More than spilled oil

Mr. Landry is a Lafayette musician and environmental activist who works on behalf of fishermen and oil field workers. He recorded the fundraising song “BP Blues;” he has testified before the White House oil spill commission; and he collaborated on an upcoming CD with Dr. John called Solution to Pollution.

The response to the worst man-made disaster in our country’s history remains unsatisfactory. Hats off to BP for escaping criminal prosecution. They put on one hell of a public relations campaign, and although the world’s best lawyers, scientists and many people of great knowledge are employed by the oil giant, they failed in their battle to keep oil out of our estuaries.

Many of our first responders who cleaned oil, as well as citizens who live near the water, are reporting health problems. A great number of our fishermen and oil workers are in economic peril. And independent testing in the Gulf not paid for by BP is largely being discredited and ignored.

BP has achieved some real successes since the accident: the company convinced the federal government to allow the use of a toxic chemical dispersant, putting the health of the entire coastal population in peril. The company also was able to make the amount of oil coming out of the wellhead unquantifiable thanks to the never-before-tried use of dispersant deep under water. And the company got the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cut by half their modest estimate of leaked oil, which cut their fines in half.

BP poured money into the pockets of lawmakers who then passed amazing new bills that limit their liability, and they bought enough advertising to get media conglomerates to shy away from stories that would cast their advertiser in a bad light.

Lost in all those slick BP ads about its cleanup was the fact that they never intended to actually remove all the oil from Louisiana’s coast. Our state was the first to approve something called the SCAT Shoreline Treatment Implementation Framework. It says only public “amenity” beaches were to be cleaned, and only until there was “no visible oil.” Tar balls up to two inches, as well as oil buried in the sand on beaches classified as “nonresidential,” do not have to be cleaned if it was in bands less than 1.2 inches thick and “patchy.” Yet oil remains buried up to 20 inches deep on some beaches, according to the SCAT document. This oil will periodically be uncovered by wind and waves, which will allow “natural attenuation” of the oil.

After promising to “clean every drop,” it seems BP’s preferred solution to removing oil from the surface of the water was to sink it with the chemical Corexit, which causes oil to clump into globules that then sink from sight. The first version of Corexit used on the spill was deemed too toxic, so it was replaced with a slightly different formulation. And even though the chemical is legal in the United States, it’s banned in Great Britain, where BP is based.

Record amounts of this chemical were dispensed into the Gulf for an extended period of time, which I believe poses a threat to the long-term health of the region.

When it comes to settling claims for individuals who have not been able to work and have no response to their paperwork, Kenneth Feinberg, the man overseeing the $20 billion fund to pay claims, offers $5,000 in exchange for their right to sue. Many fishermen I’ve talked to say there is no rhyme or reason for what claims get paid. And even fishermen who believe seafood in their area is safe say there is no market for it. I know a good number of people who lost their boats, cars and homes, and they accepted the quick money simply because they couldn’t afford not to.

Mr. Feinberg bases his rationale for paying claims to fishermen on the theory that the Gulf will recover in two more years. Based on what?

Marine sciences professor Mandy Joye of the University of Georgia says it’ll take a lot longer than that. “I’ve been to the bottom. I’ve seen what it looks like with my own eyes. It’s not going to be fine by 2012,” she told the Associated Press. “You see what the bottom looks like, you have a different opinion.”

The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jane Lubchenco, says scientists don’t even know the spill and cleanup’s full impact. “Damage done to a variety of species may not become obvious for years to come,” she says.

But Feinberg’s not listening to what he doesn’t want to hear. After he agreed to meet with a coalition of coastal citizens and take into consideration independent testing before he finalized his formula for paying claims, he crawfished on the meeting. I have a handshake, two e-mails, one phone call and an ever-changing story from Feinberg, whose law firm gets $850,000 a month from the oil giant.

People deserve their claims to be paid based on real, independent scientific data. Any testing paid for by the oil giant should be verified by independent sources.

For now, the claims process is based solely on research provided by the same folks who are responsible for the mess. And the only thing that protects us from possibly contaminated seafood is someone’s sense of smell.

While oil and dead marine life coat much of the sea floor, hermit crabs and many of the creatures that once lived on Grand Terre Island are nowhere to be found. No matter what BP commercials and its lawyers have to say, tar balls are still rolling in on beaches from Grand Isle to Florida. The truth is that no amount of money will undo the damage done to our fragile ecosystem.

We need to be prepared for the next spill, we need to find solutions that won’t cost us our way of life, and more people should go down to the coast and get involved with preserving what’s left of our sportsman’s paradise.