absolutely not. You know, one of the biggest responders we had after Katrina were volunteers. Volunteers came in and evacuated more people up front than anybody else. And that's the way it is in every disaster. In this disaster, the people that lived there and they know the coast line better. The challenge is you got about 32,000 square miles here to deal with. So you take an area like this. The local fishermen know this area better.

The problem we got to have is how do we get the Coast Guard, BP and get the assets out to find the oil and suck that oil before it gets to the coast line. Right now, the government's got about a three-mile - over here in Louisiana, about a three-mile off the coast is their area of responsibility but three miles out to where the oil rig is and then you got all these area, 32,000 square miles, Kyra.

We got to get more assets in there to find the oil and skim it before it gets inside the state boundary and then when it gets there, we got to empower the governors to be able to resource these mayors. They worry about their community and the local people so they can protect it.

PHILLIPS: We got the on-going effort that the government and BP has put together. You got all these local communities taking things upon themselves, and now you're saying when you talk about bringing in more assets, are you saying we need more from DOD? We need NORTHCOM to pull the trigger and (INAUDIBLE).

Can you be specific? Can you give me an example?

HONORE: What we need is NORTHCOM working for Admiral Allen to handle the assets, P-3s, (INAUDIBLE) search vessels as well as small Army boats, Marine landing crafts to get out here and give the C-2 here so Admiral Allen can see the oil, find the oil and skim it before it gets to the shoreline.

We need to get only DOD, has that command and control to operate over this expanse of water, to be able to track that oil and find it so you can immediately pull a BP skimmer in to deal with it.

On the coast line, we got the organization to dot his already. We got a FEMA region four, setting up here in Atlanta, moving to the coast, put them in every county. Because this is going to be (INAUDIBLE) event, Kyra. Hurricane season is coming.

PHILLIPS: So, final question, has the request - because we know that NORTHCOM cannot be activated unless the local leaders say we need help, we need military assets. Have those request been made? Is something in the process -

HONORE: It hasn't publicly been published yet but I assume the conversation is happening. On the assets from NORTHCOM, will include Army north over here in San Antonio of the First Air Force and naval command (INAUDIBLE) have the capability to reinforce it. Jacksonville, P-3s, submarine hunters, east and west coast of Florida.

PHILLIPS: Just want to point out P-3s are the aircraft that do a great job at reconnaissance. You're hoping they can spot plumes, et cetera?

HONORE: They're the best in the world. They know how to hunt for submarines.

PHILLIPS: And we should point out. That's how you were dispatched here to the New Orleans area during Katrina because the calls were finally made by the local authorities to the military. We need help. You were under north com at that time and that's when we saw National Guard coming through with those Humvees and you know, layers of water.

HONORE: The way out of that is for the governors to request it, call it a national disaster, invoke the Stafford Act, FEMA come in, and each one of these governors send their requests to FEMA. Right now, their requests are going to Coast Guard and then to BP. Then, BP decides what they're going to pay for. We will not fight and win this war, having to go through BP. Thos approvals need to go the federal government and be approved and you need to have a sector commander for each state that has the command and total authority to say yes.

PHILLIPS: We will follow it and see if, indeed, that yes is implemented. Good to see you. Always a pleasure.

PHILLIPS: Well, you've seen the devastation and you've heard the complaints. Now, it's your chance to help. Join us tonight for an all-star telethon to help the people right here in the gulf. It's a special two-hour "LARRY KING LIVE" event. It begins at 8:00 Eastern, tonight, right here on CNN.

And crews picking up tar balls from gulf coast beaches have a pretty tough enough job but it is made nearly unbearable by the brutal heat and high humidity. We're going to tell you about the safety precautions that they're taking. Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And today is the first official day of summer, but the temperatures have been in the 90s for days here in New Orleans. It's a hot spell that's come at a very bad time for workers trying to clean up the oil mess. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf live in the weather center with more on our gulf coast forecast and how the heat is impacting workers, journalists, every body out here in the region. It's pretty brutal, Reynolds.

WOLF: No question about it. I wish I had better news for you but unfortunately, we got this big area of high pressure that is setting up over the gulf coast, and as it is just sitting there, what you can expect will be just excruciating conditions.

High temperatures going to the 90s across much of the gulf coast but when you factor in the humidity, it's going to feel much, much warmer. You know, a short while ago, I had an opportunity to head out to the gulf coast, one of four trips I've made out there, and the combination of the heat and the humidity and the tall order of just trying to remove the tar from the beach, it can be a very, very hot and very, very difficult job. No question about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF (voice-over): Sun, surf, a hot, sunny day. Another beautiful day at the beach, unless, of course, you're one of these guys.

