Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Biden Leaves Today For High-Stakes NATO Summit; Cluster Munitions Part Of New Ukraine Aid Package; Ukraine Seeking A Path To NATO Membership; Yellen: Confident Of "More Frequent And Regular Communication" With China; Trump Holds Rally In Battleground State Of Nevada; DeSantis Struggles To Gain Traction As Trump Leads Polls; White House Confirms Prisoner Swap Talks With Russia Over Reporter Evan Gershkovich; Environmental Groups Sue FAA for SpaceX Launch That Exploded In April; Congress Returns With Extensive To-Do List; Forever Chemicals In Nearly Half Of U.S. Tap Water; Cows Playing Part In Emissions Solution; Extreme Heat In Part Of U.S. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired July 09, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: So it's nearly 400 feet tall, more than 500 feet wide. It has 1.2 million LED screens outside, vibrating seats, wind machines for a 4D experience inside. It's billed as the world's largest spherical structure and cost about 2.3 billion hour to build. It seats just under 18,000 people and set to open September 29 with a performance by U2.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: I've seen people talking about that online, Victor. It's really cool.

BLACKWELL: You know, all -- the first thought that came to my mind was, it's pretty. I mean, I guess it's probably once you're in there with the wind and the seats and all that, it's an experience, but OK.

GOLODRYGA: When we win the lottery, we'll go experience it for ourselves.

BLACKWELL: Sure. The next hour of CNN This Morning starts right now.

GOLODRYGA: And good morning, everyone, and welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Sunday, July 9th. I'm Bianna Golodryga in for Amara Walker.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thank you for spending your morning with us. Here's what we're watching for you this morning.

GOLODRYGA: President Biden will head overseas later this morning for the NATO summit. Critical issues on the table and what the White House is hoping to accomplish with this trip.

BLACKWELL: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the world is big enough for both the U.S. and China to thrive. The key takeaways from her Beijing meetings just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What is your concern about what this place is going to look like?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, well, that's the question is, where does it stop, really? Another explosion. Another explosion. Another explosion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: When SpaceX began launching rockets in one corner of Texas, it was a boon for the local economy. But now environmentalists say the long-term impacts will be far-reaching. We'll show you their concerns just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounds crazy, but it's letting Mother Nature do the work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Plus, some scientists believe they may have found a way to make farming environmentally friendly. And now they just have to convince the farmers. That's just ahead on CNN This Morning.

GOLODRYGA: And up first, President Biden leaves soon on a high-stakes trip to Europe and the NATO summit. The meeting takes place against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the future of the NATO alliance.

BLACKWELL: President Biden will play a key role in the critical issues facing NATO. His trip comes just after he signed a new aid package or approved a new aid package for Ukraine. CNN's White House Reporter Priscilla Alvarez joins us now. So fill us in on the President's itinerary and give us a sense of what's at stake for the President and NATO allies at this summit.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, this is a trip that comes at a critical time, and it is one where contentious issues are expected to come up, all against the backdrop of that war in Ukraine and that failed coup attempt in Russia last month.

Now, the war in Ukraine is going to loom over all of these meetings. President Biden heading out this morning to the United Kingdom where he's going to meet with King Charles, the first face to face meeting since his coronation. Later Lithuania for that NATO summit and then he will conclude his trip in Finland.

But again, they'll be talking about Ukraine as he goes especially after a key announcement this past Friday where the U.S. committed to sending cluster munitions in its latest aid package to Ukraine. Now those munitions are controversial. They're ones that over 100 nations have banned and said that they should not be used in modern warfare.

Now the United States and Ukraine are not signatories of that ban but it has already come against some pushback from members of President Biden's own party who say they should not be using these and that it is a serious mistake. The reason why is because these cluster munitions scatter bonnets across large areas and can pose a long-term risk to civilians.

Now Ukrainians have given assurance to U.S. officials that they wouldn't use these in urban areas but all the same. This was a decision that was not taken lightly by the administration. It's one that they have evolved on and one that President Biden ultimately signed off on and noted it was a difficult decision for him to make.

