CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript

Interview

COOPER: Congressman Markey, is there anything the government can do to try to speed up the payments? And -- and the fact that BP apparently hasn't put up any of the $5 billion at least they were supposed to so far into the $20 billion escrow fund is -- is pretty surprising.

REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: This is an agreement which BP has with the White House and with the United States Department of Justice. So, if they are going to back away from this agreement, if they're not going to honor it in a timely fashion, then I think that stern action must be taken against them.

Tony Hayward, if these reports are accurate, is going to receive approximately 10 percent of the total of $200 million which has been paid out to all of the Gulf of Mexico residents cumulatively so far, $18 million vs. $200 million.

On the other hand, they promised to put up $20 billion, and so far, they have only put out $200 million, which is 1 percent of the total of the $20 billion. While Tony will get a golden parachute, the economy in the Gulf of Mexico is in freefall. I think that obviously, BP once again is not honoring the commitment which they made to these people.

COOPER: Doug, do you think this is a story that the White House, frankly, just wants to go away? I mean, certainly, BP wants it to go away. But is this something you think the White House just wishes people would stop focusing on?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: I think so. I mean, they want it off the front page. It's become the big inconvenience in an election season.

But Mr. Feinberg here has to keep an iron boot heel on BP now. This week, they have to pay these claimants. If not -- I agree with Congressman Markey -- the Justice Department has to really go after BP. We have to charge this company with criminal negligence.

Whether you look at Texas City or the Alaska tundra spill or what happened in the Gulf, this is a company that's been running roughshod in America over our Justice Department, over the people of Louisiana. There's a continual arrogance of the company.

You saw it with Tony Hayward when he went on his yacht, with all of the comments that he's made, now essentially taking blood money of this magnitude as a punch-out, snubbing his nose, while they're not even paying people in the Gulf.

Hayward is known as "Toxic Tony" around the Gulf South. And people are not filling up with BP. They're selling their stock. And there's an anger rising in the Gulf. And Ken Feinberg recognizes it and he's trying to put the pressure on BP to move and pay people.

COOPER: I want to -- hold on. We have got to take a quick break. I want to talk to all of you, and particularly also Billy, about what is happening out there on the water, reports that the oil is getting harder to find. I want to talk to him about that, about trying to figure out where the oil is, if it's a good -- if that's a good-news thing or a bad-news.

We will have a lot more, also, about the departure of Tony Hayward, the size of any potential severance package, after the break.

You can weigh in as well. Join the live chat now under way at AC360.com.

Also, it recently sprang a leak. People worry it could cause a Gulf-size disaster up in Alaska, another BP facility -- what 360's Drew Griffin uncovered about the pipeline that BP co-manages and critics say dangerously mismanages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Continuing our breaking news coverage: the announcement expected from London within hours, BP CEO Tony Hayward expected to step down, expected to get paid a lot of money to leave. He said he would like his life back. It looks like he's going to get it, and a lot of money to enjoy it.

Back now with Billy Nungesser, Doug Brinkley, and Congressman Ed Markey. Billy, I read a report that some folks are finding it harder to find oil now on the surface. Is that what you're hearing as well? And if so, where's the oil? What does this mean? Is this good news, that it's all dissipated?

NUNGESSER: Well, it's good news.

You know, we expected this storm to bring a lot of oil ashore. The storm actually broke up before it came ashore, and it really wasn't much of a storm. So, that was good news.

But I think the way this thing is being played up is like the oil is over because we didn't have oil after one small storm. There was a sheen out of Saint Bernard today. There is some on the inside of one of the islands.

But to take a helicopter ride with the Coast Guard and BP and think this is over -- we met tonight with the parish presidents. We feel like we're going to get hit real soon here with an exit plan and not wait this thing out. There's oil offshore. It took six weeks to come ashore. It's not going away any time soon just because they stopped the leak.

We're glad they did. We're glad we got people out there picking up, but we shouldn't call this thing over just yet.

