Captain Richard Garner has been out of work since President Obama called a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling. Garner's three supply ships usually work to support oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana. From the Times-Picayune:
Garner said no one in Washington seems to realize that the moratorium is punishing all mariners for the missteps of one oil company and the permissive attitude of federal regulators at Minerals Management Service.
"There are no corners being cut in our industry, but now we have to suffer," Garner said. "If there are safety procedures to implement, implement them as you go. Don't shut down our whole economy."
The folks in the Gulf have a complicated relationship with oil. The petroleum industry holds the region's economy together, putting money in the pockets of people who buy the crabs and shrimp and oysters that are now endangered by the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. In Louisiana, shrimp and petroleum are celebrated together, literally together, as at the annual Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in September. I wonder if BP's well will still be leaking then.
(Thanks to viewer @BleuZ00m for the Dirty Cajuns video. The world needs more Dirty Cajuns. That's Dirty Cajun Drew Landry bringing the BP blues.)
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I would say, these unemployed should be employed by BP,Transocean,Halliburton to mind the booms and mop up the oil, help clean the wildlife.
"There are no corners being cut in our industry"
NO Corners? I guess the big bad oil decided to bend on its own!
What Garner doesn`t seem to realize is that his employers are punishing Americans! Find something more noble than working for crooks!
IF you work for the Mafia, don`t bitch when the Don goes down and you are out of work! You work in the business of Greed. Have some humble pie! Eat Oil & Die!
Hey! Easy! I'm walking here!
If I hear one more Obama critic call for "leadership" on MSNBC or CNN, I truely believe my head is going to implode! Why is noone standing up for the truth on this issue and calling these people out for what it is? If President Obama moved his office to New Orleans this week to oversee the efforts to stop and contain this oil slick crisis, the same critics would come at him for not being in Washington DC working on job creation, immigration reform, and economic recovery < which they would all surely reject >.
It is so obvious to anyone with a sense of reality that this man has more major issues than just the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico to deal with. I would ask the critics, "What would anyone else do if he/she was in charge of todays problems facing America including the oil slick crisis that threatens to devastate the entire gulf region and eastern seaboard?".
It is this bloggers opinion that the Republican party should step up and take responsibilty for the fact that had they, as a whole, not been so negative towards this administrations efforts for the past 2 years in moving forward on major issues, we would have advanced much more than we have so far and perhaps, just perhaps, the White House could be more focused on the Gulf issue.
As it is currently, we have a Federal government that is trying to get America moving towards the future while fighting the obstacles in place by the ever defiant GOP who has one issue on their plate and that being taking back power in Washington.
It is time for the media to stop allowing critics to waltz onto the set and take pot-shots at our President and start asking them for their answers to the problems they criticize the President for not acting on to meet their approval.
Amen brother.
All the people that thought Bush and Reagan were so great were bitching at Bush bashing for his taunting "Bring 'em on" and spending into oblivion, not getting bin Laden, deregulating, torture and he WAS in office on 9-11, but it was all the prior president's fault now blame Obama for everything.
Media owned by conservatives now "shaping" the news, show Obama bashers at every opportunity, inflate their numbers, ignore the counter position, do not show the massive damage of BP, et. al. We are not getting much real news because they want to show things "favorable to their benefit only".
Add shows with more opinion format, slant right, blame blame blame. Pretend to be a victim, promote things that anger more anti Obama sentiment when we need some unity to solve these issues. The divide and conquer continues. Bullying continues, whip up anger, talk of shooting people.
Jobs gone, wages down, deficit in outer space. How did this happen? Not because of tax cuts. Trickle down theory "sounded good", but deregulation, trade agreements led to outsourcing, union bashing for making agreements for decent wages and safe working conditions.
I have read blatant efforts to blame environmentalists that forced oil drilling in deep water.
I have one recommendation for Obama: Get busy on alternative energy policy in a big way, right away. On the NASA moon shot, man on the moon level.
My head hurts, too.
Just pitiful.
I couldn't agree with you more!
I guess I should be the first one to admit and make amends for my frustrations seeping undeserved onto others. And I will say the oil industry needs regulation (and maybe NEPA!!), and MMS needs overhauling and some accountability.
But it always seems the staff and crews are the ones to get the sharp end of the stick. There are people who fill dangerous jobs out there, jobs fulfilling the demand or safety of the population. And very often these same crews, out of the line of authority, are the ones trying to make a difference in the industry by chancing vocalization of their opinions for consciencious improvements and safety.
"Hey Heyyy. Looks like they capped it. Thank the crews. Now get that pipe connected, close vents, n commit tankers to filter concentrations." 5 hrs ago
With the build of pressure, not sure now if they should close vents.
Nice song Garner
Lost my edit.
I do think there are those in administration who understand and will be mindful of the livelihood of these districts in their future decisions. At least, I like to believe.
The "Shrimp and Petroleum Festival" says it all. These folks are all in bed with the oil industry; they always have been, and always will be. Mr. Garner and the fisher folks all made their choices long before this spill, knowing that spills are part and parcel of oil production. The victims here are the marshes and wildlife, who are totally at our mercy; they had no "choice" in the matter at hand.
