Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.comand also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
Showing posts with label Oil slick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oil slick. Show all posts
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Politiktoons No. 104: The Global Soccer Player
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.comand also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Politiktoons No. 101: My Breakfast & Dinner
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.comand also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
Gulf oil spill: Cambodian cleanup workers speak out
June 8, 2010
Los Angeles Times (California, USA)
Sachi Cunningham, a Los Angeles Times videographer, has shot a remarkable nine-minute video on the lives of Cambodian fishermen hired to clean up BP’s massive oil spill. This vivid tale unfolded over the course of a week at sea in the Gulf of Mexico and at port in Louisiana (see above).
Cunningham delved into the subject after attending a meeting of concerned Vietnamese and Cambodian fishermen in Buras, La., a remote bayou community that is home to about 2,000 Southeast Asian immigrants.
Phan Plork, a 42-year-old shrimper who is featured in the video, was in charge of 15 boats that left from Venice, La., 17 days after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
After the first night at sea, 11 of the boats returned to Buras to wait out a storm (the others waited at sea). The shrimp boats are built to work in the bay rather than in open water, where the bulk of the spilled oil is located. As a result, Plork and his fleet spent much of their time waiting out bad weather or waiting to get refueled.
Frustrations abounded.
"We spent an entire day at dock in Empire, La., waiting for BP to wire money to a gas station, only to learn at the end of the day that they would instead have to refuel in Venice," Cunningham said.
In Buras, Cunningham met Neng Pum, who lives on a boat with her boyfriend. Neng introduced her to Rithy Om, another a Cambodian refugee, whose son and daughter-in-law had moved to Buras from San Diego with their two young sons in order to shrimp this season. Instead, like their neighbor Phan, they are out in the gulf cleaning up BP's oil.
"I wanted to share all of their stories but focused on Phan since he was a leader in the Cambodian community and was among the first to get out to sea," Cunningham says. "After 11 days of work, the six bags of partially oil-soaked booms that you see in the video are all that Phan and his boat collected."
Later, she caught up with Tommy Berthelot, a longtime shrimper who was part of Phan's fleet and appears in the video during his last break. Berthelot told Cunningham that once their collecting technique improved, they were pulling in two or three times as much oil, but the video illustrated how difficult the task is.
"We don't know anything about cleaning up oil until yesterday," Phan says in the video. Phan would have started the season in May, bringing in enough money to support his wife, five children and granddaughter. Instead, he is getting paid half the amount for an unknown period of time.
But Phan knows this is "a take-it-or-leave-it deal" and will do what he needs to in order to make money while shrimping is prohibited.
Last week, Phan was near Pensacola, Fla., cleaning up the spill. His wife, Tal, did not know when he would be home next but said they were away for weeks at a time.
"Every day I just pray for everybody," says Tal, who worries about the safety of her husband and the other fishermen. No one know what the health effects of the spill will be for workers such as Phan.
Mike Berthelot, Tommy's father, is upset that so many boats were still waiting to get called to work on the cleanup rather than bringing in shrimp.
"It won't recover in my lifetime," Berthelot told Cunningham. "This is the beginning of the end."
-- Margot Roosevelt
Cunningham delved into the subject after attending a meeting of concerned Vietnamese and Cambodian fishermen in Buras, La., a remote bayou community that is home to about 2,000 Southeast Asian immigrants.
Phan Plork, a 42-year-old shrimper who is featured in the video, was in charge of 15 boats that left from Venice, La., 17 days after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
After the first night at sea, 11 of the boats returned to Buras to wait out a storm (the others waited at sea). The shrimp boats are built to work in the bay rather than in open water, where the bulk of the spilled oil is located. As a result, Plork and his fleet spent much of their time waiting out bad weather or waiting to get refueled.
Frustrations abounded.
"We spent an entire day at dock in Empire, La., waiting for BP to wire money to a gas station, only to learn at the end of the day that they would instead have to refuel in Venice," Cunningham said.
In Buras, Cunningham met Neng Pum, who lives on a boat with her boyfriend. Neng introduced her to Rithy Om, another a Cambodian refugee, whose son and daughter-in-law had moved to Buras from San Diego with their two young sons in order to shrimp this season. Instead, like their neighbor Phan, they are out in the gulf cleaning up BP's oil.
