Emile Percle
July 2, 2010Wednesday, July 7
July 7, 2010
With 208 Lafourche Parish fishermen still waiting by the phone to get hired by BP through its Vessels of Opportunity program, councilman Rodney Doucet offered help to the 58 percent of Lafourche Parish fishermen yet to receive a call.
“I took their name down and their vessel name down and about when they did their training,” said Doucet. “I called the Emergency Preparedness Center, and I gave them the name of the gentlemen, their phone number and the name of their vessel. They checked into it, and the problem was paperwork.”
Although many fishermen feel their paperwork is already correctly completed, Doucet said that may not be the case.
He called BP for two fishermen who thought they had everything completed, but it turned out paperwork was incorrectly filed.
“We have taken these names and these vessels and called BP and asked if there was a problem,” said Parish President Charlotte Randolph. “In some cases, we have helped with the problem.”
Although Randolph, Doucet or anyone associated with Lafourche Parish Government cannot request the hiring of a certain vessel, they ask for any fisherman who has not received a call from BP yet to submit their information to their local councilman so he can check with BP to see if their paperwork was filed correctly.
Parish officials cannot help individual fishermen who do not seek help, because BP provides the parish with the number of hired vessels only, not with names of who has and has not been given a job.
Handheld Air Monitors could be on the way
The Lafourche Parish Council passed a resolution requesting BP to fund the purchase of 12 handheld air monitors to test for toxic particles in the air.
The councilmen who presented the resolution, Joe Fertitta, said the stationary air monitors in Thibodaux and Fourchon only monitor the ends of the parish, and he would like for the parish to be able to constantly measure air quality from top to bottom with portable monitors.
“People who have breathing problems or lung transplants are very concerned about how we’re monitoring the air, because some of the doctors are telling them if they start breathing some of the oil to shut their air conditioning down and leave the area,” said Fertitta. “We should give these people peace of mind where at least the parish is checking on it.”
The parish receives daily updates from the Environmental Protection Agency on its Thibodaux and Fourchon monitors, and nothing out the ordinary has been found yet according to Department of Environmental Quality Administrator Michael Vince.
Residents could receive some money back from BP
The Lafourche Parish Council also passed a resolution requesting BP to reimburse all commercial or sport license fees as well as any oyster or hunting leases purchased in 2010.
Anyone who cannot continue to fish or maintain their livelihood is eligible for the reimbursement.
Travel expense policy to remain
By a vote of six nays and three yays, the council shot down an ordinance to institute a per diem rate for travel expenses.
“I can understand the thought behind this, but after looking at this and talking to some of the administration, it’s going to be very expensive for the parish for these travel expenses,” said Fertitta, who voted against the measure. “Some people are going to double dip, so I really think we should stay with the tier travel of the state laws.”
Randolph agreed with the council’s decision and said having a receipt for every dollar spent is a much more efficient way to spend public money.
“It seems the public is demanding more of us now, and this is an opportunity to address that and to have any documents they requested at any time as evidence of how that money was spent,” said Randolph.
Workers lay boom along the marshline in Lafourche Parish. Parish President Charlotte Randolph suggests fishermen still awaiting word about employment through the Vessels of Opportunity program contact the Emergency Preparedness Center. * Courtesy photo LAFOURCHE PARISH GOVERNMENT
