5-23-10 Gulf Of Mexico Oil n WWL-AM Spill Update Monologue

A little over a month ago we all awoke to find out that a horrible accident had happened on a rig many of us had no idea about 50 miles off the shore of Louisiana. We all were shocked at the loss of life, and wondered what was going to happen as the rig sank and the survivors of this tradegy made their way back home. The first thing that threw up red flags for me was that the company responsible was passing around liability waivers to the crew before they could get off the boat to be reunited with their families. Another red flag when they asked for volunteers to help with the cleanup, but once again, here come the fleet of lawyers and more attempts to curb the liability they were responsible for. Then as if on cue, the head of BP when asked if they were going to take financial responsibility by Senator Mary Landreiu, he without hesitation said "we will pay all legitimate claims". Who decides what is legitimate? Again, another measured, politically correct response. Now is not the time to be measured, or political, it is time to pull out all the stops, do anything, and everything available to cleanup what is out there now. Time to stop screwing around with all these half measures to attempt to recover the oil from the well and lame ideas to try to salvage BP's investment, and seal the well that is causing this.

I was going to move onto another topic for this week until I saw a report from Doug Mouton of WWL-TV in New Orleans. He was with Governor Bobby Jindal and  Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser as they toured the southern most part of the parish and found the first of the oil in the wetlands there. It turned my stomach to see an area where I fished as a kid so fouled and it made me angry that they had almost a month to prevent this but the powers in charge have sat on their ass and let it happen. 

Now, let me clarify where my disdain is aimed. First, I focus a majority of my fury at the decision makers of BP, Transocean, and Haliburton. You see, with just the small amount of information that has become available thus far, when it is all said and done, the ultimate blame for the destruction of the eco systems and lives of the people of the coastal states affected will fall to the lack of foresight by these companies. BP refused to use the safety devices that would have stopped this in the early hours of the accident which are readily available, like the acoustical switch used all over the world except here, a blow out preventer with the power needed to actually work as it is supposed to when there is a problem, and not having a fleet of skimmer ships, fire booms, and the amount of protective barrier needed to contain this in the first days instead of still stumbling to make one right move almost 5 weeks after the fact. The fact is of they would have spent a few million on safety up front, they wouldn't be spending tens of billions now.

I mentioned last week, and linked it to my sites that BP had stated in a report done years ago about their safety precautions at the start of this project that they could handle a spill in the gulf ten times what they reported was happening now in the Gulf of Mexico. That number has changed this week, mainly because now that people can actually see the volume of oil, gas, and fluid coming out of the damaged riser due to the live streaming video feed from the ROVs at the scene. Seems some incredibly smart scientist have figured out a way to calculate the volume of the items spewing from that pipe just by taking measurements from said video. With actual facts in front of them, BP had to come clean and say "it may be worse than we reported". Well, Duh.

Another report stated that BP admits that they have over 10 thousand submissions from people wanting to help with various ideas to help clean up the oil spill now. I saw an article that stated a design from actor Kevin Costner was "tested" by BP officials last week and may be in operation in a few weeks. Time for testing guy was 5 weeks ago. Screw testing! BP, get off your asses and take some action. 10 thousand submissions? Good, pay for every one of them that have a working prototype to get to the gulf NOW! Wild guess you will end up with a couple thousand teams with different options out there. BP, give them the money and crew they need to operate their inventions full scale for one week.Take the people that are actually making progress (picking up the oil) at the end of the week, give them the resources they need to continue operating and make more of the working devices, and keep doing that until ALL THE OIL is GONE! The time to sit behind lawyers, haggle, hope the feds take over so you can leave them with the check when this is over!

This is past the point of discussion. It disgusts me that the Corps of Engineers has sat on requests by coastal governments in the gulf to be allowed to protect their shores by being allow to dredge and create manmade barrier islands to stop the oil from getting inland. In some cases, these requests have been on the desks of these people for 3 to 4 weeks. No response. No suggestions. Nothing. \

Put yourself in the shoes of the people down there. You know what you can do to make sure this is headed off before it can destroy everything you know and love. You attempt to go through the proper channels to get the proper permissions to do it legally weeks before any damage is done to the coast. You are trying to protect your home, the environment that supplies your culture with beauty, food, and a livelihood. A few days after you make the request, you find out the oil is 30 miles from shore, you ask them to expedite the process so you can put the protection in place now. A week goes by, God is on your side the weather slows the toxic soup of oil, it is still twenty miles from shore, all your friends are willing to give you time, equipment, and most importantly support to get this done, so you beg the corps to say OK, and they come back with, we'll have to think about it. Another week goes by, your friend and neighbors are irate because the oil is creeping ever closer, but again, the people that have to give the go ahead at the corps say you have to wait for permission. I could keep going, but this has been going on for almost 5 weeks, and the oil has made it to the shore, it is in the marshes, the damage we could have stopped is done, and the corps is still thinking. 

I am not only a Louisiana native, but I am from a coastal parish. I was born in Terrebonne Parish, where Brunella is from, and grew up on the banks of Bayou Lafourche in Raceland, LA. I spent several summers as a kid living a trapper's existence in our camp on Lake Fields. We had crab traps, catfish boxes, and trout lines we fished every day during those summers. We lived on seafood. I learned to hunt and fish in those swamps, and always hoped to be able to one day take my boys down there to teach them like my dad taught me. Because of the inaction over the last few weeks, I may not have the chance. If my kids are lucky, they have a chance to teach their grandkids if the system can ever be recovered.  

One of the men I grew up watching on the local news in New Orleans did one hell of a great monologue about this situation on WWL Radio. His name is Garland Robinette. The video of this monologue is up at WWL.com and I invite you to go check it out. He gets into another aspect of the frustration and anger that is building from the lack of action from the people in charge, the federal government's lack of leadership to stop this before it got out of hand, and what he feels is the reason for the lack of a solution to this problem. His passion and fire in his monologue gave me the motivation to discuss this again for the third time in less than a month. I am only a small cog in the big machine, but this is what I can do to keep this story in the public domain.

I had a chance to have a discussion this week with the man I credit with being my inspiration to become a broadcaster, my 2nd cousin, and Louisiana radio legend, The Real Robert Mitchell. He does work on WWL Radio these days, and he has been on the ground down there since this all started. As Garland so poignantly  explained in his monologue, Bob told me of how frustrated the state and local government officials are that no one seems to be willing or able to take a lead here. He told me how citizens back home are so fed up they are threatening to comendere equipment and just get it done themselves, and they feel if they get arrested someone will quickly replace them. I understand the frustration, and I hope the people that need to fix this put that energy to work now. 

There is no "General Honere" for this disaster,  yet. I don't think we have time to wait for the oil spill version to show up either. As we discussed the situation, I likened this situation to going with a big group of friends to eat out, and everyone trying to find an excuse to leave the table when it is time for the check to arrive. BP is trying to cut corners where ever possible. The feds don't want to get caught with the bill if they intervene, and the state and local governments are too strapped to do it themselves. Someone needs to grow a pair, get the reigns of this runaway stagecoach, and save the day before the damage caused is irreversible. The point of no return if quickly approaching.