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Rick's List

President Obama Visits Gulf Region; Another Confrontation With Israel on Horizon?

Aired June 04, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: You know, such -- yes, like we said, those details. You think you're getting good news, and it sounds great, but, man, when you break it down, we have still...

HARLOW: Not at all.

HOLMES: We have still got a long way to go.

Poppy Harlow, we appreciate you breaking that down and giving us that perspective. Thank you so much.

Meanwhile, welcome to RICK'S LIST. I'm T.J., though. I got a list for you today as well, and making that list, an exclusive access to the one of the rigs in the Gulf at the heart of the cleanup. Our Kyra Phillips climbed the board for a close view of the operation.

Also, we have got this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (voice-over): Here's what's making the LIST:

Devastating images, as oil covers more of the Gulf of Mexico.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These birds tend to lunge feed for fish. And they get covered.

HOLMES: President Obama making his third visit to Louisiana, and expressing his anger.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am furious at this entire situation.

HOLMES: Will he demand more action? And what's BP's latest step to stop the leak? Kyra Phillips joins us live. She's been at BP's base of operations in the Gulf.

And Joran van der Sloot captured in Chile, sent back to Peru. He's accused there in the death of a local woman. He's also facing different charges in the U.S. Rafael Romo joins us live.

Families lay to rest loved ones killed in that deadly raid of a Gaza-bound aid ship, and now another aid ship heads toward Gaza, despite an Israeli blockade. Is another confrontation in the works? (END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Hello, everybody. And welcome. It's hour two now. Let's pick up the pace on some of the stories we're keeping an eye on.

And certainly the big story, potential progress in the Gulf -- potential. We have been let down before. This is the day number 46 now, this whole Gulf oil disaster. For the past 46 days, oil, really in untold thousands of barrels, have been -- has been siphoning itself out into the Gulf of Mexico.

Well, the issue now, they're trying to siphon some of that oil up on to a ship. This latest lower marine riser cap package, we're told, has some potential now for success. They have now put this cap on top of that well and some of the oil is now beginning to go up to be siphoned out. Instead of going out into the Gulf, it's going up on to a ship in a small amount, but that's something.

The next step in this process we should know some time today is to close vents on top of that cap and expect to collect more and more of that oil, so some potential here for some success. The president is down in the Gulf region now for his third trip.

This is him arriving just a short time ago, the president making his third trip to the region, his second trip in the past week. Of course, he was there last Friday as well. The president getting another look.

Our Ed Henry is there for us as well.

Ed, we know the president went in immediately to a briefing when he arrived there a short time ago. So, did the president come out and give us any comment on how he thinks things are going?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, T.J., we have just gotten some new information. That briefing has broken up.

The president's motorcade is now headed to where I am in Grand Isle, but it's going to take about two-and-a-half-hours, so these are the only comments we're going to have for a while. We're going to turn that video for you in just a couple moments.

But before it's transmitted, we at least have a readout now, where the president basically told reporters that he expressed some frustration with BP, basically complained that they were spending so much money on their ad campaign trying to deal with their image, and that they should be more focused here on the ground.

The president did express some optimistic words, though, about top cap, as you've been noting, that there is some signs of progress. But the president was very careful to also say that we're far from this being a successful operation. He said we should know more in the next 24 to 48 hours.

For the people here I'm talking to in Grand Isle, they heard this before about another 24 to 48. They heard that with top kill and they are hearing it now with top cap. They're obviously hopeful that this will finally get fixed and dealt with, but I can tell, just what I have seen in one week -- I was standing right near here last Friday in Grand Isle on the beach.

Now I'm in some marshland. But, on the beach then, they just had those little tar balls, the little sand mixed with oil that was washing up on the beach. Now actual oil is washing up on that very same beach. And so you can tell a lot has changed just in seven days.

I have been talking to some local business leaders who say some of them are shutting down, at least temporarily. They have got no business. The fisherman who normally come here can't come here anymore to either do commercial fishing or recreational, because many of these beaches are closed. They're banned from fishing right now.

And, so, if -- when the president does arrive here, he's going to find some people who are mighty frustrated -- T.J.

HOLMES: Now, you talked about just what you have noticed in the time you have been down there on a couple of trips, how things are different. What will the rest of the country notice about the president's visit this time around that's different from when he was there a week ago?

HENRY: well, what the White House hopes the country notices is the president mingling with some of those real people we have heard so much about, because last Friday, when I was here, the president came through and, as you know, he had those official briefings, and then moved on, went back to Washington, and didn't really meet with some of the locals.

