I thought I was finished but this item wouldn't let me. In a classic example of "Who's zooming who?", the AP reports on some of the contracts awarded by the government in the cleanup of the BP oil spill.
I would have loved to get the $10,000 for the three minutes of video the guy in Baton Rouge got. I've shot about 15 hours of tape and produced about 3 hours of video features. I'm not getting dime one.
Showing posts with label oil spill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil spill. Show all posts
Monday, September 13, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Local Heroes and Parting Thoughts
After two months, a dozen video reports and over 40 stories on the blog, it’s time to end the little red tar balls project and get back to a real job. But there’s a story I call “Local Heroes” that needs to be told. They have done nothing as spectacular as walking on the moon but to life on the Gulf Coast it’s every bit as important. All they are doing is working every day to preserve their coast. Their home.
I’ve recorded some of these people on camera. I’ve talked with many more with the camera safely in its case. These are the people get up every morning and live their personal and professional lives. In that way, they keep the Gulf moving forward.
I spoke with a woman on a lunch van who sets up every day only a few hundred yards from a major mustering point for the oil spill response team in Slidell, Louisiana. The spill workers have their lunches shipped in so her business is in the bin compared to other years, but she still sets up shop every day.
I spoke to several shrimpers who are having their nets torn up by the anchors that were used to secure the oil booms. When removing the booms, the workers didn’t winch up the anchors. They just cut the mooring lines leaving the anchors on the bottom all sharp and pointy. But the shrimpers still cast their nets and try to figure out how to deal with that sharp debris.
I’ve talked to entrepreneurs whose businesses are hurting because the summer tourist season simply didn’t happen this year. Some businesses have failed and others still may. The rest soldier on.
These are some of my local heroes.
Each of the local folks I interviewed on camera are most certainly local heroes. In the order they appeared in the video vignettes, they are…
Kenny DiNero, because the spill has put him up against the wall in so many ways. More than most, probably. Last week I asked him what was happening with his claim. BP came back with a payment offer of only 5% of his losses for this year. Five percent? Are they serious? He also went to a meeting with Ken Feinberg, the head of the government agency that’s taken over the claims process and didn’t feel any more confident about a realistic outcome. Through his frustration, he keeps on fighting for his business and his personal financial survival.
Finley Hughes and Dustin Renaud, because they facilitate a massive effort that will help scientists understand the effects of the spilled oil and the dispersants on the wildlife. They work cheerfully and, it appears, tirelessly. Finley drags himself all across the coast to work with different Audubon groups and external entities increasing their effectiveness. Dustin works with an ever-changing cast of volunteers to comb the coast for precious data points to feed to scientists. Plus, being a local, he is passionate about how the oil has hurt his coast and his beaches.
Darlene Carter, because she loves her home town and her community and refuses to sit idly by when there’s trouble. In the five years since Katrina and the birth of the Moss Point Visionary Circle, Darlene and members of her community have developed numerous programs to instill values in the youth and teach the power of personal empowerment to everyone. As I think I said here when I first posted her video, what MPVC does is in the best American tradition. Find a problem and mobilize community resources to solve it. There’s no waiting for the government or some outside group to come in and fix it for them. It’s see and do. Right now.
Barbara Ruddiman, because she makes sure that people get fed that otherwise might not have a good meal and she does it week in and week out. She works the logistics to make it all work and figures how to make it work for more people because there are others who really need a good meal. Did I mention that “The Lord Is My Help” was started by Kenny DeNiro’s mother and that the lady with white hair behind the counter is 100 years old and is Kenny’s grandmother? They are my heroes too.
Mark LaSalle, because he seeks the truth in the science in his studies on the Gulf. He has no agenda or ax to grind. He simply wants to know what’s happening as a result of the oil and the dispersant. The fact that he’s passionate, self effacing and has a wicked but subtle sense of humor make him a lot of fun to spend time with.
Bill Stallworth, Debi Thomas and all the people at Hope CDA, because they care. But more than that, they’ve taken that concern for their neighbors and their community and converted it into a powerful force, supported by tireless energy and amazing good cheer. I don’t think I’ve ever met so many good hearted and committed people all in one place. Did I mention they are also very, very bright? What I’ve seen them do, with my own eyes is amazing.
Each of these people and so many people I never got to meet are all local heroes to me.
