i spoke with carol browner at the white house a short time ago. she is the assistant to the president for energy and climate change. for the record, we invited b.p. to participate but company officials declined. carol browner, thank you for talking with us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we've been hearing a variety of reports over the weekend and today about leaks, about seepage in and around the well. bring us up to date on the status of this well. >> well, the well is capped. it has been shut in. and we have our scientists reviewing this on a regular basis. there have been some bubbles. there has been some seeping. at this point they're not concerned. but we have directed b.p. to provide ongoing monitoring, seismic, other analytics that our scientists review. and if there isn't a problem we'll continue. if there is, obviously we'll have to move to containment which means bringing the vessels that can capture the oil back on to the site. >> woodruff: so for example the leak or seepage that was identified over the weekend, a few miles from the site,

the majority leader is joined at this of went by energy sponsored senator john kerry and carol browner, the head of the white house committee on climate change. >> we have responsibilities not only to our constituents and our children and grandchildren to take on the energy challenge we have in america. not once, not twice, but very often. many of us want to do a thorough and comprehensive bill that creates jobs break their addiction to foreign oil and curbs pollution. unfortunately, we don't have a single republican to work with in achieving this goal. for me, that is terribly disappointing and is also very dangerous. the president, senator kerry, and i and others, large numbers of my caucus will continue to reach out to republicans and work with environmental and energy committees and communities to garner the support needed to get a much larger and more comprehensive bill and i will outline in a few minutes. this does not change our obligation to lay the foundation of a safer and stronger future. in the next few days, i will introduce a four-part bill. we will hold bp accountable to

carol browner, thank you so much for your time this morning. we certainly do appreciate it. >> and yet another critical day, critical hours ahead. >> all eyes on those tiny bubbles. but as i said it sure beats looking at that big gusher all day long. >>> we're going to switch gears to the oppressive heat wave. we're not in the dog days of august yet, yet across america, the heat wave is breaking all records. we're going to begin with sam champion outside in times square. hey, sam. >> hey, good morning, george and robin. you know, you guys have already been outside. it's 78 degrees with humidity. feels more like 80. we're on our way to 90 degrees. and a lot of folks will say, hey, it's summer. we get 90 degrees. i get that. we're barely through the first month of summer, already many cities have seen more 90-degree days than they typically average all summer long. it's the second intense heat wave yet this month along and with eight states under heat advisory, the u.s. is baking. here in new york where the temperatures reached 94 on sunday, tria

i think i had one conversation with carole browner of the white house, but, it has been tom perelli on thedministration side. >> today, y weren't subpeonaed, you came voluntarily correct? >> to this committee? >> yes. i always come when the chairman invites me. >> you said before other venues and it seems clear that you are not accountable to any one, the administration, so, is there anyone who you do account to? >> i think i'm accountable to the people in the gulf that i am trying to help. >> what if they disagree with your decision? >> i think they would voice their feelings to the members of this committee. >> hwho could fire you? >> i guess i could be fired by the administration or bp. >> you say you are accountable to the people in the gulf, but normally accountability carries with it the possibility that those to whom you are accountable can do something. >> i suppose they can complain to our committee and then somebody in that duo would fire you. >> i think that is right. >> they would agree that my service rz no longer needed. >> with the folks in the gulf. if they don't like y

he is joined at this event by senator john kerry and carol browner, the head of the white house office of energy and climate change. this is 15 minutes. >> we have a responsibility, not only to our constituents and our children and grandchildren to take on the energy giant's we have an america, not once, -- energy challenge we have in america, not once, not twice, but more. we need a comprehensive bill that creates jobs, fix our addiction to foreign oil, and curb pollution. at this time, we do not have a single republican to work with in achieving this goal. for me, it is terribly disappointing. it is also very dangerous. the president, senator kerry, and i and others, large numbers of my caucus, will continue to reach out to republicans and work with and permanent the date work with environmental and energy committees. -- and work with environmental and energy committees. it is to lay the foundation for a state for -- for a safer and stronger future. we will hold bp accountable to ensure that the clean up their mess and things like this that happen in the future and stop them from hap

we'll make that decision. >> carol browner, thank you so much for your time this morning. we do appreciate it. we'll have a lot more from the gulf coast here in a little while. as we said, sport fishing has opened up again. there are actually some guys down here at the marina getting ready to go out and take paying customers fishing down here. that hasn't happened in almost three months. we'll have a report on that in our next hour. right now back to jeff in new york. >>> harry, thank you very much. now to the policering heat wave smothering the country right now. the 90-degree temperatures won't go away. cbs news correspondent elaine kihano is in times square with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, jeff. the forecasters are calling for yet another miserable round of intense heat this week. we certainly felt it here in new york city over the weekend where people who were racing in the triathlon, several of them had to be treated for heat-related ailments. now some of the temperatures when you look across the country, triple digits over the weekend.