There was some frustration here about that. I have talked to some of the local people. One family down the road has a sign outside their home that says, don't forget us. And so they're nervous, frankly. The federal government is popping in. The president's getting briefings, but they're not really feeling exactly how desperate the situation is -- is here.

But I can tell you, the White House in terms of their message may run into some difficulty tonight, because even as the president is headed here now, hoping to meet with some of those real people, because of the time frame now, before the national evening newscasts, the only pictures the president -- of the president that the American people will see will be the ones I just mentioned, the president back in New Orleans, meeting with governors, federal officials, the same kind of official stuff.

He's now got to go two-and-a-half-hours by motorcade here, and so by the time he starts meeting with real people, it's going to be well into the night. Many Americans may not actually see that. So, you have to wonder about the timing of all that.

They were hampered a bit, in fairness to the White House, by weather. He was hoping to chopper here and get here sooner, meet with some of those real people. Now he's got a motorcade. It's a two-and- a-half-hour drive, because these are some small, windy roads. Even with a motorcade, he's not going to get here much faster than we did, T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Ed Henry for us again in Grand Isle, we appreciate you keeping an eye on things there.

And, to our viewers, we certainly will not be going too far away from that story in the Gulf here in this hour.

Need to tell you, though, what we're keeping an eye on as well in Peru. We have been keeping an eye on the suspect Joran van der Sloot. He of course was the suspect in Natalee Holloway's disappearance, the American teenager who went missing in Aruba. That was some five years ago.

There he is, the suspect now in a murder in Peru. We're told now maybe he has made it back. He was in Chile, found in Chile. He's going to be taken back to Peru.

Mayra Cuevas is on the line for us.

Mayra, what can you tell us?

MAYRA CUEVAS CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're -- I can tell you, T.J., that we're one of the few international media that are here at the Santa Rosa border crossing between Chile and Peru.

We're seeing some movement right now of a possible motorcade. We're like literally waiting any minute -- any minute now for Joran van der Sloot to cross the Santa border -- Santa Rosa border crossing between Chile and Peru.

We have members here of the Chilean (SPEAKING SPANISH), which is the members of the police that actually captured him. There's also Interpol agents here. It's heavily guarded. There's about two dozen members of local media and some other international media. And like I said, we're just waiting, any minute now.

HOLMES: All right, Mayra, we will get back to you.

Again, he is on his way, Joran van der Sloot, again, the suspect now in a murder in Peru, also the suspect -- many people in this country will know that name, after he was a suspect for quite some time in the disappearance and death of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. That was five years ago. We will keep an eye on what is happening there.

Also need to let you know, we're not going far away ever from day 46 now of this Gulf oil disaster. Our Kyra Phillips, you see her there, she got some exclusive access on one of those oil rigs. That's coming up next.

Also, heading into break, take a look at what Poppy was telling us a moment ago, the Dow taking a bit of a dive today, 324 points at the close, after some bad, bad news. Some took it as bad news, I should say, after a jobs report came out that was awfully disappointing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's day 46, folks, of the Gulf oil disaster, and the oil continues to pour out into the Gulf of Mexico.

We do know now, we heard some reports and even from the president that possibly some measure of success with this latest effort to not stop -- again, this is not an effort they're doing right now to stop the oil from coming out. This is just to siphon up as much of the oil as they can.

This is not the permanent fix, but, still, the cap being put on top that is starting to, we're told, siphon some oil up. We're told about 1,000 barrels a day. Of course, the average is about 19,000 barrels, up to that, that's going on, so not catching a whole lot at this point.

But, still, some is better than none. The relief wells, of course, that effort still going on right now. We're told that will be the permanent solution some time in August, though. We're not going to see that.

Let's return now to Satish Nagarajaiah, who has been with us, giving us -- giving us really some idea of what we're dealing with and what we're looking at.

This -- and, again, a part of this, Satish, now is to close these vents on top of that cap. Now, what are the chances now, doing it this way, vs. the other way they tried it when the -- those ice crystals formed? Is this a better option and now maybe those ice crystals won't form? Or are we still kind of in a dicey area here?

SATISH NAGARAJAIAH, PROFESSOR OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, RICE UNIVERSITY: I mean, this is a better option because they have better control.

The -- it's a smaller cap, and they're pumping warm seawater down on the two tubes that are coming down to the cap, so they -- you know, they're -- and they're also pumping methanol, so that will prevent formation of hydrates. So, it's a better -- a better solution.

HOLMES: Now, it's a better solution, but did we not know that until we tried the other one and it failed first?

NAGARAJAIAH: Yes. I mean, I think they learned in the first one, where they tried the 100-ton container box. The ice plugs formed there. And from that, they have learned.