"I wanted to share all of their stories but focused on Phan since he was a leader in the Cambodian community and was among the first to get out to sea," Cunningham says. "After 11 days of work, the six bags of partially oil-soaked booms that you see in the video are all that Phan and his boat collected."
Later, she caught up with Tommy Berthelot, a longtime shrimper who was part of Phan's fleet and appears in the video during his last break. Berthelot told Cunningham that once their collecting technique improved, they were pulling in two or three times as much oil, but the video illustrated how difficult the task is.
"We don't know anything about cleaning up oil until yesterday," Phan says in the video. Phan would have started the season in May, bringing in enough money to support his wife, five children and granddaughter. Instead, he is getting paid half the amount for an unknown period of time.
But Phan knows this is "a take-it-or-leave-it deal" and will do what he needs to in order to make money while shrimping is prohibited.
Last week, Phan was near Pensacola, Fla., cleaning up the spill. His wife, Tal, did not know when he would be home next but said they were away for weeks at a time.
"Every day I just pray for everybody," says Tal, who worries about the safety of her husband and the other fishermen. No one know what the health effects of the spill will be for workers such as Phan.
Mike Berthelot, Tommy's father, is upset that so many boats were still waiting to get called to work on the cleanup rather than bringing in shrimp.
"It won't recover in my lifetime," Berthelot told Cunningham. "This is the beginning of the end."
-- Margot Roosevelt
Gulf Spill a Reminder of Cambodia Shortfalls
This big pelican is soaked with spill oil in Gulf of Mexico. (Photo: AP)Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 08 June 2010
“In response to any possible oil spill in the future, a coast guard authority and a petroleum safety administration should be set up to be in charge of safeguarding the environment, ” Mam Sambath, chairman of the Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency, a coalition of non-governmental agencies, said. “All of the companies exploring for oil should also be encouraged to create an association which is tasked with coping with the possible oil spill.”As the US grapples with the implications of the Gulf Coast oil spill, environmental and other groups in Cambodia say the country needs to do more to safeguard its own environment as it moves toward increased oil and gas exploration.
The BP oil spill, now in its sixth week, has poured thousands of barrels of oil into the sea. The environmental costs are likely to be huge, but the political costs are now beginning to mount for the US administration.
Analysts in Cambodia say that if the country does not want to undergo a similar experience, the government must put in place certain protective mechanisms.
Cambodia lacks a coast guard authority, a safety administration and protective agreements with companies who are exploring Cambodia’s oil and gas reserves, even though it expects oil to start flowing by 2012.
“In response to any possible oil spill in the future, a coast guard authority and a petroleum safety administration should be set up to be in charge of safeguarding the environment, ” Mam Sambath, chairman of the Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency, a coalition of non-governmental agencies, said. “All of the companies exploring for oil should also be encouraged to create an association which is tasked with coping with the possible oil spill.”
The newly established authorities should not be put under the existing Cambodian National Petroleum Authority so that separated technical management can be ensured for an effective mechanism, Mam Sambath said.
At least 13 companies have so far been granted exploration licenses with some already beginning exploration. Full drilling could begin soon in what experts estimate is a reserve of 400 million to 700 million barrels of oil worth billions of dollars. However, the money comes with risks, as the Gulf spill has shown, and observers say Cambodia lacks the institutions and agreements to deal with them.
Ou Virak, president of Cambodian Human Rights Center, who also manages a website monitoring development trends, said the government also needs to make a protective agreement with oil companies to have all the necessary pre-cautious put in place.
“Any company granted the extracting right has to be tasked with setting up detailed plans to protect the environment and the people, who might be affected by a possible oil incident,” he said. “If any company does not provide the protective plans or if the plans are not reasonable or inadequate, the government should reject them.”
The government could also apply for an Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative to learn from other member countries ways to better manage oil risks, as well as revenues. EITI works with more than 30 countries to increase transparency and accountability in oil revenue.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said EITI candidate status for Cambodia is not necessary because the country is already transparent in managing its oil revenue. The establishment of additional authorities to deal with any possible oil spill is not needed either, he said, as the country already has the National Petroleum Authority.
“If we created some more authorities, we would be criticized for spending more money,” he said.
National Petroleum Authority officials declined to comment on protective mechanisms for possible oil spills.