I will admit here, in this final post of the Little Red Tar Balls Project, that I have some very strong political views. I have done my best to keep them out of the stories told here. Only you can judge if I’ve been successful. What I do like about all of the people I’ve talked with is their spirit of self reliance. It appeals to the libertarian streak in me. Even the Steps Coalition with a left leaning approach to things, have the same spirit. They watch over their neighborhoods and communities and take action when they think it’s needed.
How many of us have seen bad things going on around them and done nothing to change it… to help. I have and I’ve never been proud of that. It took me 57 years on this planet to get involved. All I could do was help these people tell their stories and to try to shed some light on what’s really happening down here. Had I been from this area and had roots in a town or city I could have connected to some group to be more hands-on. But I wasn’t. So I came down here to tell stories.
If my opinion is worth anything, this sort of self reliance and involvement needs to be exported from the Gulf coast to the big cities and suburbs all over this country. Transplant this spirit to St. Louis, Missouri, Long Beach, California, Fredrick, Maryland or anyplace where issues need tending. Keep the political agendas out of it and big things can happen. You can see it up in Harlem where a lot of people are improving public education with their charter school initiatives.
The improvements might not be as big as we’d like, but each step in the right direction is one step farther from the wrong direction. We must add our light to the sum of light because as Bill Stallworth recounted in his interview, “Evil thrives when good men and good women do nothing.”
Richard Lucas
September 9, 2010
Biloxi, Mississippi
I’ve recorded some of these people on camera. I’ve talked with many more with the camera safely in its case. These are the people get up every morning and live their personal and professional lives. In that way, they keep the Gulf moving forward.
I spoke with a woman on a lunch van who sets up every day only a few hundred yards from a major mustering point for the oil spill response team in Slidell, Louisiana. The spill workers have their lunches shipped in so her business is in the bin compared to other years, but she still sets up shop every day.
I spoke to several shrimpers who are having their nets torn up by the anchors that were used to secure the oil booms. When removing the booms, the workers didn’t winch up the anchors. They just cut the mooring lines leaving the anchors on the bottom all sharp and pointy. But the shrimpers still cast their nets and try to figure out how to deal with that sharp debris.
I’ve talked to entrepreneurs whose businesses are hurting because the summer tourist season simply didn’t happen this year. Some businesses have failed and others still may. The rest soldier on.
These are some of my local heroes.
Each of the local folks I interviewed on camera are most certainly local heroes. In the order they appeared in the video vignettes, they are…
Kenny DiNero, because the spill has put him up against the wall in so many ways. More than most, probably. Last week I asked him what was happening with his claim. BP came back with a payment offer of only 5% of his losses for this year. Five percent? Are they serious? He also went to a meeting with Ken Feinberg, the head of the government agency that’s taken over the claims process and didn’t feel any more confident about a realistic outcome. Through his frustration, he keeps on fighting for his business and his personal financial survival.
Finley Hughes and Dustin Renaud, because they facilitate a massive effort that will help scientists understand the effects of the spilled oil and the dispersants on the wildlife. They work cheerfully and, it appears, tirelessly. Finley drags himself all across the coast to work with different Audubon groups and external entities increasing their effectiveness. Dustin works with an ever-changing cast of volunteers to comb the coast for precious data points to feed to scientists. Plus, being a local, he is passionate about how the oil has hurt his coast and his beaches.
Darlene Carter, because she loves her home town and her community and refuses to sit idly by when there’s trouble. In the five years since Katrina and the birth of the Moss Point Visionary Circle, Darlene and members of her community have developed numerous programs to instill values in the youth and teach the power of personal empowerment to everyone. As I think I said here when I first posted her video, what MPVC does is in the best American tradition. Find a problem and mobilize community resources to solve it. There’s no waiting for the government or some outside group to come in and fix it for them. It’s see and do. Right now.
Barbara Ruddiman, because she makes sure that people get fed that otherwise might not have a good meal and she does it week in and week out. She works the logistics to make it all work and figures how to make it work for more people because there are others who really need a good meal. Did I mention that “The Lord Is My Help” was started by Kenny DeNiro’s mother and that the lady with white hair behind the counter is 100 years old and is Kenny’s grandmother? They are my heroes too.
Mark LaSalle, because he seeks the truth in the science in his studies on the Gulf. He has no agenda or ax to grind. He simply wants to know what’s happening as a result of the oil and the dispersant. The fact that he’s passionate, self effacing and has a wicked but subtle sense of humor make him a lot of fun to spend time with.
Bill Stallworth, Debi Thomas and all the people at Hope CDA, because they care. But more than that, they’ve taken that concern for their neighbors and their community and converted it into a powerful force, supported by tireless energy and amazing good cheer. I don’t think I’ve ever met so many good hearted and committed people all in one place. Did I mention they are also very, very bright? What I’ve seen them do, with my own eyes is amazing.