LEMON: And so much of this right now is trial and error, but down the road, is this going -- would this help us out, because now we are getting a chance to try all of these things. Could this, quite frankly, be something we're watching that could change the industry and how we respond to these type of things?

We're learning a lot right now, aren't we?

NAGARAJAIAH: Absolutely. This is actually -- they're experimenting and learning as they are going on, unfortunately. This should not have happened. They should have done this much earlier in a mockup situation, but, you know, this is a disaster, and they're learning as we go.

HOLMES: Now, the relief wells, are we putting, quite frankly, too much faith in the relief wells? Now, we have been told -- I mean, they have told us a lot before, quite frankly, and we were let down.

But, I mean, should we hold on to that what they're telling us, that, in fact, the relief wells are the permanent solution, and August, if all goes well, we will have this thing stopped, finally?

NAGARAJAIAH: Yes, the relief wells are the permanent solution, because this is tested technology. They're not experimenting there.

That's directional drilling. Right now, there are two relief wells, one at approximately about 12,000 feet under the sea level. The other one is approximately about 9,000 feet under the sea level. They're going to intersect the well at approximately the lowest point, which is about nine to 10 inches in diameter. That's the difficult portion.

When they get there, they're going to (INAUDIBLE) and they will finally make it. But that's a final solution. And it's a well-tested solution. There's no -- no doubt they will accomplish it. It's a matter of time. It may take a little more time than what they're predicting, but they will do it.

HOLMES: Well, Satish, that sounds like you have some good optimism there, and we will take that.

Help us understand -- and forgive my ignorance maybe here -- but at some point, does a well like this, do you just tap it out? Is it at some point this thing is going to run out of oil to stop gushing?

NAGARAJAIAH: I mean, if they let it leak, yes. But once they plug it, they're going to completely kill the well completely and seal it off, and that will be the end of this well.

HOLMES: But how long would it take for a well like this? Do we have any idea how long it would take before it does, quite frankly, just run out of oil just to be gushing?

NAGARAJAIAH: We don't know how much of oil this reservoir contains, so that's hard to predict.

HOLMES: Hard to predict.

All right, Satish Nagarajaiah, we appreciate your expertise.

And, again, the relief wells, August...

NAGARAJAIAH: Yes.

HOLMES: ... that's a couple months away. We hate to see it go this long. Maybe this cap can capture more -- more oil. Actually, one more thing before I let you go. We were only told that maybe 1,000 barrels being captured a day now. Can you predict, possibly, once they do, if all goes well, and they close those vents on top, how much could they possibly start siphoning up?

NAGARAJAIAH: I think they will -- you know, if -- most optimistic estimates, I would say, 40 to 50 percent of the oil may be -- they may be able to capture, that, but it's hard to predict. It depends on the mechanical seal they have, whether the vents, when they close the vents, the pressure -- they can sustain the pressures, and if they can prevent ice block formation.

HOLMES: Well, it sounds like a lot of ifs there and a lot of things still need to go right.

NAGARAJAIAH: Yes.

HOLMES: And we need to be lucky.

But, Satish, we absolutely do appreciate you. Thanks so much.

NAGARAJAIAH: My pleasure.

HOLMES: Want to show you something now you haven't seen about this Gulf oil disaster, an exclusive access we have for you.

Our Kyra Phillips, the only reporter who's been allowed on one of those rigs near where it's all playing out, she's got firsthand details about the operation from the government's man in charge, the national incident commander, Admiral Thad Allen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We have been embedded with Admiral Thad Allen for about the past 48 hours just to see what it's like to live in this pressure cooker as he leads this response to the worst oil disaster in U.S. history.

And it started with an early morning call to Starbucks with his security detail, and it ended with first-time access, the first live broadcast from the rigs where that explosion took place 46 days ago. Take a look.

ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD COMMANDANT: The real focus right now is to get that containment cap in place below the Discover Enterprise, continue drilling the two relief wells. We're doing -- the first one is on the DD-III that we're on right now.

PHILLIPS: And let's make that connection. As they're working to get that top hat right now to seal that gusher, how does this well -- how is it going to benefit?

ALLEN: The relief well is being drilled right below us going down. It started at an angle though over, and somewhere between 16,000 and 18,000 feet below the sea floor. It will intersect the well bore. At that point, it will start pumping heavy mud in to drive the oil and the hydrocarbons down towards the reservoir to stabilize it so they can put a plug in or do what they call a bottom kill.

After that's done, there should be no pressure below the blowout preventer. That will allow them to actually removed and cap the well, bring the blowout preventer up and do forensic analysis on it.