However, Cheam Yiep, a ruling party National Assembly member, said the Gulf spill had encouraged lawmakers to push for separate agreements with oil companies to ensure Cambodia is better prepared for such an incident.
“We will use the US experience as an example and basis for discussion and for an agreement with companies to extract oil in our country,” he told VOA Khmer.
Yim Sovann, an opposition lawmaker, said parliament needs to enact more laws to guarantee safety in the oil industry and that it needs to push the government to apply for EITI status to ensure transparency and accountability in management of revenue from the extractive industries.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
They've struck oil, but they're not rich
Video by Sachi Cunningham
Los Angeles Times
Shrimping was Phan Plork's passion, and his livelihood until an oil gusher fouled the waters off the Louisiana coast. Now, Plork, 42, a Cambodian refugee, goes out on the Gulf of Mexico to lay boom as part of the cleanup effort. BP pays $1,500 a day for his boat and crew, half what he made before. "I'd rather shrimp," he said. "The sooner the better."
Click the following link to watch the video:
Video: They've struck oil, but they're not rich - latimes.com
Los Angeles Times
Shrimping was Phan Plork's passion, and his livelihood until an oil gusher fouled the waters off the Louisiana coast. Now, Plork, 42, a Cambodian refugee, goes out on the Gulf of Mexico to lay boom as part of the cleanup effort. BP pays $1,500 a day for his boat and crew, half what he made before. "I'd rather shrimp," he said. "The sooner the better."
Click the following link to watch the video:
Video: They've struck oil, but they're not rich - latimes.com
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Politiktoons No. 99: Oil Spill
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.comand also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Vietnamese, Cambodian fishermen among hardest hit by BP oil spill
Local shrimper Can Van Nguyen sits as local Vietnamese and Cambodian fishermen try to get information at the China Sea Restaurant in Buras, Louisiana. Local translators came to the meeting to help with the language barrier. (Sean Gardner/Reuters)Many Vietnamese and Cambodia fishermen are without work now because of the BP oil spill, and some still feel the effects of Hurricane Katrina. BP is trying to help, but there's a language barrier.
May 8, 2010
By Bill Sasser, Correspondent
The Christian Science Monitor
Buras, Louisiana — While the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has idled hundreds of fishing boats in coastal Louisiana, the disaster has hit the close knit community of Vietnamese and Cambodian shrimpers in Plaquemines Parish particularly hard.
“I don’t know how I’m going to pay my car insurance,” Cung “Kim” Tran, a deckhand on a commercial fishing boat, declared at a community meeting Thursday at the China Sea Restaurant in the town of Buras. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay the note on my car or my house. Can you tell me what to do?”
Attended by BP representatives, parish officials, a regional United Way director, and over a hundred local fishermen, the meeting was called by Spencer Aronfeld, a personal injury and malpractice lawyer from Miami, Florida, who arrived in the parish earlier in the week.
“When I read in the news about the contracts BP asked residents to sign before they went to work, I couldn’t stand by and let that happen,” said Mr. Aronfeld. “I felt obligated to help. I contacted BP myself and brought in the United Way and said we need to have a meeting and start feeding people.”
The contract Aronfeld referred to was a liability waiver local residents were asked to sign to enroll in safety and hazardous materials handling courses, required by BP for paid jobs containing and cleaning up the oil spill. The waiver caused much distrust and confusion in Plaquemines Parish. Many thought they would be signing away their rights to file claims over the spill, and the form was soon dropped.
Communication with Vietnamese and Cambodian fishermen in the parish has been particularly difficult for the oil company. While BP has translators on hand at most meetings, an early version of the waivers were written in English only.
Language barrier
“I don’t see how in good conscience BP could ask immigrants who do not speak English to sign away their rights with a contract written only in English, particularly for work as dangerous as this,” said Aronfeld.
Aronfeld, who went on local radio to publicize the meeting, is among dozens of lawyers who have come to south Louisiana since the oil well disaster started.
Earlier this week, a federal judicial panel in Washington was asked to consolidate at least 65 potential class-action lawsuits that claim economic damage from the spill. Fishermen, charter boat captains, business owners, and vacationers filed suit across the Gulf coast seeking damages that could reach into the billions.
While local television and radio is filled with advertisements by attorneys seeking clients affected by the spill, Aronfeld has taken on the role of grassroots organizer among the Asian immigrants of Plaquemines Parish.
