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CNN Sunday Morning

BP Turns to Next Attempt After 'Top Kill' Fails; Deadly Central American Tropical Storm Downgraded; Unemployment Benefits Will Lapse This Week

Aired May 30, 2010 - 06:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Good morning to you all. Hopefully, hopefully, you are having a good Memorial Day weekend.

I'm T.J. Holmes. Six a.m. where I am, here in Atlanta, Georgia. Five a.m. in New Orleans. Wherever you may be, we're glad you're right here with us.

And what we have this morning is a harsh and heartbreaking reality. The reality is that this could continue until sometime in August. Once again, looking at the live feed of what's happening 5,000 feet below the surface of the water in the Gulf of Mexico. Because the oil continues, and could continue, like I said, for the next couple of months.

That's because the latest and best hope that everyone had for possibly stopping this has failed. That so-called "top kill" method - we just found out last night, in fact, from BP officials that it did not work.

So where do we go from here? What now? Well, another new procedure they're going to try with another new name. It's going to be launched at some point in the next week or so. This one's called the "lower marine riser cap" method. No guarantees that this one's going to work. You're seeing a loop demonstration behind me.

We're going to get more into it, show you exactly how this one is supposed to work, and possibly give some relief. But the surest way to get relief and stop this are those relief wells that are being drilled right now. But those aren't going to be done until August.

So again, we could be seeing this oil gush for the next couple of months, folks. We'll be talking much more about that here in just a couple of minutes.

But first, I want to give you an update on some of the stories that are making headlines from overnight.

Thirty people killed in a bus accident in southern India. Among the victims, 10 kids. Now, apparently, what happened here, the bus hit a police barricade. It flipped over and burst into flames when the fuel tank caught fire. Passengers at that point were then trapped inside. Another 30 were injured as well. I want you to take a look at this video as well, out of Stafford, Virginia. This is outside a Target store. See what you're - what you're looking at here is an abduction take place, and it's all caught on camera. You see the scuffle there. Police say what happened, a man and two women actually abducted a 17-year-old girl. They put her into the van. You see the scuffling. She's fighting with them the entire time. They finally get her into that van, and then they load up. But still, even after they load her up into the van, she still tries to open the door and get out. But this all played out, as you see, broad daylight in front of a Target store.

Several people did pass by. Eventually, someone did call 911. But you see it there; they finally have her in that van. And he tries to get into the back; still a little scuffle going on. Police believe that as many as five people could have possibly been in that van. You're asked to call the Stafford County Sheriff Department if you have any information.

Their number: 540-658-4400. We'll certainly make sure we get that number up and out more for you this morning.

Also, Dennis Hopper, the actor, dead now at the age of 74. He had been diagnosed last year with prostate cancer. A lot of people will remember, he achieved instant fame with the movie "Easy Rider" back in 1969. We are told he was surrounded by family and friends at his home in LA when he died. His last public appearance - we saw him not too long ago, in March. He got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dennis Hopper dead at the age of 74.

We're going to turn back now to the story that continues to be a story. The worst - the worst oil spill in the history of this country continues to get worse. This could go on, folks, for the next couple of months. This was a heartbreaking, a heart-wrenching disappointment for so many people who had put so much into this top-kill method that everyone hoped - we were told 60 to 70 percent chance that it could actually work. But in fact, at the end of the day, it failed.

We are now 41 days into the start of this spill. A lot of people expressing their disappointment. Listen to the BP top executive from yesterday talking about possibly what went wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG SUTTLES, COO, BP: After three full days of attempting top kill, we have been unable to overcome the flow from the well. So we now believe it's time to move on to the next of our options, which is the LMRP, lower marine riser package cap.

Over the last three days, we've pumped a total of over 30,000 barrels of mud. We've made numerous attempts to overcome the flow. We've monitored the situation after each attempt. We've also used our "junk shot" technique and other materials to try to divert more of the flow down the well.

But we have not been able to stop the flow, and after significant review with a - with what could only probably called a "brain trust" of engineers and scientists from BP, the industry, the Minerals Management Service, the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior and further reviews by Secretary Salazar and Secretary Chu, we have made the decision to move on to the next option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The next option is that lower marine riser cap, and we'll explain that more here in just a moment.

The president, of course, who went down to the Gulf region on Friday, he is in Chicago, spending the weekend there, the Memorial Day weekend. But he did release a statement, talking about this spill. I'll read part of it to you.

He says - quote - "It is enraging and it is heartbreaking, and we will not relent until this leak is contained, until the waters and shores are cleaned up, and until the people unjustly victimized by this man-made disaster are made whole."

You heard BP say it - this was the lower marine riser cap. It's a custom-made cap that's going to be put over the leak, is essentially what it is. Now, the president talked about that in his statement as well.

Here's what he said about that process - quote, again - "This approach is not without risk, and has never been attempted before at this depth. That is why it was not activated until other methods had been exhausted. It will be difficult and will take several days."

Let's head down to Reynolds Wolf, who is live in New Orleans with more on this.

Reynolds, we have another name and another option here. But again - and we're going to talk about this option a little bit - but again, they're not even going to attempt this until up to maybe a week from now.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, four to seven days. I mean, four at best estimate, but it will probably more likely leaning, as you mentioned, a week. At least seven days or so.

So let's talk about it. The - the lower marine riser package, OK? You have that. That's below the water. Then we have the cap that we've been referring to.

And I want you to think about this for - for a second, as our viewers across America are tuning in. This cap is not going to fit snugly like a cap on our - say, on your head. What it's expected to do is have a - kind of a loose feel. There's a - a chance that it's not going to have a complete snug fit. So with that, it's not going to get every single bit of the oil.

Now, the issue with that is, how much oil is it going to get? Are we talking about - when we say, it - it should get most of the oil, but does that mean 51 percent? Does that 70 percent? Does that mean 90 percent? Well, they're going to be using - they're going to resume the use of chemical dispersants once again down below. Hopefully, that's going to help take care of some of the seepage for the next couple of days.

And of course, when they try to put this cap on, the cap itself is going to draw that oil all the way up to the surface, to a ship, then - then hopefully, in theory, they're going to offload some of this oil, and then bring that oil back to shore on other tanker ships.

But again, this is a temporary stopgap. This is not going to be the thing that's going to solve all of our problems. You mentioned, T.J., that we're talking about not one but two wells that may not be in place until August. Think about that. So from now until then, we still have that growing issue out into the Gulf of Mexico.