PHILLIPS: Explain the connection, the bottom kill here and how that is going to make what's happening on the Discovery Enterprise successful.

ALLEN: The intention is to intercept the well bore well down below the surface near the reservoir, then pump heavy mud in to counteract the pressure of the oil coming up that will allow them to basically plug or kill the well. Once that is done, you can do things like remove the blowout preventer, bring it to the surface and try and find out what happened.

PHILLIPS: How soon do you think that can happen, Ted, or are you just working as fast as you can?

TED STUKENBORG, TRANSOCEAN: We are working as efficiently and as safely as possible.

PHILLIPS: I know you don't want to make any mistakes.

STUKENBORG: That's correct.

PHILLIPS: How is it then for you? What's it like to get up in the morning and deal with media scrutiny and have to come out here and do everything you can to make this happen?

CAPTAIN JACK SCHINDLER, TRANSOCEAN: It can be frustrating at times. The thing is we have to make sure that the crew is focused on the job. At the end of the day, we want to drill this well as efficiently as possible and we want to do it with no incidents. We want to do it with no injury to anybody. In fact, we want to have everyone who comes on the rig to go home in better condition than when they came on the street.

Part of the problem is that there is a lot of outside scrutiny on what it is that we're doing out here. And I think the American population is wanting this well to be done. They want it now. We all want it done now. But we all have to understand that this is a well that's killed 11 people. We have to understand that we're sitting over top of one of the world's best drilling rigs. The well that we're drilling right now killed 11 people and sunk a rig. And so we're not going to speed up and we're going to do this as safe as possible and we're not going to hurt anybody. And that's our goal.

PHILLIPS: What's the deal with the water spray that's taking place next to the Enterprise?

ALLEN: So you've seen an offshore supply vessel over there with water being sprayed out of its stern. As the product is rising up because as you know there's oil coming out of the riser pipe until we get the containment cap on right now. They're actually putting water over the surface to reduce the volatile organic compounds that come off of the oil that produce inhalant problems for the workers out there. So this is actually a safety issue to put water over the top of the oil so the fumes basically don't come up.

PHILLIPS: Because when were flying in, the smell was so strong. It's like fresh tar smell.

ALLEN: And one way to reduce that is to basically spray water to reduce the -- reduce the vapor.

PHILLIPS: And, as you can see, this was also the first time that a journalist actually had the chance to talk to those rig workers that are out there in the Gulf trying to cap that gushing oil.

And, as I was leaving, they handed me this magazine. This is what Transocean puts out every month. This was a special memorial edition remembering and honoring those who were killed.

I just want to show you their pictures and read their names.

Jason Christopher Anderson, tool pusher. Aaron Dale Burkeen, crane operator. Donald O'Neal Clark, assistant driller. Stephen Ray Curtis, assistant driller. Gordon Lewis Jones, drilling fluid specialist. Roy Wyatt Kemp, derrick hand. Karl Dale Kleppinger Jr., floor hand. Keith Blair Manuel, senior drilling fluids specialist. Dewey Allen Revette, driller. Shane Michael Roshto, floor hand. Adam T. Weise, floor hand.

They just wanted me at some point be able to honor their co- workers that they tell me they think about every day as they're trying to cap that oil gusher.

From New Orleans, Louisiana, I'm Kyra Phillips for CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please believe me, no amount of money will ever compensate us for Gordon's loss. We know that. But payment of damages by wrongdoers is the only means we have in this country to make things right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Gordon Jones died in that explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. His father has taken his son's fight to Washington, D.C. He will tell us what he said at a hearing and why he's so upset with BP's CEO.

Also, as you heard moments ago, Joran van der Sloot in custody now in Peru. The Dutch man once suspected in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway some five years ago now is facing charges in the death of a woman in Peru -- the update next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We turn now to the Friday roundup list.

Number one: Chile hands over Joran van der Sloot to authorities at a border crossing in Peru. This took place just a short time ago. He was captured yesterday in Chile and accused of killing a young woman in Peru. He was once, you will remember, a suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway from Aruba five years ago.

Number two on this list, we turn to Paris. These are people voicing their support for the newest attempt to dock a ship reportedly filled with humanitarian supplies in Gaza. The docking could happen tonight or tomorrow. It's the latest attempt to reach Gaza by water since Israel's botched military raid on a similar vessel earlier this week. Nine people died in that raid.

To number three now, and a countdown to blastoff. Now, you can't hear. There you go. You get the idea. That's the SpaceX Falcon 9. That's the rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral about two hours ago. Nobody's on board the thing. It's the very first test flight of this brand-new type of rocket. It's the brainchild of the man who co- founded PayPal.