“It pains me to see how they are living, with many people still in FEMA trailers from Katrina,” he said. “They are a proud people and have endured a lot, but they are suffering now and need to be taken care of. I’m not sure I’m working as an attorney or as a civil rights activist.”
BP apologized...again
At the community meeting in Buras, grandmothers held babies and fishermen stood impatiently in rubber work boots as David Kinnaird, community outreach spokesman for BP, made another apology for any confusion BP caused with the liability waivers.
“We recognize we’ve been having problems communicating with people in this parish and I’m here to make sure that everyone is heard and listened to,” said Kinnaird, his presentation translated into Vietnamese and Cambodian by two local residents.
Parish officials and United Way representative also provided locations in the parish where charities are distributing food, announced that a local Methodist church will soon be handing out $100 checks to out-of-work families, and announced the establishment of a United Way effort to help local fishermen.
The room remained silent when they were asked if anyone present was worried about eating that night, but anger quickly flashed at Aronfeld, who started a question and answer period by admonishing local residents against hostility, shouting, or threats about lawsuits or claims.
“We are normal people! We are not animals! Talk to us like we are human beings!” one obviously upset fisherman shouted at Aronfeld, who profusely apologized.
Despite repeated promises by BP to quickly help fisherman in the region, many at the meeting complained of being caught in a Catch-22 of bureaucracy: BP is only accepting claims of economic loss from boat owners, not deckhands, and the company’s Vessel of Opportunity employing boatmen to fight the oil spill is only hiring fisherman who can prove their local residency.
Many Asian immigrants who have worked in Plaquemines for decades do not own their own boats. Many also moved to New Orleans after losing their homes to Hurricane Katrina, but still return to Plaquemines everyday to work.
Katrina's lasting impact
“Since Katrina there is no school here for our kids, so we had to move to New Orleans,” said shrimper Houston Le, 40. “But I still come here every day, even now with the fishing closed I am coming, but BP says it is only hiring people they say live in Plaquemines.”
BP spokesperson Kinnaird said he would get answers, and referred residents to BP’s phone number for claims, pointing out that translators are available on the toll-free line. Thoai Tong, a fisherman who is acting as an interpreter for Aronfeld, estimated that out of the 3,000 immigrants from Southeast Asia living and working in Plaquemines, about ten percent are fluent in English.
“When you say to them ‘BP gives you an opportunity,’ they say ‘what is opportunity?’” says Tong, who came to the U.S. in 1980 from a refugee camp in Thailand, when he was 2 years old.
Many of the fisherman work out of the nearby Buras marina, where their boats rock idly. “My boat is my house, my life, right here,” said Toan Nguyen said from the deck of his shrimp boat. “There’s no oil here but they won’t let us fish.”
When the wholesale price of shrimp dropped to 50 cents a pound last season, Nguyen and other shrimpers went on a strike, which had little effect due to a flood of cheap Asian imports. With rumors of price collusion among wholesalers, state officials had promised fishermen better prices this year, but the season was canceled before it started because of the spill.
“Last year a lot of people went broke, so this year everyone was counting on this season to make some money,” said Nguyen.
Nearly five years after Katrina, Buras remains an isolated community with no doctor, no school, no pharmacy, and no grocery store. After the hurricane, the local diocese closed the Catholic church many in the Asian community had attended.
“If this continues with the fishing being closed, everyone will have to move to New Orleans and on one will be left down here,” said interpreter Tong, who is still waiting for his Road Home grant to rebuild his house in Buras, boarded up since the 2005 storm.
Plenty of lawyers
While the Vietnamese and Cambodian fishermen are having trouble communicating with BP, they are having no problems finding lawyers to talk with.
“They come here and go to meetings and drive around and walk up and asking you if they need a lawyer to represent you,” said Tong. “Spencer is a lawyer and we want to see him actually helping the community, and then maybe we will sign up with him.”
The area has previous experience with litigation over smaller oil spills. During Hurricane Katrina, nearly a million gallons of oil spilled from ruptured pipelines in nearby Empire, Louisiana, an incident that became part of a larger class action lawsuit.
“Many people signed papers with lawyers and they’ve never heard anything back,” Tong recalls. “You ask them who their lawyer is and they don’t know, they don’t even have a card. You ask them why they signed up and they say ‘well, everyone else was signing up.’”