And once again that I'd love for our viewers to have - to really think about, too - the worst oil disaster, not in U.S. history, but the worst one in Gulf history, actually took place back in 1979, in the - in - in the Bay of Campeche. And that was only about 200 feet below the surface - 200 feet. This is 5,000 feet. We're talking about close to a mile below.

And the intense pressure that you have way down deep is just mind-boggling. One phrase you keep hearing over and over again is, 'This has never been tried before.' So they really are taking this step by step, and this latest effort, hopefully, hopefully, will give us a better handle on this unfolding crisis.

HOLMES: Yes, Reynolds, and so much hope was put into this top kill. We had been talking about it for some time. Everyone had faith - certainly BP giving - you know, 60 or 70 percent. No, that's not great, but still, that gives you hope that this thing is going to work.

What has been the reaction now you've been able to get? Because this whole thing has been heartbreaking. But after we were waiting to hear top kill would work, we hear that it's not. What are the folks down there saying now?

WOLF: My man, let me show you something. Hold on one second.

Take a look at this. This is the headline this morning in the "Times-Picayune": "Top kill fails." There's a lot of anger going on here. People are still very frustrated.

You know, if you want to get a better idea of what some of the officials are saying - for example - for example, Billy Nungesser is closest to it. He's the president of Plaquemines Parish.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY NUNGESSER, PLAQUEMINES PARISH PRESIDENT: In lieu of what happened today, my parish is a dire - they got people calling me crying because today, they know that oil is still pumping. BP can at least put their mind at rest and go on TV and say, 'We are doing absolutely everything physically possible to protect those wetlands.'

Without moving those dredges (ph), they can't say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDOE CLIP)

REP. CHARLIE MELANCON (D), LOUISIANA: Well, I got it - I guess it was around 2:00, if I remember correctly. And of course, it knocked us down a little bit, and upset us to an extent. But the people of south Louisiana are resilient. We'll dust off, and we'll figure out where we need to go. We're going to continue to fight to save our marshes and our coastal areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF: That was Congressman Charlie Melancon. He was actually up on Capitol Hill. You'll remember his emotional outburst the other day, that emotional outburst, T.J., that we saw, that the world saw is - pretty much been followed out by a lot of people here across parts of the Gulf region.

It's a heartbreaking thing to see, but basically do the best they possibly can. This slick continues to grow; people are trying to contain it, people are trying to stop it. We still have marsh lands that need to be cleaned. We've got beaches; we've got bayous. Animals are hurt by it. The industries - countless people being affected by this each and every day. And the longer this goes on, the worse it gets.

HOLMES: And you know, we really do need some good news right now. That - that just doesn't seem like there has been any....

WOLF: Absolutely.

HOLMES: ...in relation to this.

And Reynolds, I - I heard - I actually read this morning, someone referred to this as like a bad movie, where the bad guy just won't die. You feel like every time - you feel like, you're - you're about to kill him and you got him, and he keeps coming back. And that's how somebody described it down there.

Reynolds, we appreciate you.

WOLF: Absolutely. That, or "Groundhog Day." You bet.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes. Reynolds, we appreciate you. We're going to be checking in with you plenty this morning, explaining exactly what this new method is. Reynolds, good to see you, buddy. Thanks so much.

Here is another attempt, like we saw, this riser cap package that's going to be tried now. This has been another attempt after attempt after attempt, all these contingency plans.

You remember the containment dome? It seems like that was so long ago now. There was "top hat," "top kill," "junk shot." All these names being thrown at it, nothing seems to work.

Josh Levs taking a look this morning at all these methods that have been tried to get us now to this point.

Good morning to you, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning again to you.

And - and I'm going to start off by saying what I've been saying throughout all this, that when someone says a 60 to 70 percent chance of something working that's never been tried before, that really doesn't mean much. Something's going to work or it's not.

And what we saw here was an attempt to do something incredibly far down, as Reynolds was just saying. Five thousand feet - when it hits the ground with all that pressure, it's unknown whether any of these things will work. It's been the case every step of the way.

I wanted to trace you all through how we got to this point, and what all these things have been. Probably running through your mind, and hard to keep track. And fortunately, the good folks at CNN.com have actually done some of the heavy lifting on this already with a timeline.

I'm jumping into the middle of the timeline, to May 6, May 7, which is where we got to this first one, this containment dome. And this is what we were hearing about early on, this talk of solutions.

We have some really good video. Dee (ph), let's go to that video. And what you're going to see here, when we were talking to you about this effort to put a containment dome on top of this oil spill. And what happened there - the problem was that these ice-like hydrate crystals formed inside that dome. They are what's formed when gas combines with water.

BP had said from the beginning that it anticipated a problem, but it also said it didn't anticipate the size of the problem that came from that. So early on, when you're talking about that first step, that's what happened there.

Now, a few days, May 12, that's when you get - let me see over here. That's when you get to the next step in all this. And that - the effort here was to basically combat that with a different dome. This is what was referred to as "top hat." The idea here, the goal there, was to let engineers pump in this stuff called methanol, that would prevent those hydrate crystals from forming. Well, guess what? No solution there either.

I want to jump ahead a little bit, in the timeline. This is May 14. This you might remember as well. Think of this as kind of like a straw. What they tried doing here, after that, was inserting this tube to collect the oil and ultimately pull it out. It's going to act like a straw; it was designed to contain the flow. The problem with this whole idea, of pulling this oil out to the surface, was it was never a solution. It was one effort basically to try to deal with some symptoms. It wasn't a solution. U.S. officials challenged it in the first place. So did Louisiana officials. Ultimately, it was not a solution.

All right. That brings us up to this next video here, which is all the way up to last week. This is May 25. And this is when these preparations were made for the latest thing that we're hearing about, called top kill. And this is when we're hearing the 60 to 70 alleged percent change.

Now, the idea - and what made this different here was, you had heard about capping this spill. And what they were trying to do here was cap this spill in a whole new way. And this has worked. This system, keep in mind, has worked before, on above-ground oil wells in the Middle East. It's just never been tested 5,000 feet underwater.

So as we know, what happened here -- BP started it, suspended it. Ultimately, came out yesterday and said, 'You know what? Top kill's not working, either.'

Now, when we're talking about things that haven't worked, there's one more thing I got to show you, which is this junk shot. Now, a junk shot is exactly what it sounds like. You've probably heard this by now. The basic idea there is to fill the hole with a ton of junk, trash, golf balls, a mud mixture. That's using trash in order to create it (ph). The idea here: If you can stop it, then it will stop pushing out, and ultimately, they could do other fixes inside to end it all.