I don't want offshore drilling either. But there needs to be some thought into supplement and new industrial development coinciding with any changes significantly affecting a region.
The new pictures of oil-soaked birds are heartbreaking. Are the photographers notifying rescue groups or helping them in any way? This a heavily populated area and there should be many people to help out. What about Audubon, NWF, Gulf Restoration, etc.? Please don't photograph this suffering and do nothing! Surely the people who need work could help in many ways with this.
Thanks TRMS folks for pulling this from our paper and for taking the loss of jobs here seriously, and THANKS more than I can say for coming down here so often and working so hard to "get it." Somehow it makes me feel a little better knowing y'all have our backs on this.
Everyone: please don't demonize the ordinary people in LA and elsewhere who work for the oil industry. Something like 100K people are going to lose their jobs and I'm sorry but that IS going to crash the economy of southern LA. I am a hardcore environmentalist in New Orleans and I am thrilled at the moratorium and the prospect of actual *criminal* charges against BP, but that doesn't mean I can't have some compassion for the people who aren't going to be able to put food on the table (seafood or otherwise...) because of this. As long as we have a world where people have to take the best-paying jobs they can get in order for their families to survive financially, there are going to be people working for oil companies and mining companies and nuclear reactors and logging companies and on and on.
What we need is a FEMA or Red Cross-type agency whose responsibility would be to help people survive the impact of *technological* disasters. If your house gets eaten by a tornado no one sits around bitching about whose fault it was and whether or not the house was up to code; the agencies who are supposed to help swoop in and get the survivors emergency supplies and financial assistance right away. The people of the coast need massive financial assistance NOW and new/better jobs VERY soon. Massive investments in clean energy on the Gulf Coast (and elsewhere of course) would help.
Many people are losing their jobs around the nation. Most file for unemplyoment. Is this not available in Louisiana?
Govt shouldn`t cancel all Oil Drilling Contracts, just ALL of BP`s!
Bad Analogy: One jet crash can not wipe out the natural resources of at least 4 states!
Good reason not to drill that deep w/o a relief well!
“BP to pay shareholders an expected $10 billion in dividends!"
If I invested in a horse and it broke its leg during race, I should not expect dividends from winnings. Govt must take BP into receivership!”
Fishermen and other Gulf residents, remember how Wall Street unemployed the rest of America? Don`t worry, Big Oil didn`t forget about you either! You are Welcome! #bpcares
I am reminded of a story. A farmer who was in need of some quick cash decided to sell his trusty mule. So he sold raffle tickets for one dollar each. During which time his mule up and died. The farmer went ahead with the raffle anyway and when the winner came to take possesion of the mule, he explained the situation and then gave the winner his dollar back.
There isn't a job in the US that doesn't depend on petroleum. The computer keyboard you're using to type is made out of petroleum.
The problem with the oil company is that they weren't just making money, but making profit. Some of those profits that should've gone into cleanup technology, which would've created more jobs. The people who work around the oil rigs don't make a profit, they make a living.
Reduce, reuse, recycle is something we've been saying for years. The best way to evolve is to do it gradually and we've had decades of knowing how to gradually reduce our need for petroleum.
Loggers into forest fire fighters, supply ships into cleanup ships. We just have to evolve.
And how 'bout that wave-powered desalination offshore platform?
I really like the wave/current technology and I would like to see these used similar to dams, providing power.
I think we have a need to express alternative energy as something to augment oil, not as totally stop and cut off oil.
People working on deep water rigs can be hired by BP, etc. to keep working on the clean up. They can transition into new fields, this is the lemonade out of lemons time.
The similarity between the fields seem like a fit for experience and training for these folks and some other unemployed workers.
I do think we need action and spearheading from Obama to form a project to do this type of work. The private sector is dragging feet, it seems.
Vote vets dot org committee has an ad, right on the money. I guess I am not allowed to post links here, sorry...
Private sector will always drag its feet until it sees an insane greed profit motivation. Corporations are not out to just make money, they are out to make insane greedy profits at the risk of everyone else. Until you change the motivation of corporations to be a little more circumspect and less greedy, all of the above ideas are moot.
Even at this moment, BP is more concerned about handing out $10 billion in dividends to its shareholders, than the nickel & dime assistance to the disaster victims they created. I believe shareholders should only be rewarded after all other bills are paid.
No, all the ideas above are not moot, PackCat. If we reduce our need for oil, we reduce the number of permits we give to deep water drilling in American waters.
We're not powerless. That water they're drilling in isn't private property.
Is unemployment available to these people? I am not understanding why they can't file for unemployment. I have seen reports where these businesses have not paid taxes. This would make it hard for anyone to collect anything from anyone.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-claims-20100530%2C0%2C4758933.story
Up top in this blog entry there's links to stories like "From the Times-Picayune:" and if you follow it, the the article says:
Yes, unemployment is available to these people. But most people would actually prefer to work than just receive unemployment. Their work is part of their way of life, their culture. You can't give people back their lives in the form of a check.
There's a difference between avoidable job loss and unavoidable job loss.
I wonder how many illegal aliens work in the oil industry?
good question
don't forget Katrina and how illegal immigrants rebuilt the city and no one cared
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5446965