White House E-Mail After Katrina Could Prove Embarrassing To President Bush; Vegetable Oil As Fuel
NGUYEN: All right, I'm quoting now: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Who can forget those words of praise from President Bush commending FEMA's director while thousands of Katrina victims suffered? Well, now there is a heck of an e-mail that could prove embarrassing to the president. It's something you will only see on CNN. CNN's Brian Todd filed a report for "THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER."</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Wednesday, August 31, 2005 -- New Orleans has been submerged for two days. In an interview with Larry King, FEMA Director Michael Brown is on the defensive about government failure after Hurricane Katrina. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LARRY KING LIVE") LARRY KING, HOST: : Where's the help?</s>MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: Larry, the help is right there and it's going to be moving in very, very rapidly. I'm going to ask the country to be patient.</s>TODD: The next day, the city still is overwhelmed by chaos and official paralysis. Brown is besieged with criticism. In another CNN interview, he admits he's just finding out about one of the most horrific human catastrophes.</s>BROWN: The federal government did not even know about the convention center people until today.</s>TODD: The following day, the president declares the federal response is "not acceptable," but voices public support for Brown.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Again, I want to thank you all for -- and Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The FEMA director is working 24...</s>TODD: Two days later, Brown's immediate boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, is asked by Wolf Blitzer if he still has confidence in his FEMA director. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE SITUATION ROOM") MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Look, I think Michael Brown has had a lot of experience. I think he's done a tremendous job under pressure.</s>TODD: But CNN has obtained an e-mail from three days after that, September 7, 2005, indicating the Bush administration may have been happy that Brown was taking the heat. A high level White House official close to the president writes to Brown: "I did hear of one reference to you at the cabinet meeting yesterday. I wasn't there, but I heard someone commented that the press was sure beating up on Mike Brown, to which the president replied, 'I'd rather they beat up on him than me or Chertoff.' Congratulations on doing a great job of diverting hostile fire away from the leader." Michael Brown, through his attorney, provided this e-mail to CNN on the condition that we redact the name, not revealing the identity of its author. CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the e-mail, but it does have the White House eop.gov designation at the end, signifying executive office of the President. Brown explained why he released the e-mail to Wolf Blitzer in "</s>THE SITUATION ROOM." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE SITUATION ROOM") BROWN: Well, it could embarrass the president. But, frankly, as long as we're going to continue to play this game of every time the administration talks about what worked or didn't work, I'm not going to sit back and continue to take those stabs. I was doing everything I could down there.</s>TODD: September 9, 2005 -- just two days after that e-mail is sent to Brown, Secretary Chertoff changes his tune.</s>CHERTOFF: I have directed Mike Brown to return to administering FEMA nationally. And I've appointed Vice Admiral Thad Allen of the Coast Guard as the principal federal official overseeing the Hurricane Katrina response.</s>TODD: Three days later, Monday, September 12th, Michael Brown resigns as FEMA director. The next day President Bush says this...</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility.</s>TODD: Historian Douglas Brinkley, whose recent book chronicles the infighting of state and federal officials after Katrina, says the e-mail is consistent with information he received.</s>DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, HISTORIAN, AUTHOR, "THE GREAT DELUGE": The e- mail clearly shows that the Bush White House and the president himself was trying to scapegoat Michael Brown, who became the human pinata of the entire Katrina debacle.</s>TODD: But another analyst says traditionally, it's the job of people like Michael Brown to absorb criticism for the president.</s>PROF. STEPHEN J. WAYNE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: That's what happens. We have an old saying in Washington -- all good news comes from the White House and all bad news come from the departments and agencies.</s>TODD (on camera): We contacted a White House spokeswoman for reaction to our story. She replied in an e-mail: "This is an old rumor that surfaced months ago and we're not commenting on it. This story has already been reported and I have heard nothing at all that would substantiate it." Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.</s>NGUYEN: And that report was filed for "THE SITUATION ROOM." You can watch Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM" weeknights at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 p.m. Pacific.</s>HARRIS: The first tropical depression of his hurricane season has formed. We'll check in with Reynolds Wolf for the details.</s>NGUYEN: Plus, what in the world is the World Cup? Well, if you haven't caught the fever, we're going to help you out by explaining the game.</s>HARRIS: But first, gas prices are averaging about $3.a gallon and that can be tough on your wallet, to be sure. In today's "New Frontiers," Daniel Sieberg has the story of a unique alternative.</s>DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Deep- fried foods -- a diet nightmare. But what if that fryer oil could be turned into something good for you?</s>BRUCE BARBOUR, OWNER, BIODIESEL WORKS: This is a biodiesel machine that actually takes vegetable oil and turns it into a fuel you can put into your car.</s>SIEBERG: It's called bio-diesel, a fuel that many experts call environmentally friendly because it reduces harmful emissions. The Bio49 project in America's Pacific Northwest is dedicated to producing bio-diesel for use in commercial utility trucks. Restaurants provide their used cooking oil and 12,000 gallons are processed each month.</s>BARBOUR: Chemically, bio-diesel is very similar to petroleum diesel. It just doesn't have a lot of the toxins attached. It would be a lot healthier for our kids if all our school buses were using biodiesel instead of petroleum diesel.</s>SIEBERG: Bio49 was the first biodiesel venture to receive funding from the Environmental Protection Agency. One of the goals is to create it as an industry for years to come.</s>JEFF MORRIS, DIRECTOR, BIO49 PROJECT: If we want to be energy independent, we have to be able to secure some of our own fuel sources and this is something that the American farmer can grow, and we can keep our energy expenses from a day to day basis here instead of shipping it overseas and moving it offshore.