Mike Baldwin

My last piece was more reporting, this is my personal opinion and does not reflect the views of any organization I represent.

BP is screwing us. All over again.

I just saw on the news how they haven’t responded to area companies trying to sell them booms to protect the coast from the imminent oil slick hitting land. This is unacceptable. They made this mess they should NOT be in charge of cleaning it up because clearly they cut corners at every possible opportunity. A $500,000 part and thorough maintenance could have prevented this disaster however negligence and lack of strict regulation got us in this mess.

An independent company or the government should be in charge of all cleanup efforts and send the bill to BP. The legislation drafted Post-Valdez is obviously out of date and needs to be revised before more damage is done. If BP could focus all of their efforts in capping the wellhead maybe the disaster wouldn’t be as epic as it is now.

What are we going to tell our children? When they ask us why there isn’t shrimp, oyster, or crabs for dinner. What are we going to tell them when we say “no you can’t swim in the gulf, it’s contaminated.” Are we really going to sit idly while a british company reaps in profits and rapes our coast? Unacceptable. Thousands of people will be out of work because of this disaster, and BP will pay out settlements sure, but they’ve taken away a way of life. The downfall of the Louisiana culture.

And what brought us here? Crooked politicians and businessmen. Who care more about the dollars and cents than the people affected by this. If Cheney hadn’t put in his cronies to revise the laws maybe BP wouldn’t be allowed to drill without the proper safety regulations in place. But that’s not the way it is, and it probably won’t be for as long as we live. Corruption is prevalent in that industry and will continue to be that way because no one progressive is going to champion the fight. Everything being done now is short term. They’re going to clean up as much as they can now and make a bunch of empty promises to the citizens of the Gulf Coast, then return to business as usual as if nothing had ever happened.

Disgusting. And all we can do is donate hair for booms and buy a ticket for a benefit concert. Unacceptable. Be more involved. Listen to what’s going on, talk about it, then do something about it. Myself, I plan to visit the affected communities soon and report to whoever will listen. Their story must be heard. We must not forget about our brothers and sisters who have lost their livelihood thanks to BP and lack of government regulation.

We shall overcome.

I just came back from New Orleans where they had a rally for the Gulf Coast this afternoon, and I wanted to share with you what I saw and heard…

My journey began at 8:45 this morning as we departed Lafayette for Baton Rouge to pick up more people in a large charter bus. There were only 5 of us at first including myself. A mother with her daughter sat in front of me and I listened to her talk about how important it is to voice your opinion when so much is at stake like this. The trip organizer (a representative from the Sierra Club) was friendly and had snacks and juice boxes for us as we all discussed how this was going to affect not only us but the generations to come after.

When we got to Baton Rouge there were not many people standing around, but soon people started coming out of the woodwork and we were 17 – 18 people strong. College students, concerned couples, all heading to New Orleans in an act of solidarity with those affected by the oil spill.

Finally we arrived at Lafayette Square where the rally was already underway. Two ladies were singing very politically charged songs about ending drilling in the gulf and how it was destroying our environment. A couple more musicians played as people walked around in shirts that read “Clean it up” with a picture of a gushing oil well. Other representatives of the Sierra Club asked people to sign petition cards to President Obama to encourage him to “engage every resource available to address the immediate cleanup and recovery needs of Gulf Coast residents, businesses, wildlife, and marine life.”

There was probably around 100 or so people walking around and listening to the music, with small card tables setup on the outskirts of the park with various organizations trying to mobilize volunteers to help clean up the gulf. Then different speakers came up, mostly focusing on how the spill has affected fishermen. Vietnamese fishermen in communities such as Venice beach that had immigrated to America long ago, now found themselves without jobs. Another fisherman told us that the dispersant being used currently is the same one that was used after the Valdez spill and that it has sickened and killed people involved in the cleanup effort. It is also responsible for the sterility of marine wildlife that came into contact with it. He warned that our estuaries are in grave danger, especially in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita which made the estuaries extremely fragile.

Jonathan Carpenter, a biology student at LSU spoke about his organization (scholar?) which is also working on the problems that this will cause. A state representative from Orleans Parish also spoke about how government should be working to regulate and have more oversight so that this never happens again. The press was abound at the event, I counted at least 4 or 5 HVX200s, 2 News crews, and members of the newspaper press. Speakers and participants alike were giving interviews about the day’s events and what causes they stood for.

Some of the participants were carrying signs voicing their displeasure for offshore drilling, and British Petroleum. Although everyone seemed to agree that something had to be done about the current situation, I didn’t feel there was a powerful call to action to help solve this debacle. I tip my hat to the Sierra Club and everyone else involved in making today’s rally happen, and hope to see more action in the future.