He hopes this type of spacecraft will mark the future of space travel after the current shuttle fleet is retired.

Take a look. There's not much you need to say after seeing this picture, oil-covered pelicans in the Gulf, casualties of the disaster there. Some good news for some of these little guys though, they're being rescued -- that report just ahead.

Also, imagine living in a community above dangerous toxic chemicals for years, and you didn't know it. And imagine all the deadly illnesses associated with it. We have got a powerful investigative report from our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Tons of toxic chemicals under an all-American community in Niagara, New York, prompted President Jimmy Carter to sign the Superfund law 30 years ago. The goal was to speed the cleanup of America's most toxic places and get people out of harm's way.

As part of his "Toxic America" investigation, our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, found out it doesn't always work that way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maria Parsons goes from door to door, trying to get a handle on just how sick her neighbors are.

MARIA PARSONS, RESIDENT OF GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA: Day and night, it's going around the neighborhood, talking to neighbors, trying to get the information. My neighbor there, she has cancer. The gentleman that lived in that house died of cancer. Across the street is cancer. The other house next door to that was cancer death. (INAUDIBLE) The house that I live in, it was a pancreatic cancer death.

GUPTA: Parson's neighborhood is in Gainesville, Florida, and it's next door to what was an industrial site, including a recently closed wood treatment facility, in the groundwater and soil, toxic metals like arsenic and chromium, organic carcinogens like benzene and dioxins.

They are often called the most toxic substance known. The 170- acre site is a federal Superfund site. That means the government considers it one of America's most toxic places.

(on camera): Superfund began 30 years ago with grand hopes and high expectations that some of America's most toxic sites would be cleaned up and that the communities like the Parsons' community would be protected.

GUPTA: As many people know, Congress passed the superfund law after a catastrophe shocked the nation.

LOIS GIBBS, CENTER FOR HEALTH ENVIRONMENT & JUSTICE: This is the second time Love Canal has been declared an emergency area.

GUPTA (voice-over): Lois Gibbs was a 27-year-old housewife at Love Canal. She and other residents had no idea the community was built on 20,000 tons of buried chemicals.

(on camera): What happened?

GIBBS: I bought my American dream. I bought my house with a picket fence, and then my kids got sick.

My son Michael developed asthma, epilepsy, a urinary tract disorder which required two surgeries to correct, a liver problem, an immune system problem like you see in HIV victims. And then I gave birth to Melissa and she had this rare blood disease.

GUPTA (voice-over): The government relocated Gibbs, and her kids eventually recovered. Gibbs now runs the Center for Health Environment & Justice. It's a nonprofit dedicated to helping communities facing environmental risks like Love Canal.

(on camera): Has superfund been effective? Do you believe that it's actually made a difference?

GIBBS: It has made a difference because hundreds of sites have been cleaned up, people have been protected. People have gotten new drinking water, and communities -- over 14 communities have been evacuated because of superfund and with superfund money.

GUPTA (voice-over): In Gainesville, Michael and Maria Parsons aren't seeing any of it. This Gainesville site made the superfund list almost as soon as the law was passed. It's still being cleaned up, 27 years later. MARIA PARSONS, GAINESVILLE RESIDENT: A superfund site means that it's designated because it's highly contaminated. It means that it needs to be cleaned up.

GUPTA: We took the Parsons' story to the man who runs EPA's superfund program, Mathy Stanislaus.

MATHY STANISLAUS, EPA: The community residents should be angry for how long it's going on and how long they've been waiting for the cleanup. I can't speak to the history of decisions made in the past, but my commitment, and the commitment of other administrators, is to move forward as expeditiously as possible on all the sites that we have.

GUPTA: There's still plenty of work in Gainesville. Take a look at this, the most recent review of the Gainesville site, attempts to keep contaminated ground water on the property. Ineffective.

PARSONS: The level of dioxins and other toxins inside our properties are just unacceptable.

GUPTA: Maria and Michael Parsons say they can't afford to leave. No one's going to buy their house. But they worry the health risks are so high, they can't afford to stay either.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And you can watch Dr. Sanjay Gupta's full CNN special report, "Toxic America," Saturday and Sunday night, 8:00 Eastern Time.

Let's show it to you once again, the live picture. It changes every now and again, but you get the point. Every single time you see this live picture, you can tell oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico. But some progress on this latest attempt.

For now, new worries that possibly it couldn't just be the Gulf that has an issue now. This might not just threaten the Gulf of Mexico. We'll tell you where it could be headed. That's ahead.

