CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-09-28

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Bob Schaefer and welcome to

[0:02] the CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:05] Just ahead, House Republican Leader Tom

[0:07] Delay is indicted in what prosecutors

[0:10] say was an illegal campaign finance

[0:12] scheme. He says he did nothing wrong.

[0:15] Also, a refinery shortage is blamed for

[0:18] high gas prices. So, why haven't we

[0:20] built a new one in 30 years? Plus,

[0:23] they're Fast and Furious, a new kind of

[0:25] driver ed for teens. It's all starting

[0:28] now on the CBS Evening News online

[0:31] edition.

[0:33] The investigation has been underway for

[0:35] over a year now, and today the

[0:37] indictments were finally handed down.

[0:39] The House Republican leader Tom Delay

[0:41] and two associates were indicted by a

[0:44] Texas grand jury in connection with what

[0:46] the prosecutor said was an illegal

[0:48] scheme to funnel money from corporations

[0:51] to Texas Republican candidates. Delay

[0:54] stepped aside from his congressional

[0:56] leadership post until the case is

[0:58] settled, but he denied any wrongdoing

[1:00] and said he is the victim of a rogue

[1:03] prosecutor. Here's Jim Stewart in

[1:05] Washington.

[1:08] It has not been a good week on Capitol

[1:09] Hill for Republicans. And today it got

[1:12] worse when House Majority Leader Tom

[1:14] Delay was required to immediately step

[1:16] down from his leadership role following

[1:18] his indictment back home in Texas.

[1:21] >> Now, let me be very, very clear.

[1:23] I have done nothing wrong.

[1:25] >> The White House quickly came to Delay's

[1:27] defense, calling him a good ally, but

[1:29] carefully said little else.

[1:31] >> The president's view is that we need to

[1:33] let the legal process work.

[1:36] >> The charge against delay is Texas and

[1:38] its details, but national in scope.

[1:41] Its origin is in a nasty fight three

[1:44] years ago over control of the Texas

[1:46] state legislature that at one point had

[1:48] local Democrats literally fleeing the

[1:50] state to deny Republicans a quorum.

[1:53] Delay wanted control of the state

[1:54] legislature in Texas to help build a

[1:56] bigger national GOP majority in the US

[1:59] Congress. But to get it, he and his

[2:01] allies allegedly used corporate funds

[2:04] they funneled through a national

[2:05] Republican committee. They won. But the

[2:08] problem is in Texas, corporate political

[2:10] funding can be illegal. Now, Delay

[2:13] believes those twin victories and the

[2:15] personal vendetta of Democratic

[2:16] prosecutor Ronnie Earl are the real

[2:19] cause of his problem.

[2:20] >> Mr. Earl is abusing the power of his

[2:23] office to exact personal revenge for the

[2:26] role I played in the Texas Republican

[2:30] legislative campaign in 2002.

[2:34] There's no such thing as good timing for

[2:36] an indictment, but this one is

[2:37] especially bad for Republicans. The

[2:39] president is slipping in the polls. His

[2:41] initiatives are dying on Capitol Hill.

[2:43] And the man the White House had counted

[2:44] on to turn that fight around now stands

[2:47] indicted. Bob, the energy department

[2:50] predicted today that gasoline prices

[2:52] will continue to rise in the next few

[2:54] weeks. It said 12 refineries are still

[2:56] shut down as a result of the hurricanes.

[2:58] That's a loss of well over a million

[3:00] barrels of gasoline a day. Even before

[3:03] the storms though, refineries were

[3:05] struggling to meet demand, which raises

[3:07] the question, why not build some more?

[3:09] Well, it's not as easy as you might

[3:11] think. Anthony Mason now with the inside

[3:14] story.

[3:16] In a far corner of Arizona near the

[3:18] Mexican border, Glenn McGinness is

[3:20] trying to do something that hasn't been

[3:21] done in 30 years.

[3:23] >> The proposed site of the refinery is

[3:25] right in this area.

[3:26] >> Build a new oil refinery.

[3:28] >> There's a long way to go. Uh we're

[3:30] looking at uh 4 years to engineer and

[3:32] construct a project like this.

[3:34] >> That's if he can get all the

[3:35] environmental permits and raise the

[3:37] money.

[3:38] >> The refinery is about a $2.6 billion

[3:40] project. Here's why we have record high

[3:42] gas prices. It's not that we don't have

[3:44] enough oil, the experts say. We don't

[3:46] have enough refineries. So why haven't

[3:48] we built a new one since 1976?

[3:52] The fundamental reason is that the

[3:54] economics of refining have been very

[3:55] poor. Um, refineries just haven't made

[3:58] money.

[3:59] >> Industry consultant Malcolm Turner says

[4:01] until recently, refineries were

[4:03] considered risky investments.

[4:06] Oil price swings cut profits and drove

[4:08] many smaller refiners out of business.

[4:11] >> If you go back 20 years, the United

[4:13] States operated with a large surplus

[4:15] refining capacity.

[4:17] >> In 1980, the US could refine 18 million

[4:20] barrels a day and used only 17 million.