All of that said, trace you through several things that have been tried now, no luck so far.

So where we are here, is at the end of a series of Olympic-style ventures to try to do something brand new to stop this massive oil spill. And where we are is right here, with this oil leak increasing and increasing throughout this morning. And we'll be showing you the latest satellite images and the latest online images that show you how it is just growing.

When you look from above, T.J., it looks like this giant, growing ameba that's just taking over this huge swath of the Gulf. And unfortunately - you're talking about it could take till August? Even when we ultimately - they ultimately manage to plug this, the actual oil keeps spreading - the challenge keeps spreading, the public-health concerns. That's where we're headed this summer right now, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. And we are headed there, the next couple months. Josh, thank you.

LEVS: You got it (INAUDIBLE).

HOLMES: Those are some of the solutions BP tried to come up with for - for stopping the oil, at least. But some everyday people have ideas of their own about how to at least clean up the spill. They have been submitting those as well to BP.

Now, in our next half hour, we're going to show you who those people, introduce you to a couple of them, and let them show you, demonstrate for themselves, exactly how their products work and let you decide if maybe some of that stuff you see should be deployed down to the Gulf.

Also coming up, some people who are not working right now could learn their jobless benefits. This could happen in a matter of days, and it has something to do with the Senate taking a recess before they voted to extend the benefits.

Fifteen minutes past the hour on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, we were talking about this tropical depression, and then a tropical storm, and 'Agatha' was the name.

Bonnie Schneider here with us. Agatha - oh, Agatha wasn't playing around yesterday.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No.

HOLMES: A nasty, nasty storm that did some damage.

SCHNEIDER: That's so true, T.J.

You know, and Guatemala has really had a tough time of it lately. Not only do we have this tropical depression now, but we had a volcano erupt in the area. So imagine streets - the drains are clogged with volcanic ash, and then 30 inches of rain comes through. There's nowhere for the water to go. It's just a mess.

Let's take a look at the satellite perspective, and you can see most of the thunderstorms still hitting the Guatemala area, into Honduras, into Nicaragua. We'll still see heavy rain even though the storm has dissipated right now, the maximum winds are at about 30 miles per hour. So at least it is dying down.

But the problem is, this region, on Google Earth, as I brought up here, the storm center is about 70 miles from Tapachula, in Mexico. And here's the coastline of Guatemala. You can see all the mountainous regions through here.

We're anticipating more threat for mudslides because of all the water coming down, even though the storm is - is dissipating. Unfortunately, the threat for really bad weather does not dissipate.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Also, something I just mentioned a moment ago: The Senate started its recess for the Memorial Day weekend, but didn't vote on extending unemployment benefits for thousands of Americans. Those benefits could run out in days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, welcome back. It's about 25 minutes past the hour. Take a look at some of the stories making headlines, including this scene out of Phoenix, Arizona, where tens of thousands of people rallied there yesterday to protest Arizona's new controversial law that cracks down on illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, there was a counterprotest that took place as well yesterday. This happened in nearby Tempe, Arizona. They got a pretty good crowd there as well. And enforcement of Arizona's controversial law is expected to start sometime in late July.

Also, take a look at parts of Kingston, Jamaica. Just a mess right now. Some calling it a war zone following the government's failed attempt to capture a suspected drug lord who is wanted in the U.S. And supporters of this drug lord - he goes by the name of Christopher Coke - they put up a fierce battle against police. Seventy-six people killed. Jamaican authorities say they'll renew the hunt for the indicted drug lord sometime tomorrow.

And Monday begins another round of continuing labor-strike talks targeting British - British Airways. The union representing cabin workers is demanding better pay and working conditions. The airline says it was able to fly most of their scheduled flights last week as union members picketed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, more uncertainly for people on unemployment. Some of them will start running out of benefits this week. The House voted Friday to extend the deadline to file for benefits, but the Senate recessed for a weeklong Memorial Day before voting on it.

So what is it like for people out of work, who defend on these benefits? We talked to some of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been unemployed for a year today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since October last year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going on three years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A year now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since last summer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just need to go to work, and I have four children and, you know, they need to continue to see that environment. They need to see parents working, because that's what it's all about. You have to work for what you want.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, you got to take a job anywhere they offer you a job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you had told me 20 years ago, 10 years ago that I was going to be in this position at 59 years old, I would have laughed at you and told you you were nuts. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The waiting. The waiting's probably the most frustrating part of - waiting. And then when you finally get the call, the feeling (INAUDIBLE) many people are after that same job and have the same qualifications.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I can't pay all my bills, so I just basically try to choose which ones to prioritize, and I kind of fell back on other ones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inadequate. That's my own personal feeling. You know, that this has been a kick in - in the stomach. But that's the way it is, you know? I don't - it hasn't brought extra stress to the family? Of course it has.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you go to 5,000 doors, somebody might open the door for you and not slam the door in your face. Hopefully.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teaching again. I like being in front of the classroom. I'm good at it. And I do miss it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just put my faith in God, so I believe that - that he's with me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I took it as a positive spin, more like, OK, this is time for a change, to go back to school. I'm hopeful. I'm sure something will come through for me soon, because I'm determined to find a job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a matter of time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a matter of time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Just a matter of time. We certainly hope it's not too long for some of those folks looking for work. They're among so many others out there who are in the same boat.

Well, we're all in the same boat when it comes to the Gulf Coast right now. You've heard all these names - top kill, containment dome, junk shot, top hat - you name it. But none of it worked.

Another method they're going to try now to try to stop that oil leak, we'll be telling you more about it this morning. But we also talked to some people who want to help as well. They want to help with the actual cleanup. They have some solutions. And they're not just talking about them; they're showing them to us. We've got something called a smart sponge to a special moss. We put the products to the test.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: About 35 minutes past the hour here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. You see over my shoulder that live picture. It goes on, folks, and it sounds like it could go on for quite some time. That's the live picture. Oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico after the latest effort to stop the leak failed. You heard a lot about it the past week, the top kill method, but BP last night confirming that top kill was unable to plug that underwater geyser of oil.

The company says its crews are already now at work on another method, a new method, this one involving lowering a cap over that ruptured well. That attempt expected to take place sometime in the next four to seven days. Even if it does succeed, it's not actually going to capture all of the oil that's leaking, but they're hoping it will capture most of it, some of it, any of it at this point would be a welcome relief.