Also, why in the world would you be trying to put handcuffs on an alligator? We'll explain what we're talking about here in today's "Fotos."

Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, welcome back.

As we do always here on this show, as Rick does, hearing tweets from people who are, quite frankly, involved in a lot of the national news stories we're keeping an eye on. Let's share with you one now that really drives the point home.

This is from the National Wildlife Federation. It says, "Words like 'tragedy' and 'disaster' do not do justice to what is happening."

That is well said. It's hard to find the words to describe exactly what is happening right now to the Gulf of Mexico and the people there.

And also, one we can show you here from BP. BP of America tweeting. This one's from Tony, Tony Hayward, the CEO that you've seen make, quite frankly, some blunders out there when he's been giving some interviews.

And this is his tweet. It says, "I know actions speak louder than words. We expect to be judged on the quality of our response."

All right. Well, coming up here, a lot of people have talked about exactly what has been going on with the cleanup and the response, but you have to remember as well, 11 people lost their lives when that oil rig disaster happened on April 20th, and one of them is the son of that man. He was one of the several workers killed in that fire and explosion on that Deepwater Horizon rig.

Keith Jones testified also before Congress about the oil spill dangers. He's joining me. Going to let him tell you himself how he feels about BP. That's ahead.

And also, where could the flow of oil end up? Well, it might be oozing out of the Gulf of Mexico. Bonnie Schneider here to explain it to us. She's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're just getting word about an important position being filled in the administration right now, a new intelligence chief the president is going to be naming.

Let's go to our Barbara Starr, Pentagon correspondent, keeping an eye on this.

Tell us the name. Who is he? Where has he been? And tell us how big of job he has on his hands now.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., it is now expected, according to a senior defense official, that the president, tomorrow, will nominate retired Lieutenant General James Clapper, a top Pentagon intelligence official, to be the new director of National Intelligence, overseeing 16 intelligence agencies in the federal government. This is so controversial on so many levels.

The position itself -- the former director, Dennis Blair, essentially fired a few weeks ago -- the position tough to fill because there's been a lot of criticism that while it sounds like a big job, the person who has the job really has no authority. James Clapper, you see there, is someone we have covered for many years at the Pentagon.

He has held many intelligence positions. He's a very close-to- the-vest kind of guy. He never shows his cards. And that is already being felt on Capitol Hill, where both Democrats and Republicans have expressed some opposition to him, saying that he doesn't keep congressional intelligence committees informed of what's going on.

They have already issued, some of them, statements critical of this upcoming nomination. It is expected, T.J., that the president will take the very unusual step in a Saturday Rose Garden ceremony at the White House of making the nomination public. We'll see how it fares on Capitol Hill -- T.J.

HOLMES: And just one thing, quickly. You talked about how the position itself is kind of controversial, and talked about how much power you actually have. Well, is there any chance that with this new guy, might come a new role, quite frankly, a new definition of exactly what that role is?

STARR: Well, you know, I think people are worried that that may happen, but nobody knows where it's going to take the director of National Intelligence, powers and authorities.

Clapper is very close to Bob Gates, the defense secretary. And the majority of the intelligence budget in this country, billions of dollars, tens of billions, actually, are controlled by the Pentagon. And there's a lot of concern that, basically, Clapper and Gates are basically locking up the store now. All of this funding will be under their control. That's one of the concerns of Congress.

The DNI position was created after 9/11, of course, to try and help the country and the intelligence community cope better with threats, but in the intervening years, it's always been problematic. Nobody really knows what this job really means -- T.J.

HOLMES: And again, he has been around -- and we want our viewers to know, we are standing by here, actually.

And if you can, Barbara, stay with me here for a second.

STARR: Sure.

HOLMES: In fact, I can go to it now, actually. This is new video from the president. He was there at a briefing a short time ago. He spoke there in Louisiana.

Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It does appear that the cap, at least for now, is holding, that some hydrocarbons are being sent up to the surface, and that they're slowing ratcheting up the amount of oil and gas that's being extracted (INAUDIBLE), so that they don't dislodge or disrupt the cap.

We will know more over the next 24 to 48 hours. And it is way too early to be optimistic. But we're going to keep on monitoring that and we'll give you a more thorough briefing when he knows more. We spent a lot of time here just talking about the logistics of the response on the shore as oil begins to come on. And everybody here has particular concerns because we've got limited resources. We're trying to get more boom, for example, into the places that are needed.

We deployed initially a lot of boom here in Louisiana. (INAUDIBLE) some in Alabama. It wasn't where it was supposed to be.

