Disaster, Response and Renewal

Marine toxicologist and Exxon Valdez survivor Dr. Riki Ott, who first sounded the alarm regarding the abundant use of chemical dispersants in the early days of the 2010 BP Deepwater Drilling Disaster, is once again touring the Gulf.

We couldn’t crab and we had to eat, so my son Ralph and I worked clean up. I have two sons. One went into the Marines. Ralph’s worked with me on the boat since he was just a kid - we’re a team.  We were really in the heart of it.

I watched the 60 Minutes segment regarding the unfair claims BP is having to pay out, which aired on May 4th. In the story you mention that 12 people that were awarded damages declined to be interviewed for your show. Well, that seems very one-sided. You could have done the rest of the show about the people and businesses here on the Coast that did not get compensated. 

I am writing this on the eve of April 28, International Workers Memorial Day, to explain why Bhopal should never be forgotten. 
I am a commercial fisherwoman from Texas and Union Carbide (now Dow) has existed outside my fishing village of Seadrift since I was born. I never knew about Bhopal until the day Union Carbide blew up near my hometown.

On March 30, 2014, journalist Brentin Mock moderated a discussion about Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek with Leslie Fields (Sierra Club director of Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships), Reilly Morse (director of Mississippi Center for Justice), Derrick Evans (of Turkey Creek, Mississippi and co-founder of Bridge The Gulf) and me, Leah Mahan, (Director and Producer of Come Hell or High Water, and co-founder of Bridge The Gulf). The discussion followed the D.C.

A motivational speaker by the name of Jane Rubietta once said, "Someone may have stolen your dream when it was fresh and young and you were innocent. Anger is natural. Grief is appropriate. Healing becomes mandatory. Restoration is possible." Almost four years ago my dream was stolen. Is restoration possible for me?

"It is outrageous that one year after BP plead guilty to manslaughter, it can now get contracts with our federal government based on BP's promise that it won't tell any more lies..." said Monique Harden, New Orleans resident and Co-director of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights.

One of my favorite television shows today are reruns of the hit series from the 60's called "The Untouchables". The word "Untouchable" referred to the good guys or FBI.  Federal Agent Elliot Ness and his crew were given the task of bringing down the Mob led by Al Capone and Frank Nittie. Whenever the Mob wanted to move their operation to another city the first thing they would do is call in their tough guys and give them cases of money to buy out the locals and change any law that could hinder their operation. That way they would be operating within the confines of the "new law".

Three years since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico set off the worst oil disaster in United States history, BP Chief Bob Dudley says everything is fine in the Gulf of Mexico. But fishermen paint a very different picture – of struggling fisheries, untreated illnesses from oil and toxic dispersant, inadequate compensation from BP, and an uncertain future.