The only permanent solution to all of this, at least we have been told from the beginning, is to build a relief well that will choke off the flow. That, however, won't be completed before August. They told us at the beginning the relief wells are the only real way to do this. But they said even if you start drilling immediately, it's going to taken about three months to get that done. They did start that as soon as the accident happened, but again we're now looking at August, August before possibly those relief wells are ready.

BP has actually set up a tip center to take some ideas on how to stop the leak and also how to clean it up. They've taken some 70,000 calls, another 20,000 e-mails. They got a wide variety of responses. Let's give you a look of some of the ideas that are actually starting coming in. This one, initially you might shake your head at, but some are saying it actually works. One idea uses pantyhose stuffed with human hair to soak the oil in the water.

Also a Texas Tech professor suggests using nonwoven cotton. He says a single gram of the cotton can absorb 40 grams of oil. Also Kevin Costner, the actor, he's with a company that has a machine that spins the water quickly to separate the oil. He says they can actually process 200-plus 1000 gallons of water every day.

There's something else called the squid. It involves a heavy ring attached to a reinforced tube collects oil at it floats to the ocean's service. And Alan Peterson of Florida says has a fabric that is called X-tech (ph), and that, he says, absorbs 20 times its own weight in oil. Those are just some. There are others as well. We can tell you about them, but we can also show you. We will give you demonstrations on two ideas that were actually submitted to BP. Let you see for yourself if they can actually soak up this oil.

It's 36 minutes past the hour. Stay with us here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: The leak has become the worst oil spill in U.S. history. And it continues to get worse as we speak this morning. That is happening live below the surface of the water. Now, this leak supposedly has some of the brightest minds working on it right now, but it has defied the world's foremost experts. So we talked to some citizens. Not considered necessarily experts, if you will, but they believe they have some viable ideas on how to cap it, yes, some of those ideas. But also, you might say more importantly at this point, is how to clean up this spill. One of the people we talked to with an idea, his name is Ed Corpora. He is from American Products Enterprises Corporation. Yesterday he joined me with his product and with a little show and tell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED CORPORA, AMERICAN PRODUCTS ENTERPRISES CORPORTION: Well, T.J., it is an organic product that's derived from a sphagnum dehydrated peat moss and we process it to a certain consistency, like this one you see here.

HOLMES: And it's organic, so that helps.

CORPORA: Yes, 100 percent organic, it is also microbial, which means it has microbes in it, that will actually eat the oils that is absorbed in the product over a period of time.

HOLMES: OK, I know you contacted BP as well. We'll tell people in a second the reaction you got from BP. But show us, first of all, we have the water here. You have some oil, so just go ahead and walk us through it.

CORPORA: OK. Well, I'm going to demonstrate here a little bit of motor oil. Let's get this out of the way.

HOLMES: You're just throwing some oil in there, all right.

CORPORA: Some transmission fluid, give it a little dark color. Get some vinegar, we'll get some lettuce and tomato. No, just kidding. Just throw a little bit down on there on the spill.

HOLMES: So what's it doing? What is it supposed to be doing? Suppose this was the gulf and you threw this stuff on top of it?

CORPORA: You see the dark color. I don't know if your audience can see it, but it is dark in color. That means it's already come into contact with a petroleum product. At this point it's already out of the water, believe it or not. It's not in the water anymore. In fact, I want to simulate a feather duster, a duck floating in the spill area. No oil.

HOLMES: And no oil that comes out on it. Just a little of that moss.

CORPORA: Duck's feathers, it is encapsulated in the product. It's not in the water. Just skim it right out.

HOLMES: And it works. So, would you go back and then scoop it up? You would scoop it all up?

CORPORA: You skim it out. It's much easier to do it that way. There is no need for vac trucks or vacuums.

HOLMES: Now this would work. You used a little motor oil and some things here, but you saying this would work on the same--

CORPORA: Yeah, you're about to see crude oil, no oil on my hands.

HOLMES: Tell us. We know you got a hold of BP. You put your idea out there as well. I think you got a hold of them almost immediately after the disaster?

CORPORA: About three days after I called. They gave me a number. The e-mailed me a form. I filled out the form. I'm sorry. I'm doing one more demonstration for you while we're talking.

I filled out the form and about a week later they just said that they don't think it would be appropriate or a type of product they would need with the type of spill that they have.

HOLMES: Do you buy what they were saying?

CORPORA: No.

HOLMES: Do you think they have their reason for it, or you still disagree and think you can help out?

CORPORA: I don't have the solution, no one does. I don't have one product that will take care of it. No one does. But I think that my product would definitely be helpful on water spills, especially in wetlands and marshlands because it's microbial and encapsulates on contact.

HOLMES: One more time, what this stuff is? This is just some-

CORPORA: Sphagnum dehydrated peat moss. It is dried out and then we process it, as I said, to this consistency.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: There's one. He really does believe he can help out. But again BP saying no thanks, they don't believe it's a viable reason right now. I'm sure they have their reasons. But next we're going to introduce you to another man who is has also been in touch with BP. He has a product called a smart sponge. We'll show you how it works. Again, this man thinks as well BP needs to call him up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's a quarter to the top of the hour. And as you've heard, as we've been reporting top kill has failed. The search continues now for some way, some method to clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Not just clean it up, still trying to cap it at this point. So far experts have not found a solution to cap it or clean it up that well.

We're looking for some ideas out there from regular folks and yesterday we found a couple of regular folks to tell us about their ideas. A lot of ideas have been submitted to BP about ideas helping to clean up that oil. We talked to a guy who had a product called the smart sponge. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GORDON BROWN, V.P. CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT, ABTECH INDUSTRIES: This is smart sponge technology. It was developed in the mid-1990s. We brought it to the oil industries. It's a patented polymer that absorbs hydrocarbons out of water. We originally brought it to market under the acronym OARS, Oil Aquatic Recover System. And the oil industry didn't pick up on it. We spent a couple of years trying to crack into the industry. They have their own proven traditional methods that they didn't want to break away from. This is a little more expensive product but highly more effective. It absorbs hydrocarbons, at a molecular level, out of the water.

HOLMES: Now, what effect, Mr. Brown, is this going to have? We're talking about oil here. You think you have something that could work and could help but could you produce this and have an effect on this large of a scale with a spill this large?

