Gautreaux, Melancon express their opinions about BP

Drilling freeze has chilling impact
June 16, 2010
Rose Stewart
June 18, 2010
Drilling freeze has chilling impact
June 16, 2010
Rose Stewart
June 18, 2010

In case you missed it, State Senator Butch Gautreaux and United States Congressman Charlie Melancon have been firing nationwide shots on BP.


Gautreaux fired his accusations when he appeared on HardBall with Chris Matthews.


Melancon fired a direct shot when he called for the resignation of BP CEO Tony Hayward, on ABC’s Good Morning America. Then he fired another from his senate campaign website at www.charliemelancon.com.

On the Hardball show, Chris Matthews began questioning Gautreaux by asking him who the main culprit is in the cleanup of the gulf.


“Well, Chris, you know, we’ve been dealing with this-I’ve been dealing with this personally all my life. And the people of Louisiana, south Louisiana especially, have been dealing with oil and gas issues all of our lives. And I can tell you that this is BP’s problem. The president’s right that BP needs to pay whatever the cost is of the clean-up and also getting people’s lives back together again,” Gautreaux answered.


Then Matthews asked, “Do you honestly believe that BP is going to pay for every drop, to get every drop of oil out of the Gulf of Mexico and every speck of oil that’s sooted up some wetland is going to removed, that they’re going to take it back to where it was before with the money?”

Gautreaux replied, “Chris, I absolutely believe they will not. And you know, we’ve got to look for how this is going to be paid for. We know, that you know, the federal government doesn’t have the money. We know that the state of Louisiana doesn’t have the money. The money has got to come from somewhere, so it’s probably going to have to come from the oil industry. But BP is going to avoid at all costs paying for this damage.”


Matthews replied, “How are they going to avoid it?”


Gautreaux answered, “Oh they’re going to put us in lawsuits one after another. You know, from the Valdez, I understand that there are still suits pending, and I expect them to perform the same way.”

“Why do you think the government can’t grab every dollar that we need to pay for this clean-up from them? ” Matthews asked. “Why are you pessimistic about this campaign to get justice here? Because the language they’ve been using when they say, ‘All legitimate claims,’ that careful language?”


Gautreaux replied, “Well Chris, you know, we talk about being too dependent on foreign oil and that we need more domestic oil. But is BP a U.S. company? No. It’s from Britain. You know, we’ve got Shell, who is from Holland. I don’t know, is that-is that domestic oil or is it-once it’s in their hands, is it domestic oil or is it foreign oil?”


Matthews then ending the interview, replied, “Oh it would seem to be our oil the minute it’s spilled.”

On the national level, Congressman Charlie Melancon, fired more of a direct hit on BP, on a brand name network.

Appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America, Melancon answered questions from host George Stephanopoulos, who was originating a live morning show shot from Morgan City.

The interview began with a question about whether or not BP should face criminal charges.

“I think anyone that had a hand in what transpired in the beginning of the application for the permit, all the way to the negligence on the rig, we should look at every aspect of it, everyone who had a part in it,” Melancon told Stephanopoulos.

“I’m still in favor of offshore drilling,” he said. “But we have to do it safely. We can’t have everyone in danger, like they could possibly be in right now. That also includes the environment.”

The congressman continued. “If someone told me that this had happened in a third world country, I could understand it. But this happened in America, and it’s shameful,” he said.

Stephanopoulous then asked Melancon where he puts the blame.

“I was watching this week as the CEO of BP said he wants his life back. I’m to the point where I wish the board would call him back, and give us somebody that really wants to make sure that the people of this state, the people of this gulf coast region, have what they need and when they want to try and fight this oil spill, I mean this oil leak,” Melancon said.

Stephanopoulous then asked Melancon if he was saying that BP CEO Tony Hayward should be fired.

“Well if I performed the way this company has performed, and then to look at the stocks and see what has happened to them because of this incident, then usually, the buck stops there,” Melancon said.

Following the interview, Melancon kept going with his attack against Hayward, and created a “Send Tony Hayward a Pink Slip” feature on his website.

Visitors are asked to watch the video that features Hayward numerous times, asking for his life back. After watching, they’re asked to fill out a form with their name and e-mail address, and to add any comments about Hayward.