Saving a Community

The Gulf Oil Crisis is one of the nation’s largest concerns at the moment. The news is filled with stories about how authorities are trying to stop the flow of oil, stories trashing the reputation of BP and news conferences where real solutions are never provided. Through all of the press conferences with spokesmen from BP saying they are doing everything they can to control the situation, I can’t help but notice that a large problem is not being addressed.

Since the oil spill thousands of workers have found themselves unable to perform their jobs. Livelihoods have become ruined at fishermen are unable to fish, the tourism decline has destroyed many seaside villages main source of income and even restaurants are closing down because of the inability to sell seafood. In Louisiana alone, there are 27,000 unemployed workers from the seafood industry according to Workingwaterfront.com. Many of the fisherman who are in the coastal community have been there for years, fishing in the same places as their fathers before them. The sea is their home, and to see it in such disarray it is causing emotional crisis, in addition to financial instability.

Summer and her father.

Summer, a NYC blogger, who was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, has raised awareness for the situation back home. She posts links to volunteer organizations spending time to help the communities, posts about Etsy Sellers who are donating profits to clean-up efforts, and about her father. Summer’s father, a fisherman who depends upon the health of the ocean for livelihood, is out of work. In addition, he was recently diagnosed with cancer. With no income coming in, as well as being out of work, his situation is dire. Summer’s blog reaches out to almost 700 people daily, and through it she prays for the health and recovery of New Orleans. Summer, independent Etsy sellers and others across the country are leading the way to help support the families and individuals in the Gulf Coast. The problem however, is that the devastation is so large they are only making a small dent.

Logging onto the British Petroleum’s website, it is filled with statements concerning the progress of the leak repairs. After a little searching, there is one story titled, “Latest statistics on payment of claims to people affected by the spill“. Clicking on this link takes you to a page that offers statistics reporting the number of claims that have been received. Beginning to read the statistics, it seems hopeful that BP is delivering to the community, and have paid out over $160 million in 52,500 checks. Further down the list you read that there have been nearly 105,000 claims, meaning only about 1/2 of the claimants have actually received compensation.

Many people in the gulf communities feel that BP is taking advantage of them. They are reporting minimal salaries, and small payments for the use of their boats, for cleanup efforts. Public Health is not being addressed as people are constantly in contact with oil and fumes for the clean-up efforts, and BP is not offering proper safety clothing and respirators. Many of the communities are dominated by minorities such as the native American and vietnamese, and in these communities BP is paying even less for oil cleanup and day labor because of the need for translators. Often offering half the rate they do to English-speaking workers. (http://www.workingwaterfront.com)

Each day as BP focuses less on people, and more on containment, there are more stories like these being released about the treatment of workers and failing sanitary conditions. Without having a spokesman addressing these issues as they are brought into the public eye, it is only creating an even worse crisis for BP and the consumer opinion of them. In my opinion, it would be to the benefit of BP to have a separate crisis management team to deal with the community, trained to handle peoples physical, and emotional, needs.

-Jenni Brown