CNN Student News Transcript: June 3, 2008

(CNN Student News) -- June 3, 2008

Quick Guide

Vulnerable Point - Visit a port in Louisiana that's crucial to the country's fuel supply.

2007-08 Your Top Stories - Hear what our viewers are saying about this year's spike in gas prices.

Journey to Quake Lake - Follow a reporter's journey to one of China's so-called "quake lakes."

Transcript

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

MONICA LLOYD, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Our last week of the school year keeps rolling on, and we're glad to have you along for the ride as we pull in to Tuesday. Hi, everyone. I'm Monica Lloyd.

First Up: Vulnerable Point

LLOYD: First up today: hurricanes. The beginning of June marks the official start of the Atlantic storm season, but the weather isn't paying attention to the calendar. The first named storm of the year, Arthur, formed on May 31st. It didn't strengthen into a full hurricane, but it did make landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The hurricane season runs from June 1st to November 30th, and experts are predicting an active season. They're expecting up to 16 named storms and up to 5 major hurricanes.

Despite those predictions, a new study shows that people aren't prepared enough for the storms. Fifty percent of the residents who were surveyed didn't have a disaster plan in place. Officials in one Louisiana port are trying to avoid being in that situation. Because as Sean Callebs explains, if they get hit by severe weather, it could impact the entire country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN REPORTER: Port Fourchon is perhaps the most vital, yet vulnerable link in our nation's energy supply that you have never heard of. A bustling hub far down on Louisiana's coast that supports the offshore oil industry, nearly 20 percent of all the oil used in the United States -- one-fifth of our gasoline supply -- depends on this port being up and running.

TED FALGOUT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PORT FOURCHON: Whether it be the farmer in Idaho or the cattleman in Montana, they certainly require energy. And this facility is key to a huge amount of this country's energy supply.

CALLEBS: In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hammered this port. Widespread flooding led to a massive shutdown and an instant spike in fuel prices; and so critically important to the economy that National Guard troops were summoned to protect the area.

DAVIE BREAUX, DIR. OF OPERATIONS, GREATER LAFOURCHE PORT COMMISSION: And the hardest thing was clearing the debris off the roadway. Because the road gets taken over by water and debris builds up on the roadways.

CALLEBS: Now that we are in hurricane season again, it's time for the Port Authority to hold its breath. You think you're paying a lot for gas now?

FALGOUT: If this port is rendered inoperable, we will see a huge inefficiency in our ability to bring in oil and gas.

CALLEBS: Another Katrina or Rita could instantly raise prices at the pump 10-15 percent, according to Fourchon officials. The weakest link along the coast: the 17-mile stretch of highway that cuts through marshlands to the port. 1,200 trucks a day rumble through here, carting supplies to the 15,000 offshore workers in the Gulf. Fourchon is now getting a new elevated highway, but it won't be complete until 2011. But even that will only cover a portion of the 17-mile stretch. Port Fourchon is begging the federal government to step in and help. Everyone here remembers what happened a couple of hours to the north.

FALGOUT: We professed that the levees in New Orleans and other areas needed to be done, and we did nothing until the catastrophe hit. Then we paid ten times more to get it fixed. I see that happening here.

CALLEBS: And when you're below sea level, it's amazing how shallow the words "I told you so" can sound.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

2007-08 Your Top Stories

LLOYD: Yesterday, we mentioned that Mr. Miller's sixth grade girls said the presidential race is the school year's top story. For most of the guys, though, it's all about the gas prices. We just capped off a 26-day streak of rising fuel costs. Yesterday's national average for a gallon of unleaded: $3.97. Carl Azuz tells us who else is speaking up about the spike.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: We've reported on rising gas prices so much in the past few weeks that it's become big news when prices don't rise. Believe it or not, that's exactly what happened Monday: They stayed true to the same, record rate they hit the day before. Tavin on our blog calls gas prices "insanely expensive." Chris says they're "way too high." Grace writes that the "unreasonable, skyrocketing oil price" in the U.S. is what strikes her the most. Higher oil leads to higher gas, and if you drive, you are hurting. So some students are getting creative.