BROWN: Absolutely. We've got a unique presence in the marketplace there. We've redirected our factories and everything in the last four weeks to be producing full time. We can create booms and infiltration boxes.

HOLMES: How quickly could you do that? How quickly?

BROWN: Well, we're producing them right now. Actually we have a warehouse in Phoenix, Arizona that is full of material and we're quite frankly just waiting for an order. We've been waiting for BP. And we've been working with them and talking to them regularly and they just haven't pulled the trigger for whatever reason yet, but we're ready to go.

HOLMES: They haven't pulled the trigger but you are in touch with BP. You have at least gotten some good feedback from BP, correct?

BROWN: We certainly haven't gotten any negative feedback. They haven't said no. We've been in contact with their Deep Horizon Command Center. We registered with every state, we've done all the forms and brought our product to their attention. We're quite certain they're aware of it

HOLMES: And you're ready to go, it sounds like. Sounds like you are ready to go.

BROWN: We're ready to go. We want to get our products down on the water and get them deployed.

HOLMES: How wide of an area -- again, we're going to have the demonstration for our viewers here. We're going to let them show it to us in a second. But how wide of an area could you cover with this stuff you are producing? I know you are still producing some, but give us an idea. It's a massive area out there of this oil. How much could you have an effect on?

BROWN: It is a massive area. And we're not the first line of defense. We are not the containment booms. But we are what we call the last line of defense. Our absorbent booms can absorb oily sheen water and prevent it. When I saw these oil sheens going into the marshlands in Louisiana last week it just sickened me, because I believe we can prevent that from occurring. And the pristine beaches in Florida, we can lay these booms out across those areas and actually absorb the oil. It's not just moving it. And then it can be removed and the water will not leech out of this product as you are pulling it out of the water, it is permanently bonded to the product.

HOLMES: Last thing here. So I think you have a demonstration you can give us, in front of you?

BROWN: Yes, I do.

HOLMES: So kind of talk us through it and quickly we'll show our viewers what's happening.

BROWN: This is our Smart Sponge product. And this is just some regular tap water. I'm going to take a vial full of oil and diesel fuel here and mix it into the tap water. You'll see I'm going to shake it up here. Then I'm going to take this oily water mixture. This is at much higher levels in storm water run off, but probably comparable to some of that very oily water you're seeing along the Gulf Coast. And I'm going to pour it through our Smart Sponge media here. And as you see, the water actually flows through the media, but the oil is retained in the media and it's permanently bonded. So as the water flows through, the oil is retained. This material can actually be taken to a landfill. It will not leech out. It is nonhazardous. Or, better, it can be burned in a waste energy facility at about 18,000 Btu. It can create about 350 pounds of spent Smart Sponge, fully absorbed, will create about one kilowatt of energy.

HOLMES: So, it is stuck to that sponge? The oil is not going anywhere? It is not going to seep out and it looks like all you have, that came out of that tube is the water.

BROWN: Clear water, the oil's in the sponge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: It seems so simple, doesn't it, Bonnie?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It does.

HOLMES: I know there is more to it. A lot of smart folks working on this thing down there. But, man, some of those solutions, a lot of people responded yesterday talking about why don't we have that stuff down there?

SCHNEIDER: Exactly. When you look at each idea, it looks perfect that it would work, but maybe on a larger scale that's probably one of the issues. I really give those people a lot of credit for pursuing their ideas and then pushing BP to listen.

HOLMES: They do just want to help, a lot of them do. They do have products that they are selling, but still a lot of people do think that they can help. But they've got the experts, as they call them, down there working on it though, Bonnie. The weather, we talked about a tropical depression, then it was a storm. Right?

SCHNEIDER: Right. Then it got downgraded to a depression again. Yes, it is a lot to keep up. We're talking about Agatha, the first named storm for the Eastern Pacific season.

Of course the Atlantic season will begin June 1st which is Tuesday. We are also watching the weather in the Gulf. Just I want to let everybody know the beaches are open for the most part and the weather is actually nice. I'll be talking about that plus your Memorial Day weekend forecast. That's straight ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHNEIDER: Good morning. I'm Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider. We're tracking extreme weather here on CNN. First off we have a tropical depression. This was the first tropical storm named one of the Pacific season. You can see Agatha. What's left of this depression is still hammering Guatemala. Remember, Guatemala is the place where a volcano erupted just days ago. So there is ash is clogging the street drains and that's making flooding worse; 30 inches of rain expected to accumulate through Central America before this storm completely breaks up and dissipates. Definitely a huge rainmaker and a flood one at that.

Let's talk about travel since it is a holiday weekend. We have over 1,100 planes in the air right now. Let's zoom into the Northeast and you'll see a lot of activity is through the New England corridor, getting an early start to a pretty nice weekend.

We can show you that it looks great in New York City. Let's take a live picture there. The temperature is going to be almost 10 degrees warmer today than it was yesterday in New York City. We can show you a live picture and it looks good. It looks a little hazy. Almost looks like a summer day there when you look at that. Look for high temperatures in Manhattan to climb into the '80s. It's also Fleet Week. So there is a lot of activity going on in New York.

For those of you traveling elsewhere across the country we're tracking delays across a good portion of the U.S. Certainly down through Florida. And look for delays in the Atlanta area. We can show you what it looks like outside this morning, in Atlanta, Georgia. It's hot out there. The temperatures have been soaring. We've been watching for some very powerful thunderstorms to work their way through Atlanta, Georgia. I'm expecting that to persist through the afternoon. And some of those will be intense. So we may have a slowdown at the airports.

Finally across the Gulf of Mexico, only scattered showers and thunderstorms. The weather in the Gulf is warm today and in the mid '80s and humid. But, T.J., just to note, most beaches are open and the weather is nice. Only a couple of showers popping up in the Florida Panhandle. Overall it's a nice weekend, it is a nice holiday weekend to get people to go to the beaches. And I know that the local businesses really want people to come.

HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) As much as we can this weekend. Folks, beaches are open. A lot of people want to help. Want to find a way to help. If you can't get out there, they're trying to figure out how to clean up the oil and stop the leak. You can help go on vacation, go to the Gulf.

SCHNEIDER: That is a good way to help.

