Post-BP explosion

One year ago, on April 16, 2010, the Tri-Parish Times feature article discussed the issues recent nursing graduates had in a job market that belatedly fell victim to the national recession.

Four days later, an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico initiated a chain of events that would diminish the general nature of the subject’s appeal.

It’s been exactly one year since 11 workers aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig were killed, the launch of an estimated 150 million gallons of oil into the Gulf and the ensuing ban on deepwater drilling.

The ramifications from the BP-leased well blowout continue. The most pressing need, according to Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph, is still-stalled permit issuance for deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Chett Chiasson, executive director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission, said it was “disheartening” to see the pace of issued drilling permits come to a halt last week.

“We have not actually seen what the actual pace of the permitting will be,” Chiasson said. “We thought we were on a good pace, and we were to have 10 since the end of February. However, not seeing any permits issued last week is very concerning to me.”

The Port Commission voted to reduce lease rental rates by 30 percent until the end of 2010, which later was extended to June 30, making it a year. The Commission also suspended rental rate increases for a year.

The measures helped the port avoid losing any of its pre-spill leases, but will ultimately cost the port between $3.2 and $3.5 million.

“We certainly have not seen the impact that we could have seen,” Chiasson said. “That’s truly a testament to the industry and a testament to our tenant base for doing the right thing and keeping as many people employed as possible. There have been layoffs in Port Fourchon, but the numbers certainly are nowhere near what they could have been.”

The director said the fluctuating permit pace has stymied his optimism of a return to normalcy by the end of June.

“If they continue issuing permits and maybe we see four or five permits issued this week, I think we can be optimistic our tenants will know what to expect in the future. We’re certainly not out of the woods yet, and we’ll continue to monitor the situation and hopefully we can get back to normal at the end of June 30.”

Throughout the moratorium, both as mandated and perceived, reports have surfaced that the reshuffled management agency now called the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has inadequate personnel in both quality and quantity. “That’s something I think Congress can help with, allowing BOEM to hire the appropriate personnel and the right amount of personnel to handle the amount of permits we’re seeing,” Chiasson said.

Randolph said the parish is also still working to reopen Fourchon Beach amid concern from the area’s property owners. The parish president said money that BP dedicated for tourism efforts is being used to facilitate the process.

“People who normally go there to crab and to fish don’t have access to it right now,” Randolph said. “That certainly impacts the businesses in that area who normally saw tourists come in and spend money.”

Lafourche, as well as all impacted parishes and counties along the country’s Gulf coast, is still waiting on the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process to run its course. Once it is determined how much oil was leaked into the Gulf and the level of negligence that led to the spill, the liable parties will be fined.

At this point, a lot is unknown about the outcome of the NRDA process. Coastal groups, such as Women of the Storm, have lobbied national lawmakers to have 80 percent of the fine money go directly to the affected communities.

The range of the fines is still being debated and no timeline is in place, other than monthly meetings, Randolph said. “It may be soon, or it may be 10 years from now. We just don’t know. … It could be anywhere from $3 billion to $40 billion.”

Louisiana legislators, Sen. David Vitter and Rep. Jeff Landry, introduced a bill in their respective sectors of Congress geared at provoking BP to pay an estimated 30 percent NRDA down payment or “negotiating in good faith” in order to speed up the process.

“One year out from the worst oil spill in American history, we’ve made virtually no progress in addressing the substantial damage to our fisheries, wildlife, coastal and other natural resources,” Vitter said. “Our bill would start that process immediately by forcing BP to negotiate now rather than continuing to delay its payments. The recovery process needs to begin by summer of 2011, not summer of 2025.”

“I am tired of BP using every trick and turn of the court process to prolong their obligation to pay for the damages they have caused to Louisiana’s natural resources,” Landry said. “Our bill forces BP to make a choice: pay 30 percent of what they owe right now or negotiate in good faith; delaying the payment is no longer an option.”

In the 12 months since the disaster, public officials have worked to determine solutions for a myriad of problems, with the necessity of wading through the layers of issues that arose with each problem-solving idea.

The Vessels of Opportunity, initially heralded as a solution to clean up the oil and provide a replacement check for commercial fishermen, devolved into a system with an opaque hiring process, one that was without a tangible verification system to ensure workers earned 51 percent of their pre-spill income from commercial fishing.

BP refused tax records and based the hires on boat size, trip tickets and undated commercial fishing licenses. The Lafourche chief executive said the program was infiltrated by “quite frankly, those who capitalize on disasters and see an opportunity to make money.”

Randolph said BP’s status as a private company ensured local governments had little influence over the decision-making process. She said it was and continues to be a frustrating dynamic.

“Because we’re not prominent in the authority level in this, it still is a BP-Coast Guard operation,” Randolph said. “We provide the place for them to operate.”

With shrimp season rapidly approaching, commercial fishermen still face an uphill battle in their quest for a return to a semblance of normalcy.

BP reports that all of the oil has been cleaned and the Gulf seafood is safe to eat, but the general public has remained skeptical and demand for Louisiana seafood is down.

“The only way that clean water can help the fishermen recover is to convince outsiders that the seafood is safe,” Randolph said.

A member of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s staff reaches into the thick oil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico in this June 15, 2010, file photo. One year ago, BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 men and leaking an estimated 172 million gallons of petroleum into the Gulf. GERALD HEBERT

Gerald Herbert