Why is BP Trying to KILL the Fishermen?

In this interview from Democracy Now, Clint Guidry who is head of the Louisiana Fishermen's Association states that his 20 years of experience working in the Oil Industry with KBR (yes, That KBR) tells him that the seven fishermen who were Hospitalized during the cleanup were deliberately put at risk by BP.

Clint: I bought respirators, took them out to these people ... BP told them if they wore respirators they'd be taken off the job

This is a video that people need to see.

A Full Transcript of this discussion is Here.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now in New Orleans by Clint Guidry, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association. He’s a third-generation shrimp fisherman.

This is Democracy Now! We welcome you to the studios of Democracy Now!, though we’re speaking to you in New Orleans. Tell us what’s happening, Clint.

CLINT GUIDRY: Well, good morning. Thanks for having me.

This is a situation that has been ongoing for several weeks now. Having had prior training and experience working with the oil and the chemicals in oil and their danger—[no audio]—several of the fishermen out on the worksite, they were complaining of burning eyes and strong smells. And my experience told me that they were getting exposed to dangerous chemicals—the benzenes, all the light ends off the crude—and this Corexit is a new experience for me. I have been doing some research. It contains a substance called 2-butoxyethanol, up to 60 percent by volume, which is a very, very dangerous chemical. I don’t have a lot of experience with it, but just doing the research. And I knew that they spraying this chemical in the same area where my fishermen were working. And I have brought this to light. I have tried to make public. As a matter of fact, just a couple of days ago, three days ago, I met with a Washington delegation in Galliano and expressed my concerns that this was happening.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, Clint Guidry, what about OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration? Aren’t they supposed to be monitoring worksites that involve US companies, even if they’re offshore?

CLINT GUIDRY: I’m not sure about that, but I’m understanding it’s MMS and US Coast Guard in this situation.

AMY GOODMAN: What about respirators? Are people wearing respirators?

CLINT GUIDRY: No, ma’am. Having had prior experience, I know these people. They’re friends. They’re family. I bought respirators, and I brought them down to these people. And when they tried to wear them, the BP representatives on site told them that it wasn’t a dangerous situation, and they didn’t need to wear them, and if they did, they would be taken off the job.

Why would BP do that?

Well, because if BP admits that there is a health hazard it opens itself up for liability claims for the longterm health care of the workers and citizens of the Gulf - and they simply don't want to Pay for Those People.

Hmm, sounds kind Tea Baggery to me.

In part 2, Clint Describes how he himself have seen Corexit being sprayed into the air in Venice, LA near the mouth of the Mississippi - near private homes where kids live, like a sick replay of those old DDT spraying in the 70's. He's been so concerned that he has already personally brought this issue up to wigh Governor Jindal and both Secretary Napolitano and Secretary Salazar. Clearly he hasn't been impressed with the level of response so far.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Your governor, Governor Bobby Jindal, has been very outspoken in his criticisms of how some aspects of the response have been conducted. Have you appealed to Louisiana health officials or to your local government to intercede in one way or another about the issues, these health issues, with the fishermen?

CLINT GUIDRY: Yes, I have. But, you know, their hands—you know, I spoke the other day—Bobby Jindal is a very good man. I meet with him—I’ve met with him several times. He’s done a lot for the shrimp fishery and the state. But when BP is the entity in charge, there’s not a lot that local people can do, including the governor. I met with two cabinet-ranked people from Washington, Secretary Napolitano, Secretary Salazar. I sat six feet from them three days ago and told them this was going to happen. If they can’t do anything about it, or won’t do anything about it, how do you expect our governor to?

Ok, well - so much they "Nobody could have anticipated the burning eyes, burning skin, nausea, dizziness, long term respiratory problem and Ocean of Dead FISH from exposure to dispersant" gambit.

For some reason the EPA has continued to sign-off on the use of dispersant which do little more than hide the oil under the surface turning into dark death plumes dozens of miles long. Some of those plums have even begun to turn clear, even though they still OIL in them.

JUAN GONZALEZ: You mentioned earlier the dispersant. There are some critics who say that the long-term impact of the dispersant could be even greater than the actual oil spill itself, in terms of marine life. Your sense of what the dispersant is doing in terms of the potential for destruction of the fisheries in that area?

CLINT GUIDRY: The trade-off position is a false one, because eventually this dispersant is going to cause whole species to collapse. This is going to be, you know, a collapse of some of the shrimp species, the fish, the turtles, tuna. I mean, this is unbelievable that we did this. You just added poison on top of a bad situation.

This is going to call entire species to collapse?

Toward the end of this interview Clint suggests that the Cleanup Operations be taken out of BP's hands - which are NOT getting the job done and are mostly trying to cover their ass - and handled by the Military.

JUAN GONZALEZ: But what do you say to those even in the government who has say that the government doesn’t have the expertise, that only the oil companies themselves have the expertise, and that the whole cry for a federal takeover would not really change anything?

CLINT GUIDRY: If the oil company is such experts, why are they trying to kill my fishermen?

Because their cost benefit analysis indicates it's cheaper than admitting the truth and doing something about it. Just like it was cheaper to rush through the test procedures on the blow out preventer, just as it was cheaper to skip drilling a relief well ahead of time, just as it was cheaper not to do the cementing properly, just as it was cheaper not to use the proper drilling mud in the first place... and we can all see what that has already led to from space!.

Vyan