May 8, 2010
By Bill Sasser, Correspondent
The Christian Science Monitor
Buras, Louisiana — While the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has idled hundreds of fishing boats in coastal Louisiana, the disaster has hit the close knit community of Vietnamese and Cambodian shrimpers in Plaquemines Parish particularly hard.
“I don’t know how I’m going to pay my car insurance,” Cung “Kim” Tran, a deckhand on a commercial fishing boat, declared at a community meeting Thursday at the China Sea Restaurant in the town of Buras. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay the note on my car or my house. Can you tell me what to do?”
Attended by BP representatives, parish officials, a regional United Way director, and over a hundred local fishermen, the meeting was called by Spencer Aronfeld, a personal injury and malpractice lawyer from Miami, Florida, who arrived in the parish earlier in the week.
“When I read in the news about the contracts BP asked residents to sign before they went to work, I couldn’t stand by and let that happen,” said Mr. Aronfeld. “I felt obligated to help. I contacted BP myself and brought in the United Way and said we need to have a meeting and start feeding people.”
The contract Aronfeld referred to was a liability waiver local residents were asked to sign to enroll in safety and hazardous materials handling courses, required by BP for paid jobs containing and cleaning up the oil spill. The waiver caused much distrust and confusion in Plaquemines Parish. Many thought they would be signing away their rights to file claims over the spill, and the form was soon dropped.
Communication with Vietnamese and Cambodian fishermen in the parish has been particularly difficult for the oil company. While BP has translators on hand at most meetings, an early version of the waivers were written in English only.
Language barrier
“I don’t see how in good conscience BP could ask immigrants who do not speak English to sign away their rights with a contract written only in English, particularly for work as dangerous as this,” said Aronfeld.
Aronfeld, who went on local radio to publicize the meeting, is among dozens of lawyers who have come to south Louisiana since the oil well disaster started.
Earlier this week, a federal judicial panel in Washington was asked to consolidate at least 65 potential class-action lawsuits that claim economic damage from the spill. Fishermen, charter boat captains, business owners, and vacationers filed suit across the Gulf coast seeking damages that could reach into the billions.
While local television and radio is filled with advertisements by attorneys seeking clients affected by the spill, Aronfeld has taken on the role of grassroots organizer among the Asian immigrants of Plaquemines Parish.
“It pains me to see how they are living, with many people still in FEMA trailers from Katrina,” he said. “They are a proud people and have endured a lot, but they are suffering now and need to be taken care of. I’m not sure I’m working as an attorney or as a civil rights activist.”
BP apologized...again
At the community meeting in Buras, grandmothers held babies and fishermen stood impatiently in rubber work boots as David Kinnaird, community outreach spokesman for BP, made another apology for any confusion BP caused with the liability waivers.
“We recognize we’ve been having problems communicating with people in this parish and I’m here to make sure that everyone is heard and listened to,” said Kinnaird, his presentation translated into Vietnamese and Cambodian by two local residents.
Parish officials and United Way representative also provided locations in the parish where charities are distributing food, announced that a local Methodist church will soon be handing out $100 checks to out-of-work families, and announced the establishment of a United Way effort to help local fishermen.
The room remained silent when they were asked if anyone present was worried about eating that night, but anger quickly flashed at Aronfeld, who started a question and answer period by admonishing local residents against hostility, shouting, or threats about lawsuits or claims.
“We are normal people! We are not animals! Talk to us like we are human beings!” one obviously upset fisherman shouted at Aronfeld, who profusely apologized.
Despite repeated promises by BP to quickly help fisherman in the region, many at the meeting complained of being caught in a Catch-22 of bureaucracy: BP is only accepting claims of economic loss from boat owners, not deckhands, and the company’s Vessel of Opportunity employing boatmen to fight the oil spill is only hiring fisherman who can prove their local residency.
Many Asian immigrants who have worked in Plaquemines for decades do not own their own boats. Many also moved to New Orleans after losing their homes to Hurricane Katrina, but still return to Plaquemines everyday to work.
Katrina's lasting impact
“Since Katrina there is no school here for our kids, so we had to move to New Orleans,” said shrimper Houston Le, 40. “But I still come here every day, even now with the fishing closed I am coming, but BP says it is only hiring people they say live in Plaquemines.”