But in addition to the aid package and what that looks like moving forward, the other topic of discussion is going to be whether there is a path to NATO membership for Ukraine. That is something that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has been asking for some time now and it is unlikely, according to the National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, that they would come out of this NATO summit with Ukraine being a member.

But they can talk about it and discuss what that path forward could look like. And, of course, President Biden has said that it is premature for now to Ukraine to join but he's willing to talk about it and talk about that path. That's important because President Biden would be a key player in determining whether there's criterias or timelines for that to happen.

[07:05:03]

So all of this, as you can see, is going to be a stacked agenda. It's going to be high-level meetings over the next few days where President Biden will be facing pressing questions about the war in Ukraine, about democracy and the alliance of NATO.

Victor and Brianna?

BLACKWELL: Priscilla Alvarez for us there. Thanks so much.

Let's get some perspective now on the President's trip to the NATO summit. And Josh Rogan is a columnist for The Washington Post, author of "Chaos Under Heaven: America, China and the Battle for the 21st Century". There's some news on that front. If we have some time, we'll talk about that. But let's start with the NATO relationship.

Priscilla talked about these cluster munitions that the U.S. has approved, banned by NATO members, the U.K. and France and Italy and Germany and others. Is there any residue of that decision on what we'll watch over the next few days potentially?

JOSH ROGAN, COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON POST: Well, yes. It's no secret, Victor, that some of these European and even NATO countries that President Biden will be interacting with this week were against the U.S. decision to provide cluster munitions to the Ukrainian forces. But I have to tell you, Victor, I've been speaking with Ukrainians about this for many, many months. And what they said is that, hey, we need them and that, you know, we'll clean them up later if we live that long.

Because for the Ukrainians, it's a matter of short-term life and death, not long term life and death. So I think that the administration made this decision very reluctantly, but I do think it was a decision that will end up saving Ukrainian lives more than costing them and hopefully costing Russian lives more than saving them.

But, yes, I think that will be one of the disagreements that they try to brush aside when they all get to Lithuania for this summit, because they want to focus on the good stuff. The good stuff is more weapons to Ukraine, more weapons to the Eastern Front, more unity than less unity. A path to NATO for Ukraine, but not a path that's going to get them there too fast.

And then the inclusion of all these other countries, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan. NATO is expanding worldwide, and that's because of China as you mentioned.

BLACKWELL: On expansion since the war started, Finland and Sweden applied, Finland has ascended. There are objections to Sweden. Is progress on those outstanding objections? Is that likely?

ROGAN: I think progress is happening. I don't think it will be fast enough for Sweden to be able to announce that it's making it into NATO this week. I think the Turks are negotiating a tough -- a very strong hand, and they want some concessions, basically. And one of those concessions is they want the sale of F-16s from the United States, which is being blocked by Congress, that they'll probably get.

Another concession is they want Sweden to handover all the Kurds that they want to prosecute, that they're probably not going to get. So it's going to take a little longer. But meetings like this have a way of sort of speeding things up, but I wouldn't expect any big announcements.

BLACKWELL: You mentioned Ukraine's membership. Getting there, but not too fast. The Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that Ukraine will be a member. The question is when? And domestically, Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted that he will be working with colleagues to urge membership.

He tweeted this, "The best way to prevent future wars and promote peace is to create security guarantees that make aggressor nations think twice before starting wars. There was major pushback to this from members of the Republican conference there in Congress pointing out the Article 5 Collective Defense would mean if they come in before the war is over, then the U.S. is at war with Russia. Is there any appetite beyond Lindsey Graham for admitting Ukraine before the war is over?

ROGAN: Well, sure. I mean, there's appetite in Ukraine.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

ROGAN: First of all, Ukrainians want to join as soon as possible. Also, there are a lot of Europeans on that eastern flank that we were just talking about, the ones that are next to Russia who are advocating for Ukraine to join NATO before the war ends. But yes, no, I think it's true. And I think the Biden administration also believes, not just some Republicans, that if they join now, that we would immediately be in a shooting war with Russia, which I don't think the Biden administration is going to sign up for.

