containers and consumer grade fireworks from the vehicle. they also removed a locked metal box after opening it with an explosive charge that they found what they described as a bird s nest of wires and firecrackers. the license plate on the car came from a connecticut auto shop as well. auto repair shop is what the police commissioner said. he also said there was there were many bags of fertilizer in that vehicle. meantime, president barack obama just talked about the car bomb situation. let s go to dan lothian at the white house. dan, the president having to tackle a couple things there while he was in a very rainy venice, louisiana, to kind of survey the oil slick. he began his press conference by talking about what took place at times square. reporter: that s right. two very critical issues that the president s dealing with today. as you pointed out, talking about that attempted bombing in new york city and the president saying that earlier in the morning he had spoken with n
responsible for this leak, bp will pay the bill, might that include the lost industry? the bill of that lost industry? reporter: you know, that s something that s probably going to be raised. i don t know if there s a way we can answer that question right now. but, you know, federal officials from the president just a moment ago through janet napolitano earlier today and the past couple of days have been hammering at that very point. bp is going to pay for this. bp is responsible for this. i think that through various legal actions, lawsuits and other things, you re going to see bp compensating for some industry that has been lost here, no doubt. how much of that, i think that may play out just over the last over the next several months. very sad situation. thanks so much. brian todd from venice, louisiana. meantime, alabama s governor, well, he was expected to fly over the gulf coast today. he wanted, too, to get a better look at the massive oil slick and the containment booms
now as police try to piece together some of the components, some of the information they ve gleaned from the vehicle now as well. and here now is just a view of the clock. i m sure police will be revealing photographs of other items, because they are looking for the public s help in this investigation. the other major story we re covering today, a potential catastrophe in the gulf of mexico from oil that is leaking, continues to leak from that damaged bp well. here s what we know right now. president barack obama just wrapped up a briefing about the oil spill in louisiana. he flew to new orleans today, then made a road trip to the coastal town of venice with the governor. you re looking at earlier images of the president there standing in the rain as he was talking about all that will be done to help contain this oil spill. mr. obama says his administration is preparing for a worst-case scenario, even as they hope for the best. he says his team is going to act
our brian todd is following the investigation into the oil rig explosion and the spill. he s joining us now from venice, louisiana. brian? reporter: fred, bp officials clearly defending their safety record as they have been for the last couple of days. one of the questions we ve been asking that has been raised in this investigation is, was a backup system that could have prevented the blowup from malfunctions or maybe shut down the well on its own, this is called an acoustic switch, a remote control switch that could have shut down the valve on its own even if the blowout preventer had failed. this was not on this rig. other countries require those to be on the rig. the u.s. doesn t. this bp official said those acoustic switches don t have as good of track record, but still it s a question that s being asked. could added layers of safety have been in place here that could have prevented some of
this oil from leaking out? that s going to be a focal point of the investigation in the coming days. bp adamantly defending their safety record on that front. another key component, what s going on today, not only is the weather hampering some of the recovery i mean, some of the containment efforts along the gulf, but noaa has essentially shut down fishing for a huge portion of this region which is really going to take a toll on the local economy. we just saw two shrimp boats coming up here, up this inlet off the gulf. you re probably not going to see them go out for a few days. noaa has shut down fishing for ten days so they can test seafood and water samples to make sure it s safe. that s going to be a huge hit for an industry. i wonder, brian, when the president said from that location in venice, louisiana, earlier today, he said bp is