BP spokesperson Kinnaird said he would get answers, and referred residents to BP’s phone number for claims, pointing out that translators are available on the toll-free line. Thoai Tong, a fisherman who is acting as an interpreter for Aronfeld, estimated that out of the 3,000 immigrants from Southeast Asia living and working in Plaquemines, about ten percent are fluent in English.
“When you say to them ‘BP gives you an opportunity,’ they say ‘what is opportunity?’” says Tong, who came to the U.S. in 1980 from a refugee camp in Thailand, when he was 2 years old.
Many of the fisherman work out of the nearby Buras marina, where their boats rock idly. “My boat is my house, my life, right here,” said Toan Nguyen said from the deck of his shrimp boat. “There’s no oil here but they won’t let us fish.”
When the wholesale price of shrimp dropped to 50 cents a pound last season, Nguyen and other shrimpers went on a strike, which had little effect due to a flood of cheap Asian imports. With rumors of price collusion among wholesalers, state officials had promised fishermen better prices this year, but the season was canceled before it started because of the spill.
“Last year a lot of people went broke, so this year everyone was counting on this season to make some money,” said Nguyen.
Nearly five years after Katrina, Buras remains an isolated community with no doctor, no school, no pharmacy, and no grocery store. After the hurricane, the local diocese closed the Catholic church many in the Asian community had attended.
“If this continues with the fishing being closed, everyone will have to move to New Orleans and on one will be left down here,” said interpreter Tong, who is still waiting for his Road Home grant to rebuild his house in Buras, boarded up since the 2005 storm.
Plenty of lawyers
While the Vietnamese and Cambodian fishermen are having trouble communicating with BP, they are having no problems finding lawyers to talk with.
“They come here and go to meetings and drive around and walk up and asking you if they need a lawyer to represent you,” said Tong. “Spencer is a lawyer and we want to see him actually helping the community, and then maybe we will sign up with him.”
The area has previous experience with litigation over smaller oil spills. During Hurricane Katrina, nearly a million gallons of oil spilled from ruptured pipelines in nearby Empire, Louisiana, an incident that became part of a larger class action lawsuit.
“Many people signed papers with lawyers and they’ve never heard anything back,” Tong recalls. “You ask them who their lawyer is and they don’t know, they don’t even have a card. You ask them why they signed up and they say ‘well, everyone else was signing up.’”
Friday, May 07, 2010
[US Gulf Coast] Oil spill takes toll on Cambodian, Vietnamese fishermen
Families attend a meeting with BP officials in Buras, La. Interpreters were on hand for some Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants. Language barriers have stunted outreach efforts by BP. (Sachi Cunningham / Los Angeles Times / May 7, 2010)With their boats docked and livelihoods in limbo, frustrated families meet with BP officials and hope for answers.
May 7, 2010
By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Buras, La.
About 2,000 Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants in this remote bayou community — mostly families that have staked their American livelihoods on shrimping and fishing — have found themselves isolated by more than just vast stretches of swampland since the gulf oil spill disaster.
Language barriers have made it even more difficult for them to be plugged into the latest information about temporary jobs offered by BP after thousands of fishermen like themselves have been put out of work by the oil spill.
About 200 of them gathered Thursday in a sweltering bayou restaurant, trying to contain their frustrations as a BP representative, flanked by interpreters, urged them to enroll in the company's paid cleanup programs.
The programs were designed to help create a line of defense along the nation's richest fishing grounds and to provide some income to grounded fishermen.
But BP spokesman David Kinnaird offered little in the way of immediate help. He said that the company had hired enough workers for the time being but that the fishermen could get on the waiting list.
The fishermen said they were more concerned with what BP could do to remedy their immediate cash flow problems after fishing was banned on Sunday for at least 10 days. Federal waters from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Pensacola, Fla., are off-limits.
"We need money to pay bills and buy food," said Benjamin Truongo, 48, who has been plying local marshes for two decades.
Kinnaird said BP planned to set up a claims office in nearby Venice, La. "If the claims are legitimate and can be properly documented, they will be paid promptly," he said.
Meanwhile, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said at a news conference Thursday that the company would pay claims regardless of a $75-million cap established by federal law. He said checks had already gone out.
As in many other Gulf Coast fishing communities, Buras' marinas were filled with docked boats while its residents' livelihoods were in limbo.