So I think, you know, Republican divisions over Ukraine aside, it's really Joe Biden who is slowing down the pace while saying that he's speeding it up. And that's sort of the sleight of hand that he's going to have to pull off and -- at the summit. He's going to have to present a plan where he says, oh, we're speeding up their membership, but, hey, not so fast --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

ROGAN: -- and not right now. And so that's kind of a rhetorical, you know, game that they're playing. But, you know, Zelenskyy will be there. They'll have something called the NATO Ukraine Council, which is an upgrade from the NATO Ukraine Committee. And so there'll be some sort of symbolic signs that NATO and Ukraine are getting closer to membership.

But the real important thing right now, I think, is not really whether or not they remember it's, whether or not they win the war.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

[07:10:04]

ROGAN: And the announcements about giving them weapons and helping them fight are really more important to saving lives on the ground than any membership at this particular moment, in my opinion.

BLACKWELL: On the expansion of NATO -- and really, those who are observing Asian nations, South Pacific nations, will be there, and I understand they're watching to see the commitment to Ukraine as potentially there could be a need for a commitment to Taiwan if China decides to invade, what will they be looking for?

ROGAN: Right. Well, NATO is engaging with Asian countries, especially Asian allies and partners, really quickly, actually. And it's because, as you said, the threat from China is rising now. You know, they're fighting war in Europe right now. They're helping Ukraine try to save its country and its society. That's the most important thing.

But, you know, we got to walk and chew gum on this thing, Victor, and, you know, you can't ignore the future for the present. And I think a lot of the demand signals coming from the region. So countries like Australia, South Korea, New Zealand and Japan are not looking to build another NATO. Asia is not Europe. There's not going to be an Asian NATO.

But if we get into world war with China, NATO could play some sort of role. So we better start thinking about that.

BLACKWELL: All right, Josh Rogan, always appreciate the insight. Thanks so much.

GOLODRYGA: Well, on the subject of China, tensions between the U.S. and China may be easing a bit after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's high stakes economic talks in Beijing this weekend. Yellen held about 10 hours of meetings with Chinese officials over the past two days and described the talks as direct, substantive, and productive. But she did acknowledge that there are still significant disagreements between the two world powers.

CNN's Will Ripley is live in Taipei, Taiwan, this morning for us. So, Will, what else did the Secretary say about the talks?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, she was very, in terms of tone, optimistic that there would be progress made as a result of the foundation that was built over these very grueling hours of long meetings, but meetings that, you know, seem to go quite well. The Chinese, they appreciate, you know, Secretary Yellen being there. They've worked closely with her for years.

The U.S. and China, especially on the issue of economy, had worked together quite well for a very long period of time. So they're familiar with some of the key players on both sides. They know each other, they've worked together.

And so they were able to come up with this framework that the Secretary says will likely make it much easier and simpler for communication moving forward, and they can get to the heart of tackling some of these complex economic issues.

I mean, China, you know, of course, their economy is really struggling because of sanctions, tariffs and the retaliatory actions that China takes against American companies. Also, you know, hurts both economies. They're hurting each other. But the mutually assured destruction of a, you know, as Josh was saying, a war between the U.S. and China, with the amount of nuclear weapons that both countries have, diplomacy, many experts have said, is the only option here.

And so the fact that this is now a step forward for diplomacy is a very encouraging sign for a lot of people in this region. You know, the U.S. and China, if the world's big enough for them to thrive, hopefully it's big enough for the other 193 countries to thrive and live in peace as well.

GOLODRYGA: All right, well said. Will Ripley, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Tough start for presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis as he trails behind Donald Trump in the polls. Can the Florida governor make a comeback as trump rallies voters against him?

Plus, it was the most powerful rocket ever built. Now some environmental groups are suing the FAA over the launch of the SpaceX starship back in April. We have details on that ahead.

GOLODRYGA: Plus, bracing for more sweltering heat. Parts of the southwest won't get any relief, at least not yet, unfortunately. We'll have the latest forecast for your week ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:18:10]

BLACKWELL: Iowa Republicans have voted to hold the first in the nation caucuses on January 15th, next year.

