Tuesday, July 13
July 13, 2010Ellis Warren Jr.
July 15, 2010
Two of the seven commissioners on the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill and Offshore Drilling met with representatives from Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes Saturday in Houma.
Parish Presidents Charlotte Randolph and Michel Claudet, state Rep. Gordon Dove, Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board Director Ewell Smith and Louisiana Oil and Gas Association President Don Briggs, among others, voiced their concerns to commissioners Donald Boesch and Frances Ulmer.
“The people of Louisiana can clean up the oil. We’re resilient,” said Dove. “We cleaned up after Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike, but what we can’t clean up is if the oil rigs leave.”
Boesch said the concern he and Ulmer heard most regularly from local leaders were regarding the impact of the moratorium on the economy of the region.
“[Impacts] have already begun to be seen, and they’re very concerned they will be long-term rather than just temporary,” said Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. “We’re going to bring that information back to the commission, so we can understand not only the complex dimensions of the problem but also the urgency of making recommendations quickly in helping deal with this challenge.”
Boesch and Ulmer toured Louisiana this weekend, while the other five commissioners split up touring Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
President Barack Obama has directed the commission to examine the relevant facts and circumstances concerning the causes of the oil spill and develop options to guard against any oil spills associated with offshore drilling in the future.
Therefore, it is unlikely that any legislation will stem from the commission in the near future, and the commission has no power over the lifting or the implementation of the moratorium.
“We’re here on a listening and learning trip,” said Ulmer, who served on the Special Committee on the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Claims Settlement Division. “It’s very important to have the opportunity to talk with people who represent communities, businesses and the area which is most directly impacted by the unfortunate accident on April 20.”
Even though the moratorium’s future lies with the president and the courts, both Randolph and Claudet feel the meeting was positive.
“We have a clearer understanding of what they are charged with achieving, and therefore, we will participate in the commission’s hearings,” said Randolph. “But we also realize that we will have to use other means in order to get this moratorium lifted.”
After meeting the local leaders, Boesch and Ulmer took aerial and boat tours of southern Lafourche and Plaquemines parishes, before meeting with the other Commissioners to discuss their findings in New Orleans Monday and Tuesday.
“We got our point across, and they listened,” said Claudet. “As to whether or not anything will happen, let’s just pray.”
But not all public officials are as optimistic with the progress the Commission is slated to make.
Sen. David Vitter spoke at Monday’s Bayou Industrial Group meeting in Thibodaux and feels the president’s policies since the oil spill are sending Louisiana economy into a tailspin.
“After months of indecision and lack of focus, the [Barack] Obama administration has finally taken my advice and started treating the oil spill response like a war. Unfortunately, they’re declaring war on Louisiana’s economy,” said Vitter.
Vitter is disappointed that the commission will not address the new, pending moratorium on deepwater oil drilling announced by the Obama administration Monday.
“Commission members have made it clear that they will defer to the Interior Department’s own agenda and have no intention of addressing the deepwater drilling moratorium that’s killing thousands of jobs in our state,” said Vitter. “Even though two courts have sided against the administration, they are still doing everything they can to keep the moratorium in place.”
Without addressing the moratorium, Vitter is among many Louisiana residents wondering why Obama sent the Commission to this area to listen to the problems of the people if they cannot affect the implementation or lifting of the moratorium.
“I’m not saying the president is evil or has it in for us. I’m saying he might as well, because the results are the same,” said Vitter.
Commissioners Frances Ulmer and Don Boesch listen Saturday as Terrebonne Parish representatives discuss issues experienced locally in the wake of Deepwater Horizon spill. RICHARD FISCHER
