BP oil disaster

Originally posted in New American Journal on May 13th

MOBILE, Ala. – Thoroughbreds charging around the final turn and down the homestretch. Blinders strapped on the sides of their faces to keep their attention on the finish line straight ahead. Preakness Stakes at Pimlico racetrack in Baltimore. Second leg of the Triple Crown later this week.

Image:  Horse and Human Blinders, by Walter Simon

On Monday, April 20th, Gulf Coast fisherfolk, residents, and artists gathered at BP's Houston headquarters to speak out about the ongoing impacts of the BP oil disaster. Advocates said fisheries and the communities that depend on them are in serious decline. “When BP says it has done right for the Gulf, they are lying,” said Thao Vu* of Biloxi, Mississippi, "Less than 18% of the health claims submitted have been approved and even fewer have actually been paid out. While BP plays games with our media and with our court system, our fishing families are sick and suffering.”

For weeks, Adam Williams had been looking forward to his son’s first t-ball game of the season.  
 
So much so, that when he had what was the latest in a long string of seizure-like episodes before the game, no one was surprised that he still made it to the park in time for the first inning.  The seizure’s after-effects left his speech slurred and his brain foggy, but even that didn’t prevent the proud father from cheering on his son on an otherwise picture-perfect day on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
 

“In toxicology there is a saying, 'Dose is everything, ’” explained Dr. Robert Cox, expert witness for BP.

Since 2010, I've followed the development of Margaret Brown’s documentary The Great Invisible, which explores the BP disaster with great care, artistry and respect through the eyes of people on many sides of the issues, from survivors of the rig explosion to unemployed seafood workers and representatives of government and industry.

Undeterred by the blazing sun and high humidity of a mid-August afternoon in Biloxi, Mississippi, Tuat Nguyen and Bien Do moved nimbly around their shrimp boat, making last-minute preparations to leave for Lake Borgne, where the Louisiana shrimp season would open in a few days.

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. 

“The world must know what they [BP] have done to this community. This place could have been a paradise.” Those are the words of Byron Encalade, president of Louisiana Oystermen’s Association and the face of a beautiful and devastating new documentary film, Vanishing Pearls.