Each of these people and so many people I never got to meet are all local heroes to me.
I will admit here, in this final post of the Little Red Tar Balls Project, that I have some very strong political views. I have done my best to keep them out of the stories told here. Only you can judge if I’ve been successful. What I do like about all of the people I’ve talked with is their spirit of self reliance. It appeals to the libertarian streak in me. Even the Steps Coalition with a left leaning approach to things, have the same spirit. They watch over their neighborhoods and communities and take action when they think it’s needed.
How many of us have seen bad things going on around them and done nothing to change it… to help. I have and I’ve never been proud of that. It took me 57 years on this planet to get involved. All I could do was help these people tell their stories and to try to shed some light on what’s really happening down here. Had I been from this area and had roots in a town or city I could have connected to some group to be more hands-on. But I wasn’t. So I came down here to tell stories.
If my opinion is worth anything, this sort of self reliance and involvement needs to be exported from the Gulf coast to the big cities and suburbs all over this country. Transplant this spirit to St. Louis, Missouri, Long Beach, California, Fredrick, Maryland or anyplace where issues need tending. Keep the political agendas out of it and big things can happen. You can see it up in Harlem where a lot of people are improving public education with their charter school initiatives.
The improvements might not be as big as we’d like, but each step in the right direction is one step farther from the wrong direction. We must add our light to the sum of light because as Bill Stallworth recounted in his interview, “Evil thrives when good men and good women do nothing.”
Richard Lucas
September 9, 2010
Biloxi, Mississippi
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Phenomenal People
One would have to have been living under a rock not to know that it was five years ago last Sunday that Katrina roared ashore onto the Gulf Coast. The network and local media coverage showed the recovery work done over the years and stated that there still was more work to do. That's true, but they also have to deal with the BP oil spill. So one crisis has been largely handled but there's another one simmering under the Gulf waters and the fat part of the hurricane season is upon them.
What's become clear to me over the last months is that these people are fighters. They have to be because life down here isn't that easy. It isn't easy anywhere but places are few where entire communities can have their houses ripped apart in a single day. Beginning August 30, 2005 Moss Point started rebuilding. So did Waveland and Pascagoula. Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Bay St. Louis and all the coastal towns and cities started the long march back to their new normal. They had help from individuals and groups of people who came down from around the country to help them rebuild. They are Phenomenal People, and there was a week-long celebration of that recovery that lead up to the anniversary. Although at first glance it doesn't seem like there's a connection, but there is. You see these people came back from an epic nightmare. Now they face another one with the oil spill and what they all really want is a break to catch their breath.
I'm including a video piece here because it shows the kind of people that live here and that they are going to fight through the oil spill and come out the other side whole. It's a different kind of fight than Katrina, and it will take different skills and talents to do it, but the brains and the talent are here. There's another thing here too... grit. Most of these people don't know anything about giving up.
They'll need that ability now because this spill will take years to play out.
Follow the link to ExposureRoom to watch in HD.
What's become clear to me over the last months is that these people are fighters. They have to be because life down here isn't that easy. It isn't easy anywhere but places are few where entire communities can have their houses ripped apart in a single day. Beginning August 30, 2005 Moss Point started rebuilding. So did Waveland and Pascagoula. Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Bay St. Louis and all the coastal towns and cities started the long march back to their new normal. They had help from individuals and groups of people who came down from around the country to help them rebuild. They are Phenomenal People, and there was a week-long celebration of that recovery that lead up to the anniversary. Although at first glance it doesn't seem like there's a connection, but there is. You see these people came back from an epic nightmare. Now they face another one with the oil spill and what they all really want is a break to catch their breath.
I'm including a video piece here because it shows the kind of people that live here and that they are going to fight through the oil spill and come out the other side whole. It's a different kind of fight than Katrina, and it will take different skills and talents to do it, but the brains and the talent are here. There's another thing here too... grit. Most of these people don't know anything about giving up.
They'll need that ability now because this spill will take years to play out.
Follow the link to ExposureRoom to watch in HD.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Three Misses and Next, What?
Meet "Invest 98". That's weathergeek-speak for the next thing to watch in the tropics. This one looks like it could head into the Gulf, but it's still way to early to tell for sure. The National Weather Service currently only gives this a 20% chance of developing into a tropical storm, but that could change by the time you read this.