"Many of these people do not speak English, so they don't understand what kind of assistance is available, and they are scared," said Billy Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish president. "Just the other day, a 94-year-old fisherman, who has his wits about him and looks forward to taking his vessel into the marsh each day, said, 'Mr. Billy. Please help. What do I do?' I didn't know what to tell him."
The meeting was organized by local officials and Miami attorney Spencer Aronfeld to allow BP officials to answer concerns from people such as Chuck Nguyen, 35.
"I haven't worked in four months because the oil spill hit at about the same time as the start of the new fishing season, which runs from May through December," he said. "I borrowed a few thousand dollars from a relative who was only a little better off than me."
But what Nguyen and other fishermen heard from Kinnaird and a representative from United Way was that they would have to be patient.
They were also told that applications for the cleanup programs would be translated into Cambodian and Vietnamese.
Kinnaird said BP had already signed up about 700 boat owners in Louisiana and Mississippi to scoop crude out of fouled waters and deploy booms. "We'll let you know if we need more later," he said.
"These people got nothing but words and empty promises," Aronfeld said.
In the meantime, shrimp boat captain Hung T. Le, 48, kills time, wondering when he will be able to take his 40-foot vessel, Southern Lady, back into the marsh.
"She's so sad just sitting there with an empty shrimp box. I can't wait for work much longer."
louis.sahagun@latimes.com
May 7, 2010
By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Buras, La.
About 2,000 Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants in this remote bayou community — mostly families that have staked their American livelihoods on shrimping and fishing — have found themselves isolated by more than just vast stretches of swampland since the gulf oil spill disaster.
Language barriers have made it even more difficult for them to be plugged into the latest information about temporary jobs offered by BP after thousands of fishermen like themselves have been put out of work by the oil spill.
About 200 of them gathered Thursday in a sweltering bayou restaurant, trying to contain their frustrations as a BP representative, flanked by interpreters, urged them to enroll in the company's paid cleanup programs.
The programs were designed to help create a line of defense along the nation's richest fishing grounds and to provide some income to grounded fishermen.
But BP spokesman David Kinnaird offered little in the way of immediate help. He said that the company had hired enough workers for the time being but that the fishermen could get on the waiting list.
The fishermen said they were more concerned with what BP could do to remedy their immediate cash flow problems after fishing was banned on Sunday for at least 10 days. Federal waters from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Pensacola, Fla., are off-limits.
"We need money to pay bills and buy food," said Benjamin Truongo, 48, who has been plying local marshes for two decades.
Kinnaird said BP planned to set up a claims office in nearby Venice, La. "If the claims are legitimate and can be properly documented, they will be paid promptly," he said.
Meanwhile, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said at a news conference Thursday that the company would pay claims regardless of a $75-million cap established by federal law. He said checks had already gone out.
As in many other Gulf Coast fishing communities, Buras' marinas were filled with docked boats while its residents' livelihoods were in limbo.
"Many of these people do not speak English, so they don't understand what kind of assistance is available, and they are scared," said Billy Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish president. "Just the other day, a 94-year-old fisherman, who has his wits about him and looks forward to taking his vessel into the marsh each day, said, 'Mr. Billy. Please help. What do I do?' I didn't know what to tell him."
The meeting was organized by local officials and Miami attorney Spencer Aronfeld to allow BP officials to answer concerns from people such as Chuck Nguyen, 35.
"I haven't worked in four months because the oil spill hit at about the same time as the start of the new fishing season, which runs from May through December," he said. "I borrowed a few thousand dollars from a relative who was only a little better off than me."
But what Nguyen and other fishermen heard from Kinnaird and a representative from United Way was that they would have to be patient.
They were also told that applications for the cleanup programs would be translated into Cambodian and Vietnamese.
Kinnaird said BP had already signed up about 700 boat owners in Louisiana and Mississippi to scoop crude out of fouled waters and deploy booms. "We'll let you know if we need more later," he said.
"These people got nothing but words and empty promises," Aronfeld said.
In the meantime, shrimp boat captain Hung T. Le, 48, kills time, wondering when he will be able to take his 40-foot vessel, Southern Lady, back into the marsh.
