As the the Gulf oil spill disaster clears its 60th day, the government has estimated that 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil are gushing into the Gulf of Mexico each day.
No one can estimate how much it will cost to fix the spill, but BP’s $20 billion escrow fund for clean up, recovery, and restitution to affected individuals and businesses is likely a good start. Thousands of species of wildlife, miles of wetlands already damaged after Hurricane Katrina, local seafaring jobs, and the health of clean up workers are at stake, says Leslie G. Fields, director of National Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships at the Sierra Club..
Fields and Michael Dorsey, assistant professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College, spoke with BlackEnterprise.com about President Barack Obama’s response to oil spill, the impact the disaster will have on black businesses, and explained what processes need to be put into place to ensure justice for gulf communities.
BlackEnterprise.com: What specifically is at stake in the Gulf in terms of the disappearing wetlands, disappearing jobs, increased risk of well being of the communities?
Leslie G. Fields: The way of life [is just disappearing], [as well as ] cultures. Also, [there’s a loss in] tourism
dollars. A lot of our seafood industry is down there … and the energy economy. We need to have options for communities down there. Then, of course, the wildlife is being destroyed. We lose because of erosion from the channeling of the oil.What does the oil spill mean for African American business owners?
Fields: It’s going to be very difficult. They are going to have to work with the government to make sure that they have the restitution that they need. If they are fishing community people, the fishing areas have been closed, so they are losing business. The businesses that support the fisher communities are also losing business. Those in tourism, with hotels are losing business. I don’t know how they will get by. The problem is we don’t know how long it is going to last and how much is going to get cleaned up.
BP has set aside $20 billion for recovery and compensation efforts. Is it enough?
Fields: I don’t know. It took about 20 years for all the civil petitions and complaints to get somewhat resolved after the Exxon Valdez [Oil Spill]. The government lawsuits were settled pretty quickly, I think, in a couple of years. There needs to be civil and criminal penalties enforced in this situation.
What are the long-term and short-term health implications and the financial implications for African Americans in that area?
Michael K. Dorsey: Well, the long-term health implications, we don’t know. We’re going to have to study them. We heard some of that from administrator Lisa Jackson at the Environmental Protection Agency saying that we have to begin to put in a process. We’re going to undoubtedly have to involve other agencies and aides. We need to put together a process that will involve other African Americans, particularly in the Gulf region who are living in and have been living in some of the poorest and worse off African-American communities in the country…[many of which] are on the fence line of a legacy of toxic pollutions.
And so, overall devastation in terms of tourism, in terms of fishing, in terms of all the things that shape and make the Gulf communities, African-American communities, in particular are going to be absolutely devastated. And really, the challenge again is how do we not just respond with the band-aid coverage.
Are you satisfied with President Obama’s response to this oil spill?
Dorsey: I think in terms of the
spill, the president, the White House, and the administration have done an amazing job, I think, in the face of a disaster that is unfolding before our eyes. The aggressive response of some of the administration is right on point.At the same time, however, I think a larger process needs to be put in place that really truly gets us on a pathway towards independence, not just for oil, but from bad energy technologies, like nuclear power, as well as oil. What was lacking in his speech …was the story about the structure of what are we going to do with workers during the midst of the six-month moratorium [on deepwater drilling].
What do you think will need to happen in order to keep a disaster like this from happening again?
Dorsey: We need to get out of drilling. We need to see the sunrise on ending oil dependence and the sunrise on carbon free energy and focus our attention on future energies that must be green. We can have a carbon-free and a nuclear-free future. The technology is there. It won’t happen overnight but we don’t need a commission that will take us back to the nuclear age, which was in the past century.
What considerations do we need to take into account in terms of moving away from our dependence on oil?
Dorsey: I think about the jobs that are involved in [the oil industry]. The transition away from the current dirty energy that we use, whether it’s oil, or whether it’s nuclear, the transition that we need to focus on first and foremost are workers. But then, also, for communities, for cities, for regions of the country that will be affected by the transition that models dirty energy over to clean and green energy. That was the part of the speech that was missing. We didn’t hear the details on that.
RESOURCES
-Â Â Â To submit a claim for damages or restitution: (800) 440-0858
-Â Â Â To volunteer with the clean up effort: (866) 448-5816
-Â Â Â To submit alternative response technology, service, or products: (281) 366-5511
-Â Â Â Report oiled wildlife: (866) 557-1401
-Â Â Â For medical support due to Gulf oil exposure:Â (888) 623-0287
FOR MORE INFORMATION
National Urban League Gulf Coast Bill of Rights
American Association for Blacks and Energy