The Gulf doesn't need this for a host of reasons. Well, nobody does really. However, a tropical storm or hurricane in the Gulf will raise a bunch of new questions about all that missing oil. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, both in the real world and in the press. Hopefully there won't be too much to talk about.
UPDATE: This is now tropical depression Gaston. It's still too early to know what it's going to be or where it's going to go, but if I was in Belize, I'd be nervous. This will bear watching to see if it turns north or barrels into the Yucatan.
Earl will play out its dance up the North American east coast by early Saturday.
FINAL UPDATE: Overnight, TD Gaston dissipated to the point where it's no longer being tracked by the National Weather Service. They are, however, tracking two more tropical waves moving west from the African coast.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
A New Claims Process Begins Tomorrow
Clearly this will take time to play out to completion, and many things can change. But if past is prologue, one might look at the five years since Katrina to see how many people were not given a fair shake by insurance companies, FEMA and others entities.
I do not have first hand information on any claims made against BP except one. The one from Kenny DiNero, owner of a bait/tackle shop in Ocean Springs. He also runs a couple of boats to catch shrimp. He was my first interview back in July who had filed a claim with BP for lost business with his boats in early July.
I stopped down to his place this past Friday. After buying me a beer, he extracted from an envelope a small stack of papers, one of which contained the heading "Forensic Accounting". The net result was that BP was going to pay Kenny a little more than $4,200 for his losses in April, May, June and part of July. I did not study the documents in detail, nor would it have done much good if I had. I'm lousy with numbers. However, does it seem that about $1,200 per month is the right amount of compensation for bringing his business to a halt?
I will add that I've talked with community leaders, including two at the Tears to Cheers Music Festival on the Beach yesterday in Biloxi who said that large numbers of people are getting only fractions of what would be fair restitution for their hardship. I am hoping to get an interview with one of those leaders this week.
If a florist in Florida or a restauranteur in Idaho get paid off but local Gulf people and business get shortchanged then there is much wrong with the situation down here.
Who's Covering The Spill?
The AP is a wire service. Their job is to write stories and feed them to all manner of outlets around the world. They provide a valuable service for smaller news outlets with limited staff, furnishing regional, state-wide and national stories to fill out broadcast newscasts and a newspaper's blank column inches. Working weekends in small market radio stations I would go to the clanking black machine in the news room to pull copy for hourly newscasts. It was called, "Rip and read". That concept appears alive and well today as newspapers, blogs and other media rely on the AP, Reuters and other smaller news services pump out the news each day.
How pervasive is the use of AP stories? Google "New guidelines could rule out many oil claims"
or click this link and see how many times the AP story with this title shows up. The first three pages of Google results I saw showed the story on web sites from ABC, CBS, Newsmax, Breitbart, Yahoo, SFGate, USA Today and many of the other usual suspects. It also appears on web sites of local stations from coastal Mississippi's WLOX-TV to stations in Washington, DC, Las Vegas, Boise and Santa Barbara.
So what's the problem? The word is getting out across the country to media outlets large and small. No, that's not the problem. The fact that they are all re-transmitting stories from a single source is. There is no equivalent, competitive news source that might have access to different facts and views from different sources. Think of it like only being able to get your news from MSNBC, Fox News or CNN. No matter how fair or balanced they claim to be, you're only going to hear from their sources through their reporters. Not a good environment for differing perspectives to get out. Not differing opinions, but different perspectives.
I don't know what the solution to this problem might be. News gathering, especially investigative reporting is a costly business. Even more so when the subject is so technically complex as the BP oil spill. The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) recently laid off staff from their news organization, big city newspapers are bankrupt and Newsweek magazine was recently sold for just a dollar. When there's no reasonable revenue stream in these efforts, it's impossible to justify the spend.
Please do not satisfy yourself by saying there are leagues of "citizen journalists" or bloggers (Iike me) who will step in to fill the gap. They cannot. Not in the way an honest journalist can. They don't adhere to the same standards of fact-checking and source corroboration that legitimate reporters are trained to do. Also, many of these bloggers exist to promote some political agenda. Left, right. Government or business. They often report based upon their talking points which isn't reporting at all. It's editorializing. Not much help if you are looking for the truth.
What's left is getting the story for yourself. Hard to do if you're in Presque Isle, Maine or Tierra del Fuego. But those closer to the Gulf can talk and listen. Go to public meetings on the spill or government town hall meetings. Have a beer at a local pub or tavern and sit at the bar. Talk to those on your left and right and find out what they know, or have only just heard. Go to the marinas and talk with the fishermen. Go to the restaurants and talk to the owners. Listen to whoever will talk with you. Sure, you will get a lot of opinions and second-hand information but some facts will surface as well. Then it's up to you to form your own opinions. Share it all with people you know and listen to what they have to say. After all that, if you don't like what's happening, go out and do something about it.