GOLODRYGA: This is the earliest start of the presidential nominating process since 2012, when caucus goers gathered on January 3rd. Seven or more GOP contests are expected to take place over seven weeks before Super Tuesday on March 5.

Well, former President Donald Trump was on the campaign trail this week, taking on his main GOP rival, Ron DeSantis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: The Republican candidate rallied voters in the battleground state of Nevada yesterday, and he called on supporters to vote for him in massive numbers, promising to enact many conservative policies.

Joining me now to discuss the state of the race is White House Reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Catherine Lucey. Catherine, good to see you. So it's interesting that the former president was highlighting conservative policies. Does this indicate a change in tactics in terms of what we can see on the campaign trail and focusing more on policy issues versus past grievances?

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: I think it's still a mix, honestly. I mean, certainly he is talking about things like tax cuts, things that voters want to hear. But the former president has also in Nevada, in Iowa this week been repeating his, you know, false claims that the 2020 election was rigged. And he spends a lot of time in all of his appearances targeting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is, you know, pulling in second place in that race.

He has a lot of criticism for him, talks about how he helped get him elected, you know, says he will be bad for, you know, Iowa. He was saying he would be bad for farmers, bad for ethanol, talks about him being overrated. So he still definitely laying into some of those key grievances.

[07:20:04]

GOLODRYGA: Yes. His Vice President Mike Pence, also campaigning in Iowa this weekend. As we noted, the Iowa Republican Caucuses are set for January 15th next year. And Maggie Haberman notes that's the same date that the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial is set to begin, that is the first of what is likely to be several trials that the former president will be facing next year.

We know that the hush money trial will begin in New York next March. Do you see any signs that these scandals and these cases are having impact on Republican primary voters?

LUCEY: I mean, certainly. I mean, you look at the polling as well, obviously. It certainly doesn't look like it. You know, if anything, you know, that Trump's polling has solidified, has strengthened in recent weeks, he's very clearly the leader of the Republican race right now.

I mean, he and his team are even arguing that other Republicans should get out of the way and support him because he is the leader in the polls. So it doesn't seem like, for now anyway, that any of this is making much of a dent.

LUCEY: Yes, and we saw Ron DeSantis in that one poll at 22 percent, and yet he's still not able to gain more traction than I believe many had expected that he would at this point in the race. Obviously, a lot of build up even prior to him making it official. What are you hearing in terms of whether there's still an opportunity for him to turn things around and perhaps shift on some of the issues that he's campaigning on?

Well, certainly, yes, what, six weeks in to officially launching his campaign and DeSantis really has -- I mean, it seems like he has stalled a bit. His support is pretty flat, you know, despite the fact that he's increased his travel and his advertising. So there is -- it is not -- right now he is stuck a little bit.

But certainly, you know, people around him, people who support him will say that, you know, we are still in July. You know, there's a lot of time between now and the first caucusing and voting starting and he has time to -- he's still doing a lot of retail, he's still meeting voters. We haven't seen debates yet, so this is still early days in the race.

But one thing also complicating this for him and, you know, obviously, for other candidates as well is just how many candidates are in the field right now makes --

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

LUCEY: some of the support gets divided up, makes it a little harder, consolidate as the alternative to Trump for him.

GOLODRYGA: And the fundraising still continues for DeSantis. But there are questions as to why he doesn't do what the former president is doing quite happily, and that is attacking him directly. What do you think the calculation is on DeSantis's part for not going there when it comes to responding, at least to these attacks coming in from Donald Trump?

LUCEY: Well, if you take a step back here and think about what DeSantis is trying to do, he is trying to appeal to voters who supported Trump in '16, in 2020, as well as to people who maybe have tired of Trump. And so he is trying to make both appeals and he has to be careful about responding to some of the attacks because he does not want to upset or turn off any of those Trump voters who still, you know, potentially, you know, in the -- you know, over the next coming months could come his way or consider coming his way.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, unlike Chris Christie who's directly going at the former president --

LUCEY: Which is a different strategy, obviously. Chris Christie --

GOLODRYGA: Technical, (ph) right.