(On camera): In this part of the Alabama coast, you can see things are pretty busy this morning. A lot of bags as far as the eye can see. These bags filled up with sand, filled up with oil and then stacked up in big piles like this. Tall task. But then when you bring in the high heat and the high humidity, it makes a difficult job even tougher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have 50 percent humidity, 107 degrees air temperature, 141 degrees in the heat index.

WOLF (voice-over): The thousands of men and women charged with cleaning the nearby coast line are fighting another battle, keeping cool while still being productive.

BRIAN SIBLEY, JOINT INFORMATION CENTER SPOKESMAN: The workers are, you know, they're wearing long pants, hard soled shoes. The heat does affect them much more different than it does the beach goers.

WOLF: Brian Sibley, a spokesman for the Joint Information Center, says that the heat is just another danger to the workers that they have to take into consideration. Tents, fans and lots and lots of water make up the first line of defense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to drink one bottle of water every break.

The way we're supporting them by keeping them safe from the heat is they work in very short shifts, usually 15 to 20 minutes, and then they get out of the sun and they get rehydrated, rested and ready to go back out. Safety is the absolute first priority on all of these crews.

WOLF: With no end to the cleanup in sight, workers can expect a long, hot summer ahead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF: And stepping on that white sand is almost like stepping on the eye of a stove. It can be just brutal. Unfortunately, we don't really see any inch of the heat until possibly towards the end of the week and then the biggest relief will be some stray showers that might pop up. So, Kyra, it looks like it's going to be the brutal start to a very long summer.

PHILLIPS: Yes, we will be covering it, no doubt, all the way through. Reynolds, thanks.

So how do you know that your gulf seafood is safe ? Leave that to the professional sniffers. Trained workers are actually using their noses to keep tainted seafood off your table.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips here in New Orleans on the first day of summer. Cue the train. Now, you know we're in New Orleans when you hear that. I've actually been talking with the people who live and work here about their lives, how it changed so much for them, changed radically in the 63 days since the gulf coast oil disaster began. I'm also going to tell you how you can help make a difference in just a bit. We got a very special telethon that will be airing tonight 8:00 to 10:00 eastern time. We'll go more into detail in just a second. But first this just in, the Supreme Court upholding a law banning material support of terror groups. The 6-3 ruling coming down just moments ago. CNN producer Bill Mears is on the phone with us from Washington, D.C..

A victory for the administration, correct, Bill?

VOICE OF BILL MEARS, CNN SUPREME COURT PRODUCER: The issue is the Patriot Act from 2001. The law allows the prosecution of those with knowledge to provide money, financial support, training and expert advice to foreign terrorists groups.

And the issue is whether humanitarian groups, civil rights groups that want to promote peaceful purposes with some of these groups whether they should be included in this law that bans so-called material support of terrorist groups.

PHILLIPS: So, moving forward from this point, what can we expect to see as this goes into action, Bill?

MEARS: Well, it's going to make it much easier for federal prosecutors to pursue terrorism cases against suspected individuals and groups. Almost every domestic terror prosecution in this country since the 9/11 attacks has included this charge as part of the indictment. It's an easy way to go after a lot of these terror groups, to accuse them of and prosecute them for supporting larger terror groups like al Qaeda, so it will make it much easier in the future for the government.

PHILLIPS: Which is definitely good news. Bill Mears from the Supreme Court. Appreciate it, bill.

Some people needing help right now along the Gulf are oil drilling workers. Attorneys right now in court this hour to try to save their livelihoods. They're suing to get a six-month government ban on deepwater drilling overturned. Because of that ban, some companies are planning to relocate, and workers are being laid off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So how has it affected your parish already? I understand companies are already losing business or moving their businesses and people are being laid off?

CHARLOTTE RANDOLPH, PRESIDENT, LAFOURCHE PARISH, LA: That's correct. Some of the rigs have used the force ma jure (ph) clause in their contract and they're shopping their rigs elsewhere in the world. It's past near a helicopter facility just this afternoon, and it's normally full of vehicles from all states, most of the states in the union. And it was virtually empty today. So, already this moratorium impacted us economically.

It's a very, very grave concern for us. It's difficult for America to understand that while we're fighting the oil that's approaching our shores and disturbing our wetlands, we're asking that this industry be allowed to continue. It is something we attempted to educate America now for the past 20 years, and right now is the only attention we're getting because the oil is coming up to the shore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Charlotte Randolph accompanied President Obama when he visited a tar balled beach last month, And she says she asked the president to reconsider the drilling ban because it would devastate the area. Randolph says the president told her a time-out was necessary.