browner. emanuel said, i have two things for you. browner told him that the well was at least temporarily capped. and emanuel said that the reform had passed the senate. the president said, mark this down as a good day. >> but, you know, jake, the president faces this as a paradox. this is not a big pillar of his legislative agenda. following stimulus. following health care. yet, his poll numbers continue to slide. how does the white house plan to address that? >> reporter: well, they're going to try to cast this election as a choice between obama policies and bush policies. this wall street reform bill will be an example of that. this is a major change to the financial system. the biggest one since right they side o d what republicans want to do. >> and do they realize without getting much republican support for any of the president's legislation now, as th into the midterm elections. legislatively, they're pretty me or es.reporter: well, tere extending unemployment insnce. a small business,

>> as you heard carol browner endured thad allen yesterday, there are three different areas that we continue to closely monitor. there is seepage about 3 kilometers away from the well head. there are marvels that are visible -- bubbles that are visible on the underwater camera. there are some leaks on the upper part of the well head. there is another set of anomalies that we want to continue monitoring. when you cap as well, you want to continue to take those pressure readings to see if you are if the pressure -- if the pressure on industry certain point and then continues to drop, the concern is that there is a ruptured disc or some structural damage. we had some concerns over the past 24 hours about some commitments that bp had made that we did not feel their radically living up to in terms of that monitoring. that was done last night on a call late in the evening were we believe that we can look at the several steps. originally, in gauging the pressure you could make a few different determinations. first and foremost, in bad weather, which we have seen more of in recent memory, could you

i will meet this afternoon with secretary chu, secretary salazar, carol browner, of course -- sorry, carol. i met with strategic senators, committee chairs, and i have a rough draft of what we will do. no one has asked this question, but we will have a stage iv title for the bill. one will deal with the oil spill situation. the other will deal with a clean energy, consumer savings, and job creation. and at third will reduce consumption. the fourth title is broader and working with the finance committee on that. at this stage, we have not completed it. we are looking at a way of making sure that when we talk about pollution, we are focused just on the utility section. >> what about --? >> i have given you what we will do. >> to you mean greenhouse gas emissions from the utility sector -- do you mean greenhouse gas emissions from the utility sector? >> there has been a lot of work done with them long before i got into the picture. we need to figure out a way, any savings we can make, will return to the consumer. i hope to be able to do it week after next. there is no bill. i hope to ha

i think i had one conversation with carole browner of the white house, but, it has been tom perelli on the administration side. >> today, you weren't subpeonaed, you came voluntarily correct? >> to this committee? >> yes. i always come when the chairman invites me. >> you said before other venues and it seems clear that you are not accountable to any one, the administration, so, is there anyone who you do account to? >> i think i'm accountable to the people in the gulf that i am trying to help. >> what if they disagree with your decision? >> i think they would voice their feelings to the members of this committee. >> hwho could fire you? >> i guess i could be fired by the administration or bp. >> you say you are accountable to the people in the gulf, but normally accountability carries with it the possibility that those to whom you are accountable can do something. >> i suppose they can complain to our committee and then somebody in that duo would fire you. >> i think that is right. >> they would agree that my service rz no longer needed. >> with the folks in the gulf. if they don't li

his people rahm, carol browner and others are talking to me all the time about energy. for those who think his been involved in is simply, he has been mistaken. >> can you talk about not having any republicans working with you? what about the democrats tha? >> the cannot make that statement. it is not a black and white issue. with some of the work that john has done, most of the senators are agreeing with what we are doing, the direction we are taking. we have come a long way. what was your account? >> one quick question. do you expect the senate to passenger rockefeller's -- senator rockefeller's bill? >> i do not know. we will take a look at that. >> up next, the house oversight committee listens to the federal regulation offshore drilling. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] it talk about the company's coal mining operations in west virginia. the credit for their proposal for an energy bill. later, it is "washington journal." on tomorrows "washington journal" the president of the petrochemic