LUCEY: Yes, absolutely.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. I'd be remiss not to talk about the pin that you were wearing and obviously a subject that we continue to follow very closely, and that is the Wall Street Journal Journalist Evan Gershkovich detained unlawfully in Russia.

It appears, despite some, perhaps, optimism from the Kremlin last week, that there was still conversation about possible trades and prisoner swaps, that this part of the negotiation has stalled, at least from the U.S. perspective. What more can you tell us?

LUCEY: Well, yes, you know, Jake Sullivan, the National Security Adviser, was in the briefing room last week and was asked about this, and he confirmed what the Kremlin had said that there had been conversations or had been some talks about prisoner swaps, but was very careful to say that he didn't want to give false hope about the pathway forward, that this is still a work in progress.

You know, the White House, though, has been very vocal about the fact that they are working on this, that they are determined to bring Evan home. The Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, also said that her message for Evan and for other Americans detained in Russia like Paul Whelan, that they needed to keep the faith that they were working on it.

[07:25:02]

And again, obviously, Evan was detained on a reporting trip held on an allegation of espionage. The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. government are very clear that they denied this. The administration says he is not a spy, has never worked with the government, and they continue to work to try and bring him home.

GOLODRYGA: We just passed the grim 100-day mark of his unlawful detention. We will continue to follow Evan's story, and we want him home with his family as much as you and your colleagues do.

Catherine Lucey, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Still ahead, environmental groups are suing the Federal Aviation Administration for a SpaceX launch that exploded back in April. We'll take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]

GOLODRYGA: And now, an environmental group is taking action. They are suing the Federal Aviation Administration and claiming that they did not do enough to mitigate or review potential damage from the launch. On a recent visit to the Town of Brownsville, CNN's Ed Lavandera got a firsthand look at how much of an impact SpaceX is having on this community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: It looks like the surface of the moon.

JUSTIN LECLAIRE, CONSERVATION BIOLOGIST, COASTAL BEND BAYS AND ESTUARIES PROGRAM: Yes, it looks other-worldly.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): Take a walk through the sand dunes surrounding the SpaceX launchpad tower in South Texas and the remnants of April's launch of the most powerful rocket ever built are still everywhere.

LAVANDERA: These pieces right here were part of the launchpad.

LECLAIRE: Yes.

LAVANDERA: Wow.

LECLAIRE: And this is only a quarter of a mile, maybe. Debris that size went three-quarters of a mile at least.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): After the launch, Justin LeClaire documented the aftermath. He is a biologist with the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, a group that's tracking the environmental impact of SpaceX launches on the Boca Chica Peninsula. The area is now often referred to as Elon Musk's Starbase.

LECLAIRE: It is in the mid of a wildlife refuge in state park lands. And, you know, this area isn't really meant to be disturbed. That's kind of the point of the -- of protecting these areas, it's to protect them for the wildlife and public enjoyment as well.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): In April, thousands of people descended on South Texas to witness the thunderous launch of the SpaceX Starship rocket and heavy booster. The rocket's 33 engines disintegrated much of the concrete launchpad, and then a few minutes later the rocket blew up before reaching space.

LECLAIRE: Literally like a meteor.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): Debris from the launch left craters in the sand flats, smaller pieces peppered the landscape like a shotgun blast at close range. Tangled rebar was thrown nearly a mile away. Vegetation near the site was scorched. The area is a critical nesting ground for threatened and endangered wildlife.

LAVANDERA: What is your concern about what this place is going to look like?

LECLAIRE: Yes. Well, that's the question is, where does it stop, really? Another explosion, another explosion, another explosion, eventually, like, this is not a wildlife refuge anymore. It's not place for the public to go and, like, see natural beauty. It's for space testing and space travel and that's it.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): The April launch has resurfaced the tension between Elon Musk's SpaceX and critics here in South Texas. This graffiti appeared just a weak later. Several environmental groups are suing the Federal Aviation Administration to take stricter oversight of the private space company's launch plans. SpaceX did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

LAVANDERA: It's not clear when SpaceX will launch again. Elon Musk says, he'd like to try by the end of July or early August, but the Federal Aviation Administration tells CNN that it will not speculate on a timeline to approve future flights. The FAA says that SpaceX has yet to complete its final mishap investigation and that the company still needs to identify and implement corrective actions to ensure public safety.

