In Louisiana, a Horrible Feeling of Déjà-vu

The oil spill enters the picture as the Gulf Coast is just barely recovering from hurricane Katrina. The local population is worried and demoralized.

After the oil spill caused by the accident on the “Deepwater Horizon” oil platform, the inhabitants of the Gulf Coast feel as if they are living a second nightmare less than five years after Katrina. For the most part, they are barely recovering from the troubles linked to the devastating hurricane.

In New Orleans, Cyril Dumaine is working on the final touch-ups to his house, which was under water for weeks. The threat of a new economic and natural disaster is real. “We are not done yet with Katrina and the oil spill threatens to make us take steps backwards,” he declared over the weekend. “All of this seems way too familiar,” complains another resident, Bart Everson.

While the satellite images show the layer of oil spreading to the sea faster than had been originally estimated, the local population no longer knows what to believe. “We are being informed, but can we trust the information we are being given? The quantity of oil spilled, for example, was first estimated at 1,000 barrels per day, then at more than 5,000. For all we know, it could be 25,000 per day. It is very difficult to know what you can believe,” laments Bart Everson.

An Economically and

Politically Sensitive Situation

The British Petroleum Company is the target of the critics. “Everything is their fault,” says Cyril Dumaine. He read in the press that the security norms in the event an accident occurs are more severe in Norway and Brazil, requiring, among other things, a remote system to close the valves. “If that system had been in place, this would not have happened. It costs $500,000 to install. What does this represent to a company like BP?”

The situation is economically and politically sensitive, explains Karen Gadbois, a journalist from Louisiana, because the region is as much dependent on the fishing industry as it is on the oil industry. “It isn’t rare to see fishermen also work on the oil rigs. Many people work in the refineries. We are in a sense slaves to the oil companies; therefore we are not going to criticize them too much. And the government will not dare to take any measure against them.”

Gadbois says the efforts of BP to contain the oil spill are “a farce.” “The company didn’t act fast enough when the accident happened more than ten days ago. The oil spill will inexorably reach our coasts. The inflatable protection barriers aren’t doing anything but providing the media with nice pictures.”

Like Five Years Ago …

Ironically, the oil company Shell is this year’s sponsor of Jazz Fest, the big New Orleans jazz festival that ended this past weekend. “I wasn’t able to go. I am disgusted by what is happening,” says the journalist. The population is worried and, most of all, demoralized. The roads, once again occupied by military trucks, only add to the feeling of déjà-vu.

The thousands of fishermen are the first affected by the environmental catastrophe about to happen. While the fishing season, which had just begun, has been put on hold until further notice, they had to knock on British Petroleum’s door to find work. Since Friday, men of the sea are lining up in front of the volunteer offices to go and clean up the mess. On Friday, Bernel Prout, a fifty-five-year-old fisherman from Venice, east of New Orleans, explained to the New York Times, “It’s either the seafood industry or the oil industry. There isn’t a choice here. Therefore, I imagine I will go from the first to the second today.”

Louisiana is the largest producer in the United States of oysters, shrimp, lobster, and crab, which represents one third of the entire seafood production in the country. Since BP has a legal obligation to pay for the costs of the oil spill, the company set up a program with the optimistic name “Vessel of Opportunity” to recruit locals. “We are not asking the community to do the job for free. BP intends to pay,” insisted David Kinnaird, the director of the program in Venice. Meanwhile, nothing was decided over the weekend: how many people would be needed to clean up, how much they would be paid, or when they would start.

Obama at the Scene

Compensation for loss of revenue [in the area] has not been discussed, either. “We have to pay our bills,” worries Acy Cooper, president of the local fishermen’s organization. “I don’t care whether it’s the Federal government or BP, but someone must take charge and compensate us for the loss of earnings.”

While on Sunday, May 2, President Obama was on his way to the Gulf of Mexico, his administration tried to show a better response to this situation than did his predecessor during and after hurricane Katrina. More than 2,000 men and women in the Army and Coast Guard were sent to the scene, bringing with them more than 75 boats. Floating barriers and dispersal agents have been used for a few days to fight the oil spill.

“The President wants to be very proactive. He doesn’t want to wait for the last developments but would, rather, anticipate them,” John Brennan, a representative of Homeland Security, declared on Saturday. This same department was highly criticized for its handling of Katrina. Cyril Dumaine, in New Orleans, admits the government has taken charge but has no illusions. The handling of this crisis will take many more years.