A Conversation with Kindra Arnesen: Residents Still Suffering from 2010 BP Spill

Warning: This video contains language that may be considered offensive. Please don't watch it if strong language offends you.

Orgininally posted on Cherri Foytlin's personal blog. Recently, wife of commercial fisherman, mother, and Gulf Coast advocate, Kindra Arnesen, and I had a chance to sit down in South Plaquemines Parish to discuss the health of her community, the health settlement, and how her life has changed since the 2010 BP Deep Water Drilling Disaster.

Gulf residents have continued to express concern that the settlement doesn’t go far enough to address their needs and mounting medical costs. Many survivors say general payouts will not approach their bills already accrued, that geographic limitations will keep many who need help from being able to take part in the class action suit, and that some of their documented symptoms are not listed within the language of the agreement.

Earlier this month BP lost an appeal, which amounted to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court ordering them to begin paying claims submitted to the health portion of the settlement process. Although Federal District Judge Carl Barbier approved the settlement over a year ago, no payments have been made to those who say that their health has been negatively affected by the toxic use of oil and dispersants during the disaster.

Cherri Foytlin is a freelance journalist, author, advocate, speaker and mother of six, who lives in South Louisiana – an area inundated with industrial pollution. She is the author of “Spill It! The Truth About the Deep Water Horizon Oil Rig Explosion,” and regularly contributes to www.BridgetheGulfProject.org, the Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and several local newspapers. In the Spring of 2011, she walked to Washington D.C. from New Orleans (1,243 miles) to call for action to stop the BP Deep Water Drilling Disaster, and has been a constant voice speaking out for the health and ecosystem of Gulf Coast communities in countless forms of media. As an advocate for climate justice, she has participated in numerous actions and events across the nation and in the UK. In addition, she is a co-founder of The Mother’s Project – Gulf Coast and Idle No More Gulf Coast.