HOLMES: Yes, we've got to drive that point home all morning. Bonnie, thank you so much. We'll check in with you plenty this morning. >

The job at the Arlington National Cemetery. It's one that's solemn but satisfying. The team of workers behind the scenes, making sure the nation's heroes get a proper burial. You'll meet a man who's been helping to prepare their final resting place for almost 30 years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, a place and time to remember those who died in service to this country. There's a choreographed mission going on behind the scenes every single day to ensure our nation's heroes get a proper burial. CNN Producer Bob Covatch (ph) talked to one man who feels he's doing his part to bring closure to families at a difficult time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DARRELL STAFFORD, INTERNMENT FOREMAN, ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETRY: Yes, meet me at Patton and -- Eisenhower and Patton.

My name is Darrell Stafford. I'm the internment foreman at Arlington National Cemetery. I've been working at Arlington Cemetery for 27 years, going on into my 28th year. We try to dig the graves a day prior to the actual service. The day of the service we place grave liners into the grave sites. Following that ladders, grave boards, grass screens, chairs.

We rotate the material from grave site to grave site. I think we probably have completed probably at least 8 of the 20 or 30 we have.

Cover it up, tap it. Close shut. Coming into Memorial Day we have a whole lot of visitors. We have a whole lot of ceremonies going.

This is Section 60. It is the current war we are involved in, it's Iraq and Afghanistan. To see a funeral of an active duty soldier and most of the people paying their respects, teenagers and college kids versus some of the other funerals where you have elderly and middle-aged people, everybody's a VIP. They've come to honor (INAUDIBLE) -- I mean, whether it's a private or a general, we got to look -- we look at them the same. Someone's loved one has passed on and we should do our best to make their departure or their last moments with their loved one the best we can give. We're doing something to bring closure to, I guess, a sad time in people's lives. I don't think if you didn't care, you wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be here this long if I didn't care enough.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

HOLMES: Good morning, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Glad you all could be right here on this holiday weekend. I'm T.J. Holmes.

It's 7:00 a.m. where I stand here in Atlanta, Georgia; 6:00 a.m. in New Orleans. Wherever you maybe this morning, we're glad you started your day right here with us.

And what we have this morning is really some heartbreaking news. A reality is that, in fact, we may be watching this scene until sometime in August. We got word yesterday that the latest and really the best hope for stopping the leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the so- called "top kill" method has failed. That means that now the best option might not be ready until sometime in August.

But still, in the meantime, another new procedure is going to be launched at some point within the next week. This was called the Lower Marine Riser cap. No guarantees that this is going to work. And even if it does work, it's not going to capture all of the oil that's leaking.

So, again, the surest way, as we've been told from the very beginning, is for a relief drill needs to be drilled. But those won't be complete until August.

Folk, we're going to get more into this all in just a moment. I want to give you first a look at some of the stories that are making headlines this morning.

A horrible story out of southern India. Thirty people have been killed in a bus accident there. Among the dead, 10 children. We're told what happened is a bus hit a police barricade. It flipped over and then burst into flames when the fuel tank caught fire. Many passengers were trapped inside. Thirty people also reported injured in that.

And also, I want to show you video here. It's just amazing. This is happening in broad daylight. And what you're seeing there in the middle of the screen is a scuffle.

Police say that a man and two women abducted another woman, a 17- year-old, from the parking lot of a Target store in Stafford, Virginia. That's what you're seeing. You see the scuffle continue. Police say, you see on the surveillance video, that the young lady who's being abducted is fighting the whole time, trying to keep from being put into that van.

Now, the people who were doing abducting eventually get her into that van, but at the same time, she continues to scuffle before finally the door is closed and the van takes off. Police don't know why she was abducted at least not releasing that information just yet. Again, you see there, she's still fighting and trying to get out up until the last moment.

But again, the van then takes off. The police are asking for any help, any information. And you're asked to call the local police there if you know anything about the abduction. You see the number up on your screen. We'll leave that up for a second longer. They are really looking for any information if you had it, to finally or possibly find that young woman.

Also, a sad news to give you this morning about actor Dennis Hopper, dead now at the age 74. It was just last year he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His idol, James Dean He made "Rebel Without a Cause," and "Giant" with him. Now, he got to fame initially with the movie "Easy Rider." That was back in 1969.

According to statement, he was surrounded by family, including his 6-year-old daughter when he died at his home yesterday. Dennis Hopper, dead at the age of 74.

Back to that oil spill disaster. Right now, it is the worst in history. The worst oil spill in our history and it continues to get worse. Live picture you're seeing over my shoulder still today of what's happening every single minute of every single day. Oil continues to gush out into the Gulf of Mexico.

Top kill -- a lot of people have put a lot of faith into this latest method to possibly cap it. Well, it didn't work. We got that news last night from B.P. that it, in fact, did not work. So, they're going to have to move on to something else.

Here we are some 40-plus days into this disaster. Listen now as they try to explain what possibly went wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG SUTTLES, COO, B.P.: After three full days of attempting top kill, we have been unable to overcome the flow from the well. So, we now believe it's time to move on to the next of our options which is the LMRP, Lower Marine Riser Package cap.

Over the last three days, we've pumped a total of over 30,000 barrels of mud, we made numerous attempts to overcome the flow, we've monitored the situation after each attempt, we've also used our junk shot technique and other materials to try to divert more of the flow down the well, but we have not been able to stop the flow.

And after significant review with what could only probably be called a brain trust of engineers and scientists from and B.P. and the industry, the Minerals Management Service, the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior and further reviews by Secretary Salazar and Secretary Chu, we have made the decision to move on to the next option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And, again, as you heard him say, the next option, that Lower Marine Rise Package cap. Now, given the history that we've had in the past 40 days of all those options, a lot of people not putting a whole lot faith, a lot of faith in this option either, including the president.

The president, as we know, was there on Friday in the Gulf Coast area, getting a look. He's in Chicago for the weekend with his family for this Memorial Day. He did release a statement after learning about the failure of this latest method, this top kill.

And he said, and I'm quoting, "It is enraging as it is heartbreaking. And we will not relent until the leak is contained, until the waters and shores are cleaned up, and until the people unjustly victimized by this manmade disaster are made whole."

Again, you heard the B.P. official mentioned this next option, called the Lower Marine Rise Package, is what he said. Now, the president referred to that as well in his statement.

Let me read part of that to you. And it says, quote, "This approach is not without risk and has never been attempted before at this depth. That is why it was not activated until other methods had been exhausted. It will be difficult and will take several days."

Reynolds Wolf is live for us in New Orleans with more on that.