All right. Let's talk about that other economic driver down here. Seafood. We had some last night. Tasted great. The big reason for that? The seafood sniffers. Yes. When it comes to making sure seafood is safe to eat, no gadget beats the trained human nose. Check out this story from Karen Holden of WVUE TV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN HOLDEN, WVUE-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the oil plume grows in the Gulf of Mexico from the massive BP spill, so does the threat of tainted seafood. The first line of defense, more than one-third of federal waters in the Gulf now closed to fishing. The second line of defense is taking shape at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries lab in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You really do (INAUDIBLE) burning smell almost to it.

HOLDEN: Training involving a sophisticated tool that's been used for centuries, the human nose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each person is like an analytical machine. Our nose, our sensory abilities.

HOLDEN: NOAA and the FDA has teamed up with the International Food Protection Training Institute to teach inspectors from five Gulf Coast states how to sniff out oil tainted fish, shrimp, oysters and crab.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you can see it, if you lift it all up, you lose the head space. In this instance, we are not looking for decomposition. We are looking for seafood -- petroleum taint. It is very obvious when you encounter that.

HOLDEN: The screeners are taught to go by what they can smell, not by what they can see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your visual, a lot of times that's how we look at things and we analyze based on what we see. And you can't do that in this case.

HOLDEN: What the seafood sniffers find will help determine which fishing areas should be closed because of oil pollution.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a lot of boats out there, we're covering a lot of area. HOLDEN: NOAA is in charge of collecting samples in the Gulf all of the way from the Texas/Mexico border to Key West. The projection is they will gather tens of thousands of samples to be tested over the next year.

Questionable seafood will be sent to labs for chemical analysis. The hope is the nose knows. People who love and depend on Louisiana seafood are counting on it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, Allison Holden is it a co-owner and co-executive chef at Nila (ph) right here in New Orleans -- an amazing restaurant, by the way -- but she also has a background in biology.

So, I just want to ask you, if you don't mind, before we talk about how you are dealing with seafood in your restaurant specifically, these sniff tests, it's interesting. It seems so easy, but there is actually training that's going on. And these NOAA scientists are learning specifically how to check the seafood.

How accurate is it? What do you think of this? Is this something that's happened in the past? Are you familiar with it?

A. HOLDEN: Well, I'm not really familiar, and at first thought about it, it seems relatively unscientific, just a nose to depend on. But scientists disagree all of the time on what things to do. I do think there are certain things we can smell. Petroleum products certainly hit the nose right away. But I'm concerned about the other things in there that we maybe can't smell.

PHILLIPS: Tell me about that. What else are you concerned about?

A. HOLDEN: The dispersants are really what I'm worried about. Of course, I'm concerned about oil and methane gas. But the dispersants that we don't know everything that's in them. Certainly, we do know a couple of things, and we know the effects of them and they are extremely dangerous. My worry is that these dispersants have caused the oil to break up into tiny, tiny particles, and the plankton eat them in the very bottom of the food chain. It's going to carry up the food chain --

PHILLIPS: And I have to point out, NOAA is also taking the samples of the plankton and testing that as well and taking it into the labs.

But continue. So, how are you then picking your seafood? Are you going all local? Are you going a little local? Are you going outside? Tell me how you're operating on a daily basis.

A. HOLDEN: Well, you know, chefs are the drivers behind the local movement. It's our passion to support local fisherman, to support local farmers. I mean, this is what we do --

PHILLIPS: Your husband's (ph) from Grand Isle, right? And he's been fishing out in that area.

A HOLDEN: Well, he fishes quite a bit, went there every summer to fish. He has a record down there in one of their fishing tournaments for a croaker, I believe. He loves to brag about that.

So, he's, of course, devastated, as we all are. I think this has forced us to make some hard, ethical decisions about what we're going to do, and they're not easy. You're choosing between the environment and people's livelihoods. And -- I'm angry I have to make that choice.

PHILLIPS: So, how much are you using local fish and what are you using? And where are you going -- how much is from the outside, and where are you getting that from?

A. HOLDEN: The majority is from the outside. We have Alaskan halibut. We've changed over to Long Island oysters. We do have snapper that's been coming from Florida, but we just started to phase that out and look for other alternatives. We do have tuna coming from Panama, but also I think, that population is extremely stressed. So, I would rather remove that sooner rather than later and consider the populations of these fish and all of the struggles they are going through.

PHILLIPS: What did you put together?

