Vessels of Opportunity enters transitional period

Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph announced at Monday’s BP Oil Spill Committee meeting vessels will be needed at least until the end of the year, as the Vessels of Opportunity program transitions into the Snare Sentinel Programs, a program that will hire new boats as ones that have been working are rotated off-hire.

After the transition is complete, the SSP will go into effect. The new hires will install posts with under-water netting to collect oil that is beneath the water’s surface in order to protect the shoreline.

“I was told that until the end of the year vessels would be needed, so everyone will get a chance,” Randolph said. “I gave BP a list of people [on hire with VoO] who aren’t commercial fisherman Wednesday.”

Randolph and VoO program liaison Judith Paul also clarified that boats that have been decontaminated will be paid through Sept. 20, because Randolph did not sign the document BP needed her to sign to cease payment until that day.

Most parishes had signed the document sooner, which is a testament to how hard Randolph worked for Lafourche, according to Terrebonne Parish BP liaison Bernie Vaughan.

“I know Mr. Claudet and Ms. Randolph have done as much for this parish as anybody,” Vaughan told the Tri-Parish Times. “Every call we get from one of them is to try to help the fishermen.”

Boats that refuse the decontamination process are not being paid, but boats that can’t be accommodated by BP are still on the payroll, Paul said.

The bi-weekly BP Committee meetings had considerably less venom directed towards the council, parish president and BP officials in recent weeks. However, on Monday accusations were levied and insults hurled at Randolph as she left the Old Walmart in Matthews after Committee Chairman Lindell Toups had to prematurely adjourn the meeting.

Daniel Lorriane and Randolph delved into a heated debate over whether or not Randolph invited the councilmen to a command center in Fourchon, which led to the abrupt ending.

Randolph said that Lorraine has not been to the office one time, although it is located in his district. He responded by saying neither he nor the other councilmen were invited to the “closed-door” meeting and didn’t receive an invitation until two weeks later. He said he is “standing his ground” and will not show up to the command center.

Toups said he has been invited to the office.

The audience that addressed the council and BP representatives asserted all night that they felt they have been lied to throughout the VoO process, whether it was about the amount of non-commercial fishermen in the program or the steps they needed to take to rectify their individual situations.

They blamed the BP for giving them the run around and not doing something sooner to rid VoO of out-of-state workers or non-commercial fishermen.

“I’m not going to be called a liar because I don’t just tell you what you want to hear,” Paul said. She later apologized for confusion within the program.

“When we started, there was three or four of us working 18 hours a day,” she said. “I didn’t realize the first people to show up and sign up weren’t commercial fishermen. They probably were doctors or lawyers. I don’t know, so I can’t say either way

“If there is any blame to be placed, it can go on my shoulders because I’m the BP representative and I’ve been here from the beginning.”