The human victims of the BP spill

Tens of millions of gallons of crude oil, billions of dollars in company money and a criminal investigation into the disaster - but what does the BP oil spill mean for the people living on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico? One of our Observers went to visit the people of Barataria, a community whose economy is exclusively dependant upon the ocean.

The US has launched a criminal and civil investigation into the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon oil spill that began on 20 April and has not yet been contained. The day after the investigation was announced, BP's share prices plummeted, wiping €14.4 billion off the company's value. Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Mexico, the seemingly unstoppable leak continues to wreak havoc upon the eco-system, spelling disaster for the people who populate the coastline.

“The rights of these people have been stolen by British Petroleum"

Environmental activist John Wathen produced this clip, filmed in John Lafitte, Barataria near New Orleans in Louisiana, as part of an assessment he is carrying out on damage caused by the oil spill. See his comment below.

Here in Barataria, the waterways are the streets. To go to the store, they take their paddle boat. It's from the water that they make their living and catch food to feed their families. The oil hasn't reached their homes yet, but all of the fisheries around here have shut down.

It's not just that the people here will lose their jobs and be forced to move to a bigger city; they will be forced to give up their way of life and leave a community that they've lived in generation after generation. The right to raise their children here has been stolen by British Petroleum. It's no different from going into the American Indian villages in the days when white people first got here and saying ‘move over!'

This town is named after John Lafitte, the man [thought to be of French origin] who helped to free us from British rule. I think it would be a crying shame and an atrocity to ask people who live in this town to move because a British company came in and decided that their profit was worth more than the quality of life of the people here. History has a way of coming back to bite you in the butt and British Petroleum is going to get bit real hard over this, because the American people are outraged.

This disaster was not prevented because of political affiliations between industry and the government, and there have been a lot of comments on my website from people in Europe saying ‘you Americans need to change your ways'. Perhaps for those Americans who believe that putting profit before humanity is a way of life, this disaster will be the wake-up call they actually take note of."

John Lafitte seen from Google Maps.

Comments

NIMBY attitude (not in my back yard)

Submitted by Rippenburn (not verified) on Thu, 10/06/2010 - 15:44.

John,
You make it sound as if BP snuck up on the coast of America and staked a claim on an oil field. Grow up! Drilling rights were assigned to BP by the US administration on the basis of the company's ability to get oil from deep under the sea. It went wrong. Now, what size car do you drive? I bet it's not a 1.3 liter Renault! The reason companies like BP have to go to such great depths (literally) to recover oil is in no small part due to the US demand over the years, and not just for oil. The US consumption of most resources since WW2 has oustripped every other country, often at another country's expense. I mean, America is so dependant on oil you won't even sign up to the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas reduction! Not very pleasant when someone ****s on your doorstep, is it?

This quote is from the gov

Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Thu, 03/06/2010 - 12:00.

This quote is from the gov of Louisiana,

JINDAL: We didn't need another meeting. We didn't ask for another meeting. On Friday with the president, we were very clear: It's not the process that interests us; it's the outcomes. So many may ask, "Are you happy with the meeting? Are you happy with the process?" I could care less about the meeting; I could care less about the process. There were a lot of professors there. And I told them when I had a chance to speak at the end, I said, "To me this is not a multiple choice test. This is not an essay test. This is a pass-fail. This is a yes-no test. This is pretty simple: If we get approval to move forward on at least our first six segments, then this will have been a successful day. If we do not get approval to move forward, this will have been a waste of another day; we could have spent this day fighting the oil and doing other things to help safeguard our coast." So for us this wasn't about process.

Obama is a MAJOR part of the oil spill problem.

"comments on my website from

Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Thu, 03/06/2010 - 11:56.

"comments on my website from people in Europe saying ‘you Americans need to change your ways'."

You mean like the Mafia all over France? the ones in every town ville and metro? like that?,I know first hand how the French treat their poor,France is a totally corrupt country and should hope and wish to be as fair,open and just as America,the corruption in France is so complete that there is almost NO voice crying out about it!

You Europeans need to change your ways.

re

Submitted by Unregistered userjoseph walker (not verified) on Thu, 03/06/2010 - 13:30.

Nothing wrong with the yanks,like most western countries ,it is their mouthpieces IE the media and broadcasters ,they the ones that talk the crap.

oil spill

Submitted by Unregistered userjoseph walker (not verified) on Wed, 02/06/2010 - 17:32.

Well there are oil rigs all over on this planet,disaster will happen ,just pay up.you make the money,then you pay for any disasters ,Unless our govts are too weak and pathetic ,and expect its moronic masses to pay up.IE taxpayers.