We're going to talk to you, Reynolds, and I certainly want to talk more about this new option. But before I do that, give -- can you give me the reaction there for people. And, again, I know 60 to 70 percent is not a lot. But everyone knew, and at least we were being told, this was the best option so far, this top kill, people putting a lot of faith in it, rightly or wrongly.

But what's the reaction down there just from -- somebody just might pass by on a sidewalk to this news now?

WOLF: I would say anger and frustration still, really, the predominant mode that people have been feeling here, no question about it. And, you know, it's an amazing thing, T.J., because we've had some of the best minds in the business, some of the best scientists in the planet that have been butting their heads together, trying to come up with a solution with this problem.

And as they've been basically throwing these things up against the wall, very few of these obviously have been sticking. Hopefully, this one will be the key.

Let me show you this. We showed it the past hour, but for the benefit of our viewers from across America that might not have had a chance to see, this is the morning headline. Ken (INAUDIBLE) is the photojournalist. I'm going to hold this up so Ken might be able to get a shot of it.

"The Times Picayune," "Top Kill Fails." That is your headline there. And, of course, a lot of people this morning are certainly angry about that. They're hoping that this next venture will bear fruit.

And, T.J., you were talking about that. That is the Lower Marine Riser Package cap. And just to get you a better explanation on that, the riser package is basically an underwater framework that you have. Then the cap itself is going to be lowered from a ship some 5,000 feet up, nearly a mile up.

Now, this cap is going to be lowered by the Discoverer Enterprise, the ship. And once it goes down, it's not going to form a tight seal over the leak. That's impossible. It's going to be sitting over and drawing up some of the oil to the surface, T.J.

And here's the thing, it's not a guarantee that it's going to pull every single bit of it. It's not going to be guaranteed it's going to work at all. But they're hoping to get most of the oil back up to the Discoverer Enterprise where they put on other ships and sent back to shore.

Again, they're going to try to take care of some of the underwater seepage with this underwater chemical dispersants. So, we're just hoping this bears fruit until we tried those relief wells. That -- I think the earliest for that is going to months away. We're talking August before they can have a real solution for that. Not the temporary stop gap that we've seen.

And, you know, T.J., everything we've dealt with here has been a temporary stop gap, talking from about the emergency booms to the berms that we have on the shorelines that they're going to building, to this latest effort. So, again, certainly, next to frustration in the mood is anger.

HOLMES: And, Reynolds, everyone, like you said -- we've known and we've been told from the very beginning that the relief wells were the sure way to do it and everything has been thrown at it to try to make it stick. And this latest effort -- and again the president said in his statement the reason they didn't do this one earlier because it's never been done you, don't have a lot of faith in it. I mean, you get that sense that nobody has a lot of faith that this one will work.

When is this one going to be under way?

REYNOLDS: Well, they're working on the relief wells. If you're referring to the relief wells, though, efforts have been on those right now. But, again, they're not going to be able to finish up with those until, again, ways off. We're looking at again, August -- so months away from that to drill, not one but two of those.

Then the other effort, of course, is that we've been talking about the top hat. And that's going to be, as you mentioned, anywhere from four to seven. What's funny is we've heard a few people mention four. Most, however, seem to be leaning more to that more conservative number of seven days. But, you know, we've gone from those measures. Even if one of those bears fruit and does become successful, we're still going to deal with the oil that's out there. And that's a whole different things we're dealing with.

Governor Jindal here in the state of Louisiana has been talking about putting up those sand berms, again, the barriers, if you will, at the very southern end of the coast of Louisiana, to help hold back that oil. And, hopefully, that's going to help, too.

But is a bunch of people coming together with some ideas, hoping that one of those will be a solution.

HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, really, it's a rough, rough morning to get this news. A lot of people are just waking up to it. Some people weren't able to see it last night when it first broke. But just some horrible news to hear this latest effort didn't work either.

Reynolds, we appreciate you, buddy. We'll be checking in with you this morning.

Meanwhile, this cleaning up is proving to be an occupational hazard as well for some. The acting president of the Louisiana Shrimpers' Association says two more spill recovery workers have gotten sick, bringing the total now to at least nine people who have been sickened in the past week. The workers have been complaining of nausea, headache, dizziness.

Cleanup crews want better air quality monitoring and protection equipment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINT GUIDRY, LOUISIANA SHRIMPER'S ASSOCIATION: This is unbelievable. In my experience -- I'm a Vietnam veteran -- it reminds me very much of being sprayed with Agent Orange. This is -- this has got to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, B.P. says it takes worker safety seriously and has been providing recovery workers with the necessary equipment while conducting daily air quality tests.

We're going to turn to some different news here in just a moment. We've been looking all morning for some possibly good news. Well, this is some different news, different tone to it.

It's about a Major League Baseball player. A huge success yesterday, supposed to be a great story. Walk-off, home run, win the game. So, why in the world is heading to the hospital?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC) HOLMES: All right. 13 minutes past the hour here on the CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

I'm going to show you something from a game we saw yesterday. This is in southern California. You know, it's always great. A walk- off home run, that's one thing.

But a walk-off grand slam? That's huge. Check this out. Kendry Morales. Check it out.

Now, you might be saying this ain't ESPN, why are you showing me highlights from a baseball game. Well, there's more to the story. You know the trot, the slow trot, and you get to home plate. Your teammates are waiting on you and you celebrate. You see this oftentimes.

And they pounce. They pounce a little too hard. So much so that Mr. Morales has to go to the hospital. He messed his ankle up. At first, there were reports that it was actually broken.

Take a look after your big moment. Grand slam, walk-off. You have to be carted off.

Now we're told now that the injury is not as serious as a broken ankle. That would be great. But either way, he's going to have a whole lot more time than he thought to savor that grand slam home run because he's now on the 15-day disabled list.

So, a lesson there in your celebration. It can be a bit dangerous sometimes, Bonnie. Too bad. I mean, a great moment, the grand slam and whatnot. But you hate to see that.

It's a little funny. A little, but just kind of ironic. But, no, he is all right. We're told it's not as bad as we thought it was.

But, Bonnie, again, back to you. We were talking about this tropical depression turning into a tropical storm now back to a depression. But that doesn't mean it's necessarily the danger's gone.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's true. You know, and it is a huge rainmaker for sure when you're looking at this tropical system. We're taking a look at now at our depression known as Agatha. This one, unfortunately, has already caused death and destruction in Central America.

So heavy rain will continue to hit the area. Even though it's a depression, don't let that fool you. You can see on our satellite perspective how intense the cloud tops are. Areas in bright red indicate the highest cloud tops and that's where we're getting the most rain.