Governor Riley has been appropriately concerned -- that's a mild way of putting it -- about what's being done with respect to Alabama plans. What I told him was is that Thad Allen will be meeting with him individually with the respect to the Alabama plan. And if he's not satisfied with the answers that are given over the course of this weekend, then he's going to call me, and we're going to meet and sort this out.

Here in Louisiana, where the oil has hit most rapidly, there are still areas where, for example, the mayor here was talking to fishermen. They want to try to build up some barriers and estuaries in the areas that are particularly vulnerable. Thad Allen is going to be following up with each of the parish presidents in terms of figuring out what's going on.

One of the things that we've done to make sure that organizationally, things are working the way they should, is now we have a Coast Guard official who is stationed with each parish president. We actually have a BP representative who is stationed with each parish president so that they have direct access to making sure that any information, any problems that they've got, are immediately being shot up to Thad, and he can respond quickly.

And we want to set that up not just in Louisiana, but in Alabama, as well as in Florida. We want county equivalence to have that same kind of representation and rapid response.

We also talked about claims. And this is an area where I think everybody has a lot of insurance. My understanding is, is that BP has contracted for $50 million worth of TV advertising to manage their image during the course of this disaster. In addition, there were reports that BP will be paying $10.5 billion -- that's "billion" with a "B" -- in dividend payments this quarter.

Now, I don't have a problem with BP fulfilling its legal obligations, but I want BP to be very clear that they've got moral and legal obligations here in the Gulf for the damage that has been done. And what I don't want to hear is when they're spending kind of money on their shareholders, and spending that kind of money on TV advertising, that they're nickel-and-diming fishermen or small businesses here in the Gulf who are having a hard time.

Now, we've assigned federal folks to look over BP's shoulder and work with state and local officials to make sure that claims are being processed quickly, fairly, and that BP is not lawyering(ph) up, essentially, when it comes to these claims. They say they want to make it right. That's part of their advertising campaign. Well, we want them to make it right.

So what that means is, is that a fishermen got a $5,000 check, and the next time he goes in because it's a new month, suddenly BP's saying, well, we need documentation and this may take six months to process or 60 days to process, or 30 days to process, for that matter, that fisherman, with all his money tied up in that boat, just may not be able to hang on for another 30 days. He may lose his boat and his livelihood.

We've heard from one of the parish presidents about (AUDIO GAP) inventory, but they're not bringing any new product in. And BP says to them, well, you know what? Your sales don't seem to have declined. And they try to explain, yes, but we've had to lay off all our workers because we're not bringing any new shrimp in, and our coverage is going to be bare (ph) in the next several weeks. BP's got to be able to anticipate that.

So, the key point I'm making here is this has been a disaster for this region, and people are understandably concerned about what the next few months and the next few years may hold. I am absolutely confident about the resilience of this area long term, but if we can make sure that BP is doing the right thing on the front end, it's going to make an awful lot easier for us to fully recover on the back end. And, by the way, it may end up being cheaper for BP.

You know, and so, Thad, who is interacting with BP on a regular basis, I think is emphasizing this. My administration is emphasizing it.

I want them to hear directly from me and I want the public to hear from me. They need to make sure that they are following through on these claims in an expeditious, fair way. And if they are not, then we are going to stay on them about it.

We've already submitted one bill, and they haven't said that they're not paying it, so I don't want to anticipate problems. But we are already starting to see at the local level folks experiencing problems. And we don't want those problems to build up. We want to nip that in the bud right now.

And the fact that BP can pay a $10.5 billion dividend payment is indicative of how much money these folks have been making. And given the fact that they didn't fully account for the risks, I don't want somebody else bearing the costs of those risks that they took. I want to make sure that they're paying for it.

All right?

The last point I wanted to make is we did talk about what the environmental quality is down here right now. Lisa Jackson has been down here all week, and she went all across the country -- or all across the state of Louisiana. She's going to be monitoring what's going on in Alabama, and Florida as well.

So far, the air quality, water quality is continually being tested and doesn't seem to be much elevated above normal levels. But I want to emphasize something that she just told us, ,and that is people who are on site involved in cleanup, they have to be mindful of the fact that we're dealing with toxins here.

This could be -- this could make people very sick if they're not careful. They've got to get the appropriate training. They need the appropriate equipment. If they get sick, we now have health centers that are stationed at each of these points.

Lisa, you want to talk about that briefly?

LISA JACKSON, ADMINISTRATOR, EPA: Yes, sir.

We have health and safety offers and stations at each (INAUDIBLE) point, so if someone does come back and in, and feel in any way that they've been exposed, or even they just don't feel well, the first thing to do is to report it so that we have a record of it, we can track it down, and we can ensure that they're not in any way penalized for reporting, and making sure that they put their health and the health of their family first.