BARTON BICKERTON, OWNER, HOPPER HAUS: A lot of it is space themed.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): Barton Bickerton opened Hopper Haus Bar & Grill almost two years ago. It's become a popular spot for SpaceX employees, locals and space tourists. Business has been booming.

BICKERTON: We had a lot of regulars who would come in every day and really supportive of it. And now are kind of, you know, again they were just kind of shocked by it.

LAVANDERA: So, like, more nervous about what the impact and all that might be?

BICKERTON: Yes, yes.

LAVANDERA: There's no turning back now from this now, right?

BICKERTON: There's no way that they're not going to keep launching from here. These guys will figure it out. You know, they'll figure out what they need to do.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): The SpaceX boom has also triggered a real estate boom.

LAVANDERA: This is old Brownsville?

JOSETTE HINOJOSA, BROWNSVILLE RESIDENT: This is old Brownsville. And you --

LAVANDERA: And you grew up a few blocks?

HINOJOSA: I grew up two blocks down that way on levy. So, yes, I -- it's home.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): Josette Hinojosa isn't sure how much longer she can afford to live here. She says her rent jumped from $650 a month to $1,000 in just two years. Hinojosa says many families are selling their homes because they can't afford the taxes anymore.

HINOJOSA: That is my fear for my neighbors that they will be shut out. They will be pushed out of the neighborhood and the place that we know as home.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): Brownsville is in one of the poorest counties in the state, but the median home price has more than doubled since SpaceX broke ground here in 2014. Far outpacing the statewide price increase.

HINOJOSA: It's like this polarizing issue within our city because you have people who work for them and then you've got people like me who are, like, you guys aren't looking at the bigger picture.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): SpaceX has the full throttle support of local political leaders who see SpaceX as a major economic driver that will fundamentally change the future of the Rio Grande Valley.

[07:35:00]

The company is expanding its footprint on the South Texas Coast and Elon Musk has committed millions to the community.

JUDGE EDDIE TREVINO, JR. CAMERON COUNTY: We're inventing the wheel with the largest potential spaceship that's ever been launched or developed.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino says, it's like the early days of NASA when the space agency developed Cape Canaveral, Florida.

TREVINO, JR.: I guarantee you, any other community in the country would love to have SpaceX launching in their backyard because of what it would means from an economic development standpoint, from an educational standpoint, from a tourism standpoint.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): Ed Lavandera, CNN, Brownsville, Texas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to Ed for that report.

Still ahead, they are known as forever chemicals. A new study says, there are nearly all of half of U.S. tap water, we'll have more on this ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:00]

BLACKWELL: Welcome back. Here are a few things to watch this week. Congress returns from a brief recess tomorrow, and one of the first things they have to deal with is funding the government. But both the House and Senate remain far apart on a compromise. The government is expected to run out of money on September 30th.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York will release its monthly read on consumers' expectations about the economy and their financial well- being. Last month, inflation expectations fell to their lowest levels in two years.

The NATO summit kicks off Tuesday in Lithuania. It will be a critical meeting of the NATO alliance as it continues to grapple with the war in Ukraine. Now, we've got more on what's at stake and Ukraine's path to NATO membership at the top of the hour.

Here in the U.S., forecasters are warning it's going to be hot, dangerously hot, across a lot of the country. In some places, it will feel as hot as 115 degrees. Britley Ritz is standing by with the forecast, that's coming up in a couple of minutes.

Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Well, a new government study has estimated that nearly half of U.S. tap water is contaminated with so-called forever chemicals. Researchers say, these kinds of harmful chemicals linger in the environment and are linked to cancer and other health issues. CNN's Jacquelyn Howard reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACQUELYN HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Forever Chemicals are PFAS chemicals or polyfluoroalkyl or perfluoroalkyl substances. They're called forever chemicals because they break down very slowly. And these chemicals are commonly used in everyday items like nonstick pans or certain food packaging.

But as for this new study, researchers tested tap water samples for PFAS. These samples came from more than 700 sites around the country, including private wells and public sources. The researchers found PFAS chemicals in about 45 percent of drinking water samples. And PFAS were more likely to be detected in urban areas versus rural areas.

Now, these findings aren't meant to scare people, but it's more reason to use activated carbon filters on your tap water at home. Just remember to change it regularly. And we know that PFAS has been linked to certain cancers, metabolic disorders, and there's still ongoing research into more of the public health implications associated with these chemicals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Some useful advice to use filters. Our thanks to Jacqueline Howard for that report.

Well, CNN's Audie Cornish delves into the dark side of social media and the negative impact it can have on the mental wellbeing of children in a new episode of "The Whole Story." Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said Cecilia, can you believe this? These places are actually trying to sue these social media firms and saying it's their fault. I am like, isn't that ridiculous? She says, it's not ridiculous. So, you think it's good that they are going to come after these companies? And she said, absolutely. I think it's about damn time. She flat-out told me that, yes, she was pushed, like, material that taught her how to hide the food. How to get rid of calories on a certain level. How to purge, how to purge quietly in a way that your parents won't know.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Did you not realize all those years when you were doing treatments --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not on that.

CORNISH: Where she was getting that information?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No, and that makes me just plum stupid, I think, you know? Because honestly, Audie, I thought we had things in place through our government that would protect children on this level. I didn't think that was legal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Wow. "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" airs tonight at 8:00 right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: Still ahead, a revolutionary new way to tackle the climate crisis. It involves making cows part of the solution.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:00]

GOLODRYGA: Cows and other livestock are known to be major contributors to climate change.

BLACKWELL: But now some scientists are arguing that cows can actually be a part of the solution. Here is CNN's Bill Weir to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): In the beginning was the buffalo. Tens of millions of them wandering land, munching wild grasses, and using poop and hoofs to create rich, fertile soil up to 15 feet deep.

WEIR: Look at this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WEIR (voiceover): But since Americans replaced buffalo with cows, generation of fertilizers and pesticides, tilling and overgrazing have turned much of that nutrient rich soil into lifeless dirt. But not on the farms where they graze cows just like wild buffalo.

PETER BYCK, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR, FILMMAKER: Well, so Adaptive multi-paddock grazing, AMP grazing is a way that mimics the way bison have moved across the Great Plains. And so, it's really about the animals hit an area really hard and then they leave it for a long time.

WEIR (voiceover): Peter Byck is a professor at Arizona State University. And he believes that if enough beef and dairy operations copy this simple hack, cattle could actually become an ally in the fight against climate change.

BYCK: I anticipate we'll get a lot of push back because people are not thinking that cows can be a part of the solution.

WEIR: Not only are you going against the grain of environmentalists who think meat is evil --

BYCK: Yes.

WEIR: -- for lots of reasons.

BYCK: Yes.

WEIR: You took money from McDonald's for this.

[07:50:00]

BYCK: Yes, I asked for money from McDonald's for this. I wanted to go to big companies because if they don't change, we don't get there.

WEIR (voiceover): For his docuseries, "Roots so Deep, You Can See The Devil Down There", Byck assembled a team of scientists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're really interested in insects that live in poop.

WEIR (voiceover): Experts in bugs and birds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, far boy (ph).

WEIR (voiceover): Cows, soils and carbon. They spent years comparing five sets of neighboring farms in the southeast. On one side, traditional grazers who let cows roam one big field for months at a time and often cut fertilized grass for hay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa. Come on.

WEIR (voiceover): On the other side, AMP grazers who never mull or fertilize.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You open the gate, they go through. It takes five minutes or a couple, roll up a wire.

WEIR (voiceover): And with a single line of electrical fence move their cows from one patch of high grass to the next.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's building fence. This is how easy it is, tater (ph).