A. HOLDEN: Oh, today, I actually did a vegetarian dish, and it showcases some of the wonderful things we have here. These are local market tomatoes that are gorgeous and so sweet. They are plums and also an heirloom variety of zebra. I have some cornbread croutons and a little shaved parmesan cheese that we tossed with some fresh herbs. So, also have some purple hulled peas that are local. So, we have beautiful local produce. And right now, I'm really trying to showcase that.

PHILLIPS: You know, you make a good point. There is more than just the seafood, and I'm sure those saying growing the tomatoes, please pump that. We can at least sell and make some money here in the community.

So, final question as we move on. Business. Are people coming in and saying, Allison, can you make me seafood? Is the price going up? What's the long-term effect?

HOLDEN: Right. They're certainly -- most of our customers are concerned and they're asking us where it's from, and I know they of concerned. We are arming ourselves with as much information as we can give them. As far as long-term business, I don't' know. This is a big question mark of what's going on to a while and we only beginning to see the effects of this. We have to brace ourselves and be strong.

PHILLIPS: And you are that, indeed. Allison Rushing, thank you so much. The restaurant is Mila. When you are here in New Orleans, definitely head tout to get some of Allison's fantastic cooking. Thanks again. Great to see you. Well, we're going to take a look the effect on our wildlife here, as well. Not the kind you eat, but the kind you count on seeing every time you come down here. The ones that remind you that you're in a very special place.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Chile versus Switzerland playing right now at the World Cup, but people are still talking about the drama from over the weekend with the French team.

Isha Sesay is covering the World Cup for us. She joins us now live from Capetown. Isha, bring us up to date.

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. Well, it is a torrid time for the France camp right now. (INAUDIBLE) in absolute disarray. All of this started when they expelled one of their key players after a foul-mouthed rant at the (INAUDIBLE) half time at one of their matches. The rest of the team refusing to train on Sunday in response, and following up on all of that, the managing director of the French Football Federation walking out in disgust.

Things getting so bad, Kyra, that the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, stepping in to try to defuse this crisis , asking his French sports minister to extend her trip here in South Africa for a couple of days to meet with the French team captain and the coach.

You have to put it in some kind of context. This is the team that won the World Cup back in 1998, and here they are, and their chances of progressing to the next round in this tournament now, Kyra, hanging by a thread.

Let's move on and tell you about the other big story of this day, Monday. That would be the thrashing that Portugal gave to North Korea a couple of hours ago. 7-nil is the final score. The captain of the team, Christiano Reynaldo, his two-year wait for an international goal is now over. He managed to made it on the score sheet. And now, Kyra, it is looking as if Portugal will indeed emerge from the group in second place going into the round of 16. An exciting match to watch.

North Korea, nobody expected too much from them. This is only the second time they've appeared in the tournament. The last time they were here, Kyra, 1966. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Isha Sesay. Live from Capetown, thanks.

Well, finally, a bit of good news from the Gulf. Pelicans once covered in oil now clean and ready to fly again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: This is the time of the newscast when we lift up a service member who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and or Afghanistan. We call it "Home and Away," and it's a special honor we're working on with CNN.com. Today, we want to tell you about captain Ian Weikel. He died in a roadside bomb attack Baghdad in 2006, but his brother's memories of him go back a lifetime.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CHAD WEIKEL, BROTHER OF SOLDIER KILLED IN IRAQ: Growing up, he was an overachiever, just kind of did everything. Sports, student government. He really kind of came into his own in high school.

He had graduated at West Point. He was a company commander, again, his second deployment was in Iraq. He'd served in Bosnia before that. He was a husband. He was a father. His son was born in August of 2005. And he got to hang out with Johnathan for a few months until he deployed in December of '05.

He was kind of a soldier's soldier, is what his guys told me. The quote that I always remember is one of his guys came up to me and said they would have followed him into hell and to kick the devil in the nut if he said so. That's the kind of guy he was.

He really served his men and served his country, but at the same time, he had a smile on his face and really boosted the morale of the guys.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PHILLIPS; We want to hear more of these memories, but we need your help to keep it going. Head to CNN.com/homeandaway. You will see a map of the U.S. Just click on a hometown and pull up a service member's profile. Send us your thought us and pictures, and we'll keep the memory of your hero alive.

More from the CNN NEWSROOM, special edition, here in New Orleans, Louisiana, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. We've got a quick success story here. About 40 rescued Louisiana pelicans are now oil-free and starting over in Texas. Hopefully they're gulping down fish somewhere right now. Rescuers let them loose yesterday in a wildlife refuge in Corpus Christi. And they couldn't get out of the those crates fast enough.