OBAMA: OK.

Again, I want to just emphasize, everybody down here, every local official, every state official, is working as hard as they can. Our federal teams are working as hard as they can. You know, there are still going to be glitches in the response. There are still going to be arguments and disagreements between local and state, state and federal, between everybody and BP, between states and states in terms of how we're allocating some of these resources. But I think that Thad Allen has committed to me and the people of the Gulf that we're going to cut through any bureaucratic red tape, any problems that we've got, and we will fix problems that have been identified.

And that was the commitment I made last week. Some of the problems have been fixed. Some new ones have been resurfaced. We'll fix those, too, and we'll keep on coming back until we have dealt with an unprecedented crisis.

But I'm very thankful to everybody for the constructive meeting and the constructive approach that I think everybody has taken in terms of solving this problem.

All right?

Thank you, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, what did you say to the parish presidents about the difficult -- the economic difficulties from the drilling moratorium?

OBAMA: We had a conversation about that as well, and what I told them is very simple. When I made the decision to issue the moratorium, we knew that that would have an economic impact. But what I also knew is that there was no way that we can go about business as usual when we discovered that companies like BP, who had provided assurances that they had fail-safe, backup redundant systems -- in fact, not only didn't have fail-safe systems, but had no idea what to do when those fail-safe systems broke down.

Now, I announced this week that Bob Graham and Bill Riley, two respected individuals who have experience both on the environmental side, as well as in the energy sector, are going to be examining over the next six months what went wrong, but more important, forward- looking, how do we, in fact, increase domestic oil production without seeing the kinds of disasters that we are all witnessing on television day in and day out? I think Governor Jindal, a number of the parish presidents, expressed concern about the immediate economic impact. And what I said to them is the same thing I said to Graham and Riley, which is if they can front-load some of these analyses and what went wrong and how you would solve what has happened and what can happen, and you can do that more quickly than six months, then let me know.

Don't hold the results of your review for six months and then tell me. Tell me when you find out.

What I told the folks in this room is I'm not going to cut corners on it and I'm not going to press them to move faster than it would take to do an accurate, independent job based on sound science, because I do not want to see this thing repeated again. And the American people don't, and I promise you, the people of the Gulf don't want to see it either.

And as difficult as it may be, it's important for us to do this right, because if we don't do it right, then what you could end up seeing is an even worse effect on the oil industry down here, which is so important to so many jobs. And I think everybody here emphasized, and I want to be clear, I didn't hear anybody here saying that they want unsafe operations on these rigs, and they certainly don't want to see a repeat of this disaster.

They did ask, can we do it faster? And what I said to them was the same thing that I said to Graham and Riley, which is, you do it as fast as it takes to do it right.

All right?

Thank you, everybody.

(CROSSTALK)

OBAMA: Thank you, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, guys.

OBAMA: I want to make sure that they are (INAUDIBLE) the folks of Louisiana for (INAUDIBLE). And the folks in Alabama and the folks in Florida, I don't want them nickel-and-diming people down here. I want them to abide by their obligations to the shareholders. I want them to abide by the obligations of people down here as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, everyone.

Let's go, press.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: You're listening in to President Obama, who got a briefing a short time ago. He's on his way now to Grand Isle, in Louisiana. Landed in Kenner a short time ago. Had to drive now to Grand Isle because of some weather issues.

But he was in a briefing, came out. A lot of people have been asking him to get tougher, to show that he's, quite frankly, mad, getting on to BP, quite frankly, for taking out some $50 million, he said, in TV ads to work on their image. And also, according to the president, reports that they are paying dividends to their investors in the amount of $10.5 billion.

He said you take those numbers, you see how much money they've been making, and they should not be nickel-and-diming some of the fishermen and local businesspeople. He's talking about the claims and the process is just too difficult right now, and people down there are getting money quickly enough, but saying just how much money that the company is making.

The president there in Grand Isle, headed there now.

We are covering, of course, this oil disaster on day 46.

A quick break. We're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We just heard from the president a moment ago. In his words, "It's way too early to be optimistic" about this Gulf oil disaster and this latest effort to try to cap that well.

Still, a lot of people holding out some hope, at least, that maybe this latest effort could possibly work. There have been some positive signs that this latest cap they put on is now siphoning up some oil, but, still, it needs to siphon up a whole lot more to try to get this leak, that well itself, under control.

The president on his way to Grand Isle.

Our coverage here on CNN certainly will continue on this day 46 of the Gulf oil disaster.

Now time for me to hand it over to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."