[4:23] But as demand has soared by almost 20%,

[4:26] our refining capacity has actually

[4:28] shrunk.

[4:29] >> There's plenty of crude out there, but

[4:30] crude is a worthless commodity unless it

[4:32] has someplace it can go.

[4:33] >> John Kingston, chief oil analyst for

[4:35] Plat says Katrina created a crisis when

[4:38] it shut down four refineries

[4:40] >> and then not coming back for a while.

[4:42] >> A while is how long?

[4:43] >> I'd say probably you'll maybe start to

[4:44] see some coming back in December or so.

[4:46] >> That long.

[4:47] >> That long. This Texas refinery owned by

[4:49] Shell and the Saudis reportedly plans to

[4:51] double in size. That would make it the

[4:53] country's largest, but Glenn McGinness

[4:55] says it's not nearly enough.

[4:57] >> You're looking at u you know 7 to 10 of

[5:01] these kinds of facilities required over

[5:03] the next uh 5 to 10 years.

[5:05] >> So even if we start building refineries

[5:07] tomorrow, it could take a decade to

[5:10] catch up to our appetite for oil.

[5:13] Anthony Mason, CBS News, New York. One

[5:15] of the biggest hazards on America's

[5:17] roadways is the teenage driver. Teens

[5:20] are four times more likely than older

[5:22] drivers to be involved in a crash. Well,

[5:25] now some parents are sending their kids

[5:26] to an extreme driver, Ed. But does it

[5:29] make them better drivers or worse? Mika

[5:32] Brazinski now has tonight's Eye on

[5:34] America.

[5:37] >> Get the gas. Get it up. Get it up. Come

[5:39] on. Faster. With a new license in his

[5:41] back pocket, 17-year-old David Spodc

[5:45] is burning rubber, swerving to avoid

[5:47] disaster, and jamming on the brakes.

[5:50] Stunts you'd think would make any parent

[5:52] take away the keys.

[5:54] >> Bug control.

[5:55] >> But David is at driving school where

[5:58] skids, spin outs, and sudden stops are

[6:01] not discouraged. They're the goal.

[6:05] >> This doesn't look like driver's ed.

[6:07] Well, it's it's what driver's aid should

[6:10] be.

[6:10] >> Ex-ra car driver Rick Dioro says these

[6:13] advanced maneuvers are the skills teens

[6:15] need. A lot of people would say this is

[6:18] too young an age to be teaching these

[6:20] moves.

[6:20] >> How else are you going to learn it? I

[6:22] mean, we're not teaching people how to

[6:23] go fast. We're teaching them how to save

[6:25] a skid.

[6:27] >> That's what former race car driver Rob

[6:29] Sloniker tried to teach me. He says most

[6:31] people don't do enough to avoid an

[6:33] accident.

[6:34] >> And what do I do now?

[6:35] >> And I didn't. As this attempted skid

[6:37] recovery on a wet road turned into a

[6:39] complete spin out.

[6:41] >> Oh jeez, that was wrong.

[6:43] >> David's dad is convinced these skills

[6:45] are worth the $800 price tag for the

[6:48] course.

[6:48] >> If it just gives him one more second of

[6:52] experience, that might be enough to save

[6:54] his life.

[6:55] >> Why'd you like it so much?

[6:57] >> Um, besides that, I'm just into cars.

[6:59] It's a It's a good It's a lot of

[7:01] adrenaline. But adrenaline is precisely

[7:04] the problem, says safe driving advocate

[7:06] Kristen Backstrom.

[7:07] >> When we put young and inexperienced

[7:09] drivers in adrenaline producing

[7:12] high-risk situations, we're asking for

[7:14] greater problems down the road.

[7:16] >> She says teens are already tempted to

[7:18] take risks and that these classes

[7:20] encourage overconfidence, a bad mix.

[7:24] >> What would you say to a parent who's

[7:25] thinking of enrolling their kids in one

[7:27] of these courses? I would challenge

[7:28] these parents and ask them instead to

[7:31] imagine what it would be like to be

[7:32] celebrating their son's 21st birthday at

[7:35] their grave site.

[7:36] >> Why would you put a kid in an adrenaline

[7:39] producing situation? Isn't that risky?

[7:43] >> Um, yeah, it could be risky, but uh, you

[7:46] know, again, we don't teach them

[7:49] judgment. We teach them the skills to

[7:51] save a skid if they get into it in in a

[7:53] real world situation. The judgment

[7:55] parents will have to make is whether

[7:57] this course teaches kids the rules of

[7:59] the road or gives them license to break

[8:02] them. In Limerock, Connecticut, I'm Mika

[8:05] Brzinski for Eye on America.

[8:07] >> More stories are just a click away, but

[8:09] don't forget to join me on television

[8:11] for the on air edition of the CBS

[8:13] Evening News. On Thursday's broadcast,

[8:16] after Katrina, some of the South's most

[8:18] valuable treasures are now ashes in

[8:21] history. We'll show you how some folks

[8:23] are saving history, one artifact at a

[8:26] time.