As we take a look at that, we're also talking about certainly the Gulf. Hurricane season on the Atlantic side begins on Tuesday. And now with this Gulf oil spill looking like it's going to be a problem well into the summer, the question posed, of course, is what would happen if a hurricane came into the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes and oil -- how do they mix and what exactly would happen?

Well, a lot of it, of course, is unknown. But there are some things that we do know. And I wanted to point them out here.

Most hurricanes, we're looking at something like really a large, like Katrina or Rita back in 2005, are huge in diameter. I can remember looking at the satellite perspective for both of those storms before they made their way on shore, and the cloud width covered the entire Gulf of Mexico. So, relatively speaking, most hurricanes are much wider than the oil spill, and the oil itself would give minimal impact on the intensity or track of the storm.

That's the way it stands right now if things got worse in August if the storm hits. Of course, that's a variable and it could change.

Also, oil onshore depends on the track of the hurricane. It really does because winds on one side could possibly sweep some oil or particles onshore depending on the path of where the strongest winds are and the direction in track of the storm. So, it's hard to say, for sure, that everyone would see it. It really could be a very isolated situation.

And this is important to note: even though it's possible for some of the vapors and particles of the oil to evaporate, it won't be raining oil. It won't be picking up the oil and then raining it back down in a cloud. And this is because when a hurricane comes over the Gulf of Mexico or any body of water, it's picking up moisture from a very wide area, not just a concentrated area like the Oil spill.

So the rain won't be coming down -- there won't be oil in the rain. However, obviously, a lot of this is unknown because this is the first time this situation has occurred. So, we'll be watching and I hope that these two don't mix this hurricane season, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Bonnie Schneider, we appreciate you as always. Thanks so much.

And this Memorial Day weekend, we have new interactive Web site to honor soldiers who have served overseas. We're going to show you how this works. It's coming up.

It's 17 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Well, this weekend -- I was really impressed with this and loved this. We've just started this. It's going to be a way to honor the soldiers who have been killed in wars and it shows exactly where they're from. This is cool.

Josh Levs, you take it away.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll take it away.

Yes, more than the 6,000 coalition troops have died in the two ongoing wars right, Iraq and Afghanistan. And during those wars, the Internet has changed a lot.

So, what we have now is a brand-new Web site that's up at CNN.com. I'm refreshing so you can see what happens at the top.

We're starting off with the Afghanistan page and what we have is a map of the United States and a map of Afghanistan. And let's zoom in to the United States. I want to show everyone what these dots are.

What you can do is click on any region anywhere in the country, learn about the fallen heroes in your area. You could also search by name. You can get information on every single one of them. When you get there, it opens up a larger page and then you can learn all about them.

Also, take a look at this, one similar for Iraq. That was Afghanistan, this one is Iraq. It shows all these casualties, more than 4,000 U.S. casualties alone in the Iraq War.

And over here on this side, you have a map of Afghanistan on the other screen. A map of Iraq here, and these are all casualties. When you see a giant circle, that means where a lot of them happen -- so that would be Baghdad. And that brings you to an alphabetical list. And you can learn so much about these troops.

Now, a few more things you should see here. When you get to this list, you can click on every single person, get their home town, their background, how they served, how they died.

We gathered all the information we can for you about them. Also, you can take a look right here. And this is our iReport system set up. You can put messages to their families. You can put these messages in general about your thoughts on the troops. All of that going on right here at our iReport page.

And one more thing to show you as well, you can look alphabetically at every single one of these heroes and all the wars that are going on, Iraq and Afghanistan. You can search by any area, you can search by time, you can search by month, you can search by home town or by last name. It is the most comprehensive way to learn about the people who have given their lives serving our country.

And, obviously, T.J., on the eve of Memorial Day, all our thoughts are with the families of these troops. That's why we are expecting a lot of people to take advantage of this new site, check it out, learn about this people, and ultimately, to send some messages on the iReport system right there, your thoughts on Memorial Day.

HOLMES: Yes. Really -- really nice compilation. Whoever of our technical team put all that together, it really is done very well, CNN.com/homeandaway.

Josh, thank you so much.

LEVS: Thank you. Yes.

HOLMES: You're 21 minutes past the hour here on the CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Quick break, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Taking a look now at some of the stories making headlines. I take you to Phoenix, Arizona, where tens of thousands of people were rallying there yesterday to protest Arizona's new controversial law that cracks down on illegal immigrants. At the same time, another protest, a counter-protest, was held in nearby Tempe. Not as many people showed there still, but a pretty big crowd

Enforcement of Arizona's controversial new law is set to begin in late July.

Also parts of Kingston, Jamaica, looked like a war zone after the governments failed the attempted capture a suspected drug lord who was wanted as well in the U.S. Supporters, though, of Christopher Coke put up a pierce battle against the police. Seventy-six people were killed. Jamaican authorities say they'll be back on a hunt for the indicted drug lord tomorrow.

Another five-day labor strike targeting British Airways is on. The union representing cabin workers are demanding better pay and working conditions. The airlines has flights in and out of Heathrow in London will be affected.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA DAWN JOHNSON, MOTIVATIONAL MINUTE: Well, hello, sunshine. This is Melissa Dawn Johnson, your global branding and personal transformation strategist. And this is your morning motivation.

Well, the warmth of the sun tells us that we are in a new season. This week, I want to challenge you to put a little sizzle in your summer. Yes, as you're going about your day, think about ways that you can discover a new passion.

What ignites your fire? What cause will you stand up for? What will you dare to wear?

This season, it's all picking everything up a notch. So, remember, as you push past your limitation, every single day, you're growing and building the best you yet. And we can't wait to see it.

Until next week, visit me at brandmelive.com and share how you are adding a little sizzle to your summer. I'll speak to you next summer. Make every week brand-tastic.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. I'm going to be back here in 30 minutes with more lives at the top of hour. Certainly, a lot of the focus has been on the oil spill, the disaster there.

But always, as a reminder, and we continue to need to make this point: yes, those are ugly pictures and it's really turning some people off of going to the Gulf. But a reminder, folks, the Gulf is open for business. A lot of people are losing business right now. They need you there.

The president has reiterated that, in fact, only three beaches in entire Gulf Coast are closed. If you want ho help out. Take a trip to the Gulf.

I'll be back in 30 minutes. But right now, I want to hand it over to "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D."