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 The legislation drafted Post-Valdez is obviously out of date and needs to be revised before more damage is done.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.