STUDENT HORSEBACK RIDER: My truck is very, like, a gas guzzler. And I'm sick and tired of always being at the gas station getting gas and not having enough money to always get gas, so...

AZUZ: So, she and her friends saddle up to sidle in to school. Who would've thought it'd come to this? Carl Azuz, CNN Student News.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Shoutout

NINETTE SOSA, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Time for the Shoutout! What currently makes up the largest part of the cost of a gallon of regular gas? If you think you know it, shout it out. Is it: A) Taxes, B) Refining, C) Marketing or D) Crude oil? You've got three seconds -- GO! According to the Energy Information Administration, crude oil accounts for about 73% of every dollar we pay at the pump.

Promo

LLOYD: Now for a Shoutout Extra Credit. Where can you find a free resource that offers a full breakdown of gas prices? No three seconds for this one. The answer is: CNNStudentNews.com! Our One-Sheet gives you more information on all of the components that guzzle up your gas dollars. Check it out today!

Journey to Quake Lake

LLOYD: Safe food, drinking water, shelter, and preventing disease: Chinese officials say those are the four things they need to focus on to prevent an epidemic following last month's deadly earthquake. Authorities are also worried about "quake lakes" that were formed when landslides blocked a river. Flooding threats forced authorities to evacuate nearly 200,000 people. Wilf Dinnick set out on a journey to find one of these lakes in a hard-to-reach area that was devastated by the quake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILF DINNICK, CNN REPORTER: It has been cut off: some of the hardest hit areas, not yet seen close up. Many of the roads too dangerous, blocked by land slides and by officials.

DINNICK: Ask him if we can walk.

TRANSLATOR: This pass does not work anymore.

DINNICK: They worried about decomposing bodies and the spread of disease in the rubble beyond here. We are blocked. But also down there: the biggest "quake lake," that monster pool of water threatening to swell its banks, flooding millions downstream. We had to see it. This is the only other way in, but officials refusing to take us. One last option, locals tell us, is over the mountains. But too tough, they say. Undeterred, we begged a few local guides -- helping carry our kit to broadcast live -- some food and water. The army cut a path for soldiers, the guides tell us, in case helicopters could not fly. But hardly a path. Mountainsides torn away. Our producer, Samson Desta:

SAMSON DESTA, CNN PRODUCER: Maybe it is a stupid thing we are doing, but we are trying to get up there and see if we can get a quick peek at that lake. It is our understanding that no other foreign media has been up there, so hopefully, we will make it up there and show it to you.

DINNICK: And it is almost straight up. During breaks, debating whether to turn around. A six-hour hike. Finally, exhausted at the top. The view: the "quake lake." Parts of the mountain poured down into the river, creating a dangerous dam. Those bulldozers down there slicing though, creating a man-made river to ease out the water. But it was on the way out, we see nobody has been spared: farms throughout the mountains demolished, appearing untouched since the quake. And then we stumbled on this: Beichuan County, revealing the awesome power of this quake. What had not collapsed, barely standing. Locals believe thousands still buried here, where mountains ploughed into the city. All roads in and out cut off. Officials have not even begun to clean this up. A rare view of the magnitude of this disaster. We had made it, the first foreign journalists to get this view, to see what the people here now face. Difficult to imagine how to recover from this. Wilf Dinnick, CNN, Beichuan County, China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Kennedy Health Update

LLOYD: Back in the U.S., Senator Ted Kennedy is recovering after surgery to remove a tumor from his brain. Kennedy's doctor says the lawmaker shouldn't suffer any permanent damage from the procedure. He added that this is just the first step in treatment.

Shuttle Docking

LLOYD: And Shuttle Discovery docked with the international space station yesterday, delivering a giant Japanese laboratory and parts to fix the station's broken toilet.

Before We Go

LLOYD: Before we go, it's time to pay tribute to the king of rock and roll! Elvis is everywhere and Elvis is everything at this festival in New York. Dozens of artists from across the country show up to shake, rattle and roll, and prove they're more than just a hound dog. The most impressive impersonators will earn the chance to compete for the ultimate tribute title later this summer in Memphis.

Goodbye

LLOYD: Elvis has left the building, and it's time for us to do the same thing. Have a great day. I'm Monica Lloyd.