We have just gotten new information about the number of animals killed or injured as the oil spreads. The statistics as heartbreaking as the images. 693 birds have been collected alive, 114 turtles and four mammals. The number of dead even steeper. As of last night, the count was 934 dead birds, 380 turtles, and 46 mammals.

Jeremy Simons is with the National Wildlife Federation, and part of our telethon tonight. He's joining me from D.C.

Jeremy, a lot of people asking, you know, why should I donate when BP is to blame? How do you respond to that? JEREMY SIMONS, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: Well, this is, as you just mentioned, this is a wildlife crisis, and we can't stand around letting BP and the government try to do all of this on their own. National Wildlife Federation has been working for years in the Gulf with our partners, trying to restore the dwindling wetlands so important to those birds and the other marine life in the Gulf.

We're going to be there afterwards, long after BP is gone. We don't take any money from BP. We're going to need to be able to continue to work. We also have to help get the volunteers that really want to participate, help them contribute to this. And we're expanding the search operations for wildlife and basically trying to cover the 10,000 miles of coastline. When you go to the wetlands and the ins and outs, it's too much for BP or the government to handle, and we need to help them.

PHILLIPS: You know, Jeremy, you mention you are not accepting any money from BP to support your response to this catastrophe. A lot of people might say, why? The more money, the merrier.

SIMONS: Well, BP needs to be fully responsible, and BP needs to be legally responsible, first and foremost, with all of the families that have been affected by the tragedy and with the wildlife operations. And we will work with that as well.

But right now, the National Wildlife Federation is an independent and trusted voice for wildlife, and we can't be compromised by what we're seeing happen down in the Gulf where, really, there is a lot of control efforts in terms of keeping from view some of the things that are happening to wildlife and other pieces.

So, we are going to maintain our independent voice. We will fight to make sure that BP contributes its share to wildlife, but that won't go to us. That will go to other needy places.

PHILLIPS: Jeremy, tell me what you guys are doing right now in the Gulf, because you are one of the charities that as we take on this telethon tonight from 8:00 to 10:00 Eastern time, you are one of the charities that these donations will be going to. Tell folks right now what you're doing actively and where this money will go that they donate to your organization tonight.

SIMONS: We're putting in a special oil spill Gulf restoration fund. And that money is going to couple of purposes, one of which is the long-term restoration efforts that we will need to continue. These wetlands were already under threat, and now they're undergoing this great tragedy that is putting intense pressure and killing wildlife both onshore and out at sea. We're going to have to be there to restore wildlife for years to come.

But right now, we are also helping -- we have over 2,000 volunteers that have signed up to help expand the search operations over this vast area. That help is badly needed. You talk about the vast numbers of birds and sea turtles that are in restoration right now. There's a lot more out there that's happening, and we need to get to them. That takes manpower, it takes training, it takes other pieces. So, we're also trying to organize that.

PHILLIPS: Jeremy Simon with the National Wildlife Federation. Really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for being a part of our telethon tonight.

And today is the day you can be a part of this story. A very good part. You can join us tonight for the all-star telethon to help those in the Gulf.

And Brooke Baldwin is with us now to kind of break down - it's not just the National Wildlife Federation but also The Nature Conservancy and also United Way that this money will go to. Let's go ahead and talk about our all-star cast and how everybody can pitch in and help, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You got it. I mean, Kyra, this is so exciting. This is why you're down there, and I know it's your favorite city in the country, New Orleans. Because we're all, basically here at CNN -- no other network is doing this. No other network is committed as we are to putting on the two-hour telethon that's starting tonight. Kyra mentioned it, but I just want to show you basically every resource for how you can help is right here at CNN.com/impact.

She mentioned the three charities who we have very carefully chosen where your money would be going. And that is being, of course, you know, the United Way. She was just talking to Jeremy with the National Wildlife Federation, and the third charity we've chosen is The Nature Conservancy.

And of course, one of the big questions is, once you give, where will your money go? I will be talking to the Louisiana State Director for this particular organization this hour, and I'll ask him that question.

Next part of this awesome Web site is, of course, volunteering. Look, if you have the time and you can actually head down to the Gulf, they're accepting anyone who is ready, willing and able and can handle the heat. For example, you can click on Audubon Society, you can help some of the birds. We have a number of different tabs here on the Web site.

Again, that's CNN.com/impact. Kyra, back down to you.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it, Brooke. Thank you very much.

That's right, 8:00 to 10:00 Eastern time right here in New Orleans.

That wraps it up for us here on the Gulf. Tony Harris picking it up from here. I know we're going to will talk a little bit more about the telethon tonight.