COOPER: Congressman Markey, what -- what's your greatest concern right now?

MARKEY: My concern --

COOPER: Yes.

MARKEY: -- is that BP is waiting for the storm to pass, the political storm to pass. And then they will start backing away from the obligations which they have to the people in the Gulf of Mexico.

My concern is that this delay in them putting the extra billions of dollars into this escrow account is just a preview of coming attractions.

My fear is that, as Bob Dudley is apparently going to become the new CEO, that the page won't be turned, that transparency and honesty for all the people in the Gulf of Mexico will not have replaced this policy of deception that has been characteristic of the company right from the very beginning of this crisis. That's my greatest concern, which is why it is going to be necessary to keep an eagle eye on everything that they do from here on.

We are now in maybe the most dangerous period, where the people of the Gulf of Mexico might wind up just being forgotten, as the country starts looking at them in the rear-view mirror, as assurances are given to them that the worst has passed.

It has not passed economically for the people in the Gulf of Mexico. For most of them, it has just begun. COOPER: Doug Brinkley, I assume you echo what the congressman just said.

BRINKLEY: I agree with him. I think BP is trying to demobilize from the area. They're trying to get out. Once that got capped and they saw that it held up, their view is, we have fulfilled that responsibility. Now let's cut our losses from the Gulf South.

And the stalling, what they're hoping to do is get this off the front page. The news cycle is going to change. You know, at some point, "The New York Times" and CNN won't be focusing on it as much and we won't be able to keep demanding, like we're doing tonight, that they act like a fair player.

Dudley's coming in now. He's from Mississippi. He's in a mode that he knows how to talk to these parish presidents in Louisiana. Yet last week, they had a meeting at English Turn Country Club and he blew them off 20 minutes before.

This was the -- Bobby Jindal, Mitch Landrieu, six parish presidents, including Billy and here's Dudley blowing them off last minute. It's a constant insult to not just Louisiana, but to the United States. Yet, BP is this oil company that's making its money off of the consumers in this country.

It's about corporate arrogance on BP's part. And if they don't act and -- and pay people responsibly soon, I think the Justice Department, Eric Holder needs to make another trip to New Orleans. That's when they got nervous. They don't want jury trials, because if you have jury trials in Louisiana, they're going to be paying lawsuits forever. Feinberg's giving them a way out with the $20 billion. They need to pay it.

COOPER: Billy, were you -- did you get blown off and if so, what was that like?

NUNGESSER: Well, absolutely.

Let me tell you, we -- we showed up there. I called the summit. And James Lee Witt, I could see he took a lot of heat from the -- the -- the governor, the mayor and parish presidents; took a lot of questions and he said he would go back to them across the river. They were here in downtown New Orleans. They just canceled. We flew in from Lafayette after the rally on the moratorium.

And while we were in flight, they had called and said they were not going to be there. You know the thing that amazes me, when they tried to pull the equipment out before the storm, why is the Coast Guard writing a letter for BP?

Why is the Coast Guard -- it's like they're -- the Coast Guard is the PR firm for BP. We're supposed to take it because it's our own Coast Guard writing a letter, saying it's OK to take assets out. The Coast Guard should be there helping us. Instead, it's like they're there to keep us quiet and help BP on the exit strategy. I have never seen anything like this. Somebody needs to stand up and answer some questions. Why is it the -- the Coast Guard won't get me boom. They won't give me things I need in the parish, but they will help BP sneak equipment out of my parish.

That is criminal. It's criminal.

COOPER: We're going to have to leave it there.

Billy Nungesser, good to have you on.

Congressman Markey, thank you for your time.

And Doug Brinkley as well; appreciate it.

Just ahead tonight: 360 investigates another piece of the BP empire that's more than just an accident waiting to happen. Accidents have happened. They already have. The fear is, the worst is still waiting in the wings.

Also next: new fallout from the Shirley Sherrod affair -- Howard Dean calling FOX News's role in it racist. Does that accusation fit the facts? Both sides of the argument -- you can decide for yourself.

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