WEIR (voiceover): While their science is yet to be published and peer reviewed, Byck says early data has found AMP farms pulling down up to four times the carbon, while holding 25 percent more microbes, three times the bird life, and twice as much rain per hour.

BYCK: If it's a 1,000-acre farm, it's 54 million gallons water that's not washing your soil versus soaking into your land.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow, look at this grass.

WEIR (voiceover): But this is also a human experiment to see whether data and respectful discussion can change hearts and minds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was grazed about 40 days ago. And this hadn't been fertilized in 12 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awesome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when we got out spending money on fertilizing, they were huge. Huge. And I didn't think it could ever happen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is such a stress relief. We just don't worry about a lot of it anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you don't even fertilize when you plant your rye grass?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing. It sounds crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it works.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But just letting mother nature do the work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BYCK: Would it be an interesting thing if you didn't have to pay for fertilizer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wouldn't that be wonderful?

WEIR (voiceover): Curtis Spangler is one of the conventional farmers in "Roots So Deep". And he says, his mind was changed when he realized he now has a way to double his herd and quit his second off-farm job.

CURTIS SPANGLER, TENNESSEE FARMER: Right now, we're having to dump thousands of dollars into nitrogen every year of that. Really, if we just change a couple of things, we might be able to save that money to put it toward other resources.

WEIR: Is that something you're committed to doing now --

SPANGLER: Oh, yes.

WEIR: -- as a result of this patchwork?

SPANGLER: We're really looking and seeing the benefits of it and how we can work it.

WEIR: So, as we hit the height of grilling season, a little food for thought.

BYCK: There is ways to produce meat that is not good for the planet, and there's ways to produce meat that's really good for the planet. And that's the nuance that's been missing.

WEIR (voiceover): Bill Weir, CNN, Jasper, Tennessee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:55:00]

BLACKWELL: The southwest and Florida are bracing for more dangerous record-breaking temperatures today with millions under heat alerts.

GOLODRYGA: And across the southeast, severe storm alerts are in effect with damaging winds and hail possible.

CNN's Britley Ritz is live at the Weather Center for us. So, Britley, when can we expect some of these temperatures to start cooling off?

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not any time soon, unfortunately. The southwest continues to bear the brunt of it with excessive heat warnings in effect now that are extending into Southern California. And excessive heat warnings with heat advisories for parts of Southern New Mexico, back into Texas now, and including Florida, which we'll get to in a minute. Some of these excessive heat warnings like Phoenix will likely be up to around 115 degrees.

I want to show you temperatures over the next few days. Sunday in Salt Lake City, 101. Phoenix 110, both Sunday and Monday. By Tuesday, we're creeping up to around 112 degrees. But this ridge of high pressure just holds steady and that temperature continues to rise and you'll see that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, into Thursday and Friday. Friday we're already up to 116. To put things into perspective, we should typically be around 107 degrees.

Florida from Jacksonville down into Miami, we have heat advisories in effect. And when you factor in dew points of 70 plus, it feels much worse. So, Tampa, for example, 92 is the forecast high, it feels like 104 degrees. Fort Myers, doing pretty much the same thing. Miami, while we're not too far off from the norm which is 90, we're right around 93 to 94 degrees. It's the dew point that really plays a big factor, and that is what makes it feel so bad.

All of the way across the southwest, back through the deep south, and even into Florida, temperatures are about five degrees above where they should be, if not, a little bit more. The reason why the Central Plains have cooled off and back on up into the northeast, we've had one cold front after the next to, kind of, give us that relief. But unfortunately, they are dealing with threat of severe weather.

What is going on across the south is this massive heat dome. We have this area of high pressure that is set up. That spins clockwise. It pumps in more of a southerly wind, so we are just raking in the heat all across the south. Then, of course, we have this ridge that sits right over top of the plains and back down through the southeast, that's part of the reason why we're dealing with the severe weather.

The storms ride right along that boundary line, that swath of wind well above our heads, and that of course, gives that threat of severe weather.

[08:00:00]