Like legendary San Francisco radio commentator Wes "Scoop" Nisker says, "If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own."
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Crab Processor Takes Hit
Although this video was recorded in late June, I've added it here because it has many of the same sentiments that Kenny DiNero expressed in his interview. Here's the description of the clip from the producer.
Maybe it's just me, but I sense a similar frustration in this video as I did with Kenny and others that I've talked with off camera. There is still a real danger that operations like Dennis' and Kenny's will go out of business until the world believes that the seafood in the Gulf is safe to eat, and no one knows how long that is going to take.
Dennis Landry, owner of a prosperous (until this massive toxic dump by British Petroleum) wholesale crab processing operation in Larose, La., is potentially facing financial ruin because of the British Petroleum oil dump into the Gulf of Mexico. Like all the residents of South Louisiana, Dennis is NOT AGAINST OIL AND GAS, he and his neighbors just want it done right, with proper and effective safeguards and regulation, so that the fertile fisheries upon which about half the population depends for their livelihoods and family sustenance, can continue to survive and provide their generous bounty to the hard working people of South Louisiana.
Maybe it's just me, but I sense a similar frustration in this video as I did with Kenny and others that I've talked with off camera. There is still a real danger that operations like Dennis' and Kenny's will go out of business until the world believes that the seafood in the Gulf is safe to eat, and no one knows how long that is going to take.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Bayou: Nature's Nursery
As I spend more time in the Gulf and talk to more people who know this region I realize that it is an amazingly diverse and wondrous place. Unlike the shores of New England where I grew up that are famous for craggy bluffs and rocky shorelines, the Gulf coast is an alluvial creation of so many different rivers that drain from America's heartland. Inshore, these rivers create habitats comprised of marshes and swamps known as bayous. Bayous are homes for an amazingly diverse spectrum of wildlife. They are the breeding ground for countless creatures, provide protection from the elements and even other predators and they are an evolving and fragile ecosystem upon which the regions animal kingdom and humans so fully depend.
That is why so much work has gone into protecting these wetlands from the incursion of oil from the BP spill. In some areas this work has been effective, but in others closer to the source of the oil, things have not gone as well. Bayous and salt marshes on the Louisiana mainland and coastal islands have been the most at risk, and they remain exposed to the oil not recovered from the Gulf.
This piece is a tour of the bayous on the Pascagoula river. Captain Benny McCoy of McCoy River Tours takes us though the many swamps and marshes, and teaches us about the many cycles of life that go on there. If one wants to see nature's creatures, this is an excellent way to do that.
There was so much more that wasn't captured on camera that filled Benny's two hour tour. It was so very entertaining, fun and enlightening. He taught us about gators and egrets, flowers and marshmallows and the history of this place that most that don't live here probably never knew. For instance, did you know that parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana were once a country independent from the United States? Neither did I.
Special thanks to Captain Benny McCoy for his hospitality and expert commentary. I learned a lot of things I'd never known and saw a lot of things I never imagines. Also thanks to Mark LaSalle of the Pascagoula River Audubon Center for setting me up with this wonderful opportunity.
That is why so much work has gone into protecting these wetlands from the incursion of oil from the BP spill. In some areas this work has been effective, but in others closer to the source of the oil, things have not gone as well. Bayous and salt marshes on the Louisiana mainland and coastal islands have been the most at risk, and they remain exposed to the oil not recovered from the Gulf.
This piece is a tour of the bayous on the Pascagoula river. Captain Benny McCoy of McCoy River Tours takes us though the many swamps and marshes, and teaches us about the many cycles of life that go on there. If one wants to see nature's creatures, this is an excellent way to do that.
There was so much more that wasn't captured on camera that filled Benny's two hour tour. It was so very entertaining, fun and enlightening. He taught us about gators and egrets, flowers and marshmallows and the history of this place that most that don't live here probably never knew. For instance, did you know that parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana were once a country independent from the United States? Neither did I.
Special thanks to Captain Benny McCoy for his hospitality and expert commentary. I learned a lot of things I'd never known and saw a lot of things I never imagines. Also thanks to Mark LaSalle of the Pascagoula River Audubon Center for setting me up with this wonderful opportunity.