Unofficial Local Oil Leak Update

First, apologies for being away so long.  I have too many hot dogs in the fire right now, but I must keep tending and turning so nothing burns. 

That said, you might know more about what’s going on than I do as far as mainstream media goes.  However, what I have access to that you don’t is some local information.

I have fishing charter friends who have been hired to use either their boats and or their boat operating skills with one aspect of the prevention or cleanup, as they are calling it.

First, Captain 1 worked for a couple weeks delpoying boom south of our (Terrebonne) parish.  Remember, this parish does not have a sandy coastline, but rather miles and miles of marshy shore lined with spartina alterniflora or smooth chord grass and then many little rivulets leading out the marshes and into the bays that cannot be scraped clean like a sandy beach can. 

One would think that the boom was being deployed in order to protect the marshy shoreline, right?  However, much to Captain 1’s dismay, the boom they deployed went around spits of sand where birds (brown pelicans, et. al.) were nesting.  None were deployed to protect marshy coasts.

Captain 1 also discovered that he was about the only vessel operator hired to run a boat in his own home territory.  He claimed that BP is hiring boats and their crews and sending them to other state coastlines to work rather than letting them work in the waters they know blindfolded.  He was disturbed to see boat trailer license plates in the parking lot from many other states and only a few from Louisiana.

Why?  Because BP doesn’t want these fishermen to know what is going on or NOT going on in their own back yards.  This has been confirmed.

Captain 2 is a charter captain from Jefferson Parish where the sport fishing is closed.  As a result, he is planning to come to this area to bring his clients fishing.  Until those trips materialize, he has been hired, trained, and properly “badged” to do coast guard inspections on vessels that have been hired to help with the “effort”.   I want THAT job.

Captain 3, a charter captain who owns an airboat in Plaquemines Parish, has worked over a month straight in a different parish.  He was required to sleep on a barge, not allowed to EVER leave the site, except for the two nights they let him go home in over a month.  If he sees oiled wildlife, especially brown pelicans, he is to record the GPS coordinates, and report those coordinates to an official number.  He is gravely concerned, because after making several such reports over that first month, he never saw anyone picking up the birds.

What gives?  BP demands we do what they require, yet they don’t do what they say they will.

Well folks, my hot dogs need turning.  Please don’t get all riled up about the above information, because this oil leak is not only the worst environmental disaster in the G.O.M (Gulf of Mexico) but it is also the biggest political nightmare we’ve ever seen.  And believe you me, folks, we have seen more than our fair share of political night mares here in Louisiana.  

BP = Beyond Perturbed

Don’t go and make a ton of calls to BP and the government and get me in trouble for reporting all of this UNOFFICIAL information.  This is just FYI so you’ll know what I’m hearing.

Honestly, if you step back and look and listen, it’s like an  end-of-the-world science fiction novel and getting more sureal every day.

Next post will be about progress on the Bayou Miracle Tree House!  Something positive for a change, okay?

Hanging in there,

BW

PS  Water still beautiful and fishy here!   So, come on down!

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16 Comments

  1. “it’s like an end-of-the-world science fiction novel and getting more sureal every day”

    Yea, you pretty much nailed that.

    Glad it’s still clear where you are… and the rest, ugh. One more page of the science fiction story…??

  2. My cousin got her cut the other day and the hair stylist said she was collecting all of the hair and sending it to someone in LA to use in the oil clean up. Have you heard of that? I thought it was a neat idea if it really works.

    Hope your week goes by smoothly, can’t wait to see new house pictures. By the way, I go Wednesday to the new surgeon, keep your fingers crossed!

    1. I heard on a news broadcast weeks ago, that they are no longer collecting hair. Tell that stylist to donate the clippings to people growing tomatoes. It’s mixed into the soil and helps with the nitrogen levels (or so a well known PBS gardener says).

    2. Yes, there is an organization, I’ll have to find the link again, that collects hair all the time for things like this. It’s actually pretty interesting. However, I am not sure that it is actually being used for the cleanup, but donating makes people feel like they are doing something in an otherwise helpless situation.

    3. Things have been moving at a snail’s pace at the new house, and I can’t make them happen any faster, so I’ve been quite frustrated. Am keeping fingers crossed for you at new surgeon! And praying, too, is that okay? LOL!

  3. I’m really wanting to come down and fish, but right now we’re on a quest to purchase a tractor. Hubby has changed his mind more than I change clothing. Started out looking for 28-30 H.P. used tractor/w5’bush hog. Now we’re looking at 40-45 H.P. NEW tractors w/ 6′ bush hog AND a front end loader. When all is said and done, I may not be able to afford the fuel to come down and go fishing anytime soon! When we do finally make it down, meet us at the marina and hop aboard our boat. Let’s fish till we get a limit of Specks and Reds. Then, I’d really like a tour of the B.M.T.H. AND a cup of coffee.

  4. Here is what I find most frustrating about the cleanup efforts. It may be that the response wasn’t fast enough to stop the oil from reaching the shore, but the oil is still coming! Act like it started TODAY, and do what should have been done at the beginning. Accept the offers of other countries who have the technology in place to get out there and stop what we can from also coming ashore!

    Here’s what I see second most frustrating. Your remarks about the pelicans. They can be seen, they make for great sight bites on tv, wrenching people’s hearts. But what about all the wildlife in the marsh grass – the shrimp, crabs, fish, and whatever else lives there under that water that is suffocating and dying because of the oil?

    You are right that this is like a Clive Cussler or Tom Clancy novel. Only there’s no hero waiting in the wings to rescue us.

    1. Maybe, maybe, just maybe…. we’ll turn out to be the heros. The American people. Not the politicians, not the bureaucrats.

      There are a lot of people who are becoming more and more angry, and here and there – in Florida and Alabama that I know of for certain – local officials are telling the powers to be to go take a flying leap. They’re going to do what they think best to protect their communities.

      That’s one good reason for BP to separate captains from their local waters – it separates them from their communities, too. Fortunately, the people in DC haven’t figured out yet that “word gets around”. – even for people who don’t have those fancy Blackberries 😉

  5. I can’t stand to hear about it on the news. This is terrible, and it just keeps going on and on. And in some way, I feel to blame too because with all the driving I do I contribute to the drive to drill. As do all of us–we’re an oil-based society from our tires to our clothing to our scented candles. It’s scary and as you say, science-fiction-like in our dependency on this one substance for which we pay more and more every day.

  6. I watched Obama tonight and he actually looked into the camera as if looking directly at us!! I also heard him mention the wetlands. I almost fell off of the sofa when he did. Wish he had been a bit more specific about them though.
    It is so frustrating that there are so many willing to help with the clean up but are being turned away! I can guarantee you that not a single one of those in power would refuse a saving hand from a non USA person if they were overboard and drowning! You take the hand/help that is offered, thank them and the power above for letting them be willing and do what has to be done.

  7. Re: the vessels of opportunity program – there was some chatter on our fishing show this past weekend about Texas charter captains who have come back home from LA. They had gone over to make some good, quick money, but once they got there, they discovered that they were getting jobs while LA captains were being passed over.

    Some of them were really, really angry about it – saying folks who have lost the ability to earn their regular living from the waters should get first crack at clean-up jobs. I know a couple who came back here and wouldn’t work for BP, and I’m really proud of them.