"She's so sad just sitting there with an empty shrimp box. I can't wait for work much longer."
louis.sahagun@latimes.com
Thursday, May 06, 2010
BP Oil Disaster
A boat makes its way through crude oil that has leaked from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico on April 28, near New Orleans, Louisiana. Ratings agency Moody's lowered its outlook on BP's debt to "negative" from "stable" due to "considerable uncertainty" over the group's finances following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Chris Graythen)05 May 2010
Op-Ed by Pretty Ma
The ongoing oil leakage in the Gulf of Mexico is considered to be one of the worst environmental catastrophes ever to be dealt with in North America. It has made the spill of Exxon Valdez in the gulf of Alaska looks rather small in term of size and scope. Nevertheless, the environmental impact and cleanup still linger til today, almost 11 years after the incident which took place on March 24, 1989.
The magnitude of the present BP oil leak has caused much concerns across the USA. Given the unpredictable movement of the floating oil slicks, the potential impact on environment and the nation's economy is considered to be extremely high, after it's all said and done. There is now more of a likelihood that the oil slick will move down stream along and around the Florida Keys and make its way to the Atlantic coastline which will create even more problems for all communities and states along the eastern seaboard.
As the United States prepares for a major landing of the oil slick, it's morally imperative that we need to call on our Cambodian government to reflect on its offshore drilling policy. Most important of all, to demand total responsibilities from all major oil drilling companies to ensure that Cambodia will never have to face such an environmental catastrophe. Since it is actually happening down the Gulf of Mexico, it could also happen in Cambodia. It is real and quite probable, if it is not being seriously addressed. This should serve as a much needed wake up call for the people and the country. It is time to ask some very tough questions to the oil company, and I hope the Cambodian government and the people's representatives will simply do just that.
I hope that, we, as a people and the country will look at this offshore drilling issue very seriously and take appropriate actions to collectively ensure our country's finest coastline. Cambodia simply can not afford any oil leakage or spill onto its shores given the size and numbers of our beaches vis-a-vis those that are next door.
The magnitude of the present BP oil leak has caused much concerns across the USA. Given the unpredictable movement of the floating oil slicks, the potential impact on environment and the nation's economy is considered to be extremely high, after it's all said and done. There is now more of a likelihood that the oil slick will move down stream along and around the Florida Keys and make its way to the Atlantic coastline which will create even more problems for all communities and states along the eastern seaboard.
As the United States prepares for a major landing of the oil slick, it's morally imperative that we need to call on our Cambodian government to reflect on its offshore drilling policy. Most important of all, to demand total responsibilities from all major oil drilling companies to ensure that Cambodia will never have to face such an environmental catastrophe. Since it is actually happening down the Gulf of Mexico, it could also happen in Cambodia. It is real and quite probable, if it is not being seriously addressed. This should serve as a much needed wake up call for the people and the country. It is time to ask some very tough questions to the oil company, and I hope the Cambodian government and the people's representatives will simply do just that.
I hope that, we, as a people and the country will look at this offshore drilling issue very seriously and take appropriate actions to collectively ensure our country's finest coastline. Cambodia simply can not afford any oil leakage or spill onto its shores given the size and numbers of our beaches vis-a-vis those that are next door.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Nha Trang and neighbouring beaches hit by mysterious oil slick
Vietnam resort city falls prey to yet another mystery oil slickThanh Nien News (Hanoi)
Beaches in Vietnam’s world-famous resort town of Nha Trang are awash in a mystery oil slick, one of many that have plagued the country for several months now, fanning fears for local tourism.
The slick spread across the town’s beaches Thursday, with the stretch between Tran Phu street and Vinh Nguyen ward the worst affected.
Authorities said Thursday that several tons of oil had been mopped up and that more personnel would be deployed on the job.
The slick had hit nearby Van Thanh commune Monday.
Van Ninh and Ninh Hoa districts and Tri Nguyen island were also affected.
The authorities admitted it was a blow to tourism.
Shrimp and lobster breeders between Ninh Hai and Ninh Phuoc districts in neighboring Ninh Thuan province feared huge losses because of the slick since it was prime breeding season.
Authorities warned farmers not to pump seawater into shrimp ponds.
Many parts of the country have reported oil slicks since February which have badly affected beaches and marine environments but their sources have remained a mystery.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung instructed concerned agencies Thursday to assess the environmental and economic damage caused by the slick and speed up the search for the source.
The government also permitted the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to hire experts from Japan, the Philippines, and China to track down the source.
Source: Tuoi Tre – Translated by An Dien
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