Oil spill clean-up workers report feeling ‘drugged, disoriented’
This was to be expected.
Last week, the wives of some of the fishermen spoke out publicly about the symptoms their husbands were experiencing. This week, some fishermen are starting to come forward. In this WDSU TV interview, one of the fishermen reports feeling drugged, disoriented, tingling, fatigued, and also reporting shortness of breath and cough. These are symptoms that are consistent with what one might expect from exposure to hydrocarbons in oil.
Crab trap builder Shawn Platt stands with his idle traps in on May 13, 2010 in Hopedale, Louisiana. Image by Getty Images North America via @daylife
Maybe. But these are also some of the symptoms reported by individuals who were exposed to Corexit.
One of the two Corexit products that BP is suing [sic] in the Gulf also contains a compound that is associated with headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems
Corexit is also linked with respiratory, nervous system, liver, kidney and blood disorders.
Obviously, there’s no way to tell what is causing these symptoms, and BP has no interest in allowing the media to find out. Many of the fishermen working for BP signed contracts that forbid them to talk to the press, and BP is ruling the Gulf area with an iron fist. Even CEO Tony Hayward has joined the fun, and is shouting at random cameramen.
This is standard practice for BP, according to John Sheffield, the owner of a competing dispersant called Sea Brat 4. Stonewalling the press was a specific provision in his contract with BP.
Now is a critical time for these workers, and it’s essential the media have access to them, and the larger clean-up effort. Otherwise, there will be no way to determine what is causing their illness. Right now, there are numerous variables that could be making them sick (the oil, Corexit, listening to Tony scream at strangers, etc.) Perhaps that’s why BP wants to keep the media at a distance — so as to avoid pinning down blame on a specific agent.
The media blackout, combined with some worrying photos of clean-up crews working in regular street clothes — sometimes without gloves — and now these reports of worker sickness, should all serve as red flags.
BP has these workers locked into a world of secret pain. Initially, the company tried to trick desperate fishermen into working for them by offering work in the clean-up effort if they signed wavers saying they will
“hold harmless and indemnify … release, waive and forever discharge the BP Exploration and Production, Inc., its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, regular employees, and independent contractors … from all claims and damages” arising from helping to clean up the mess that BP has made. [emphasis mine]
Most fisherman refused to sign this, but some did because they’re desperate. Now, some of those people are sick, and they can’t share their stories without fear of legal repercussions.
Gina Solomon reports that fishermen from Alaska who were involved in the clean-up after the Exxon Valdez oil spill are coming down to the Gulf Coast to meet with local fishermen in order to offer advice and guidance. Fisherman have to take care of their own, since BP is more concerned with concealing their epic fuck-up in a media-proof cone of silence.
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This is interesting. You say:
–Initially, the company tried to trick desperate fishermen into working for them by offering work in the clean-up effort if they signed wavers saying they will
“hold harmless and indemnify … release, waive and forever discharge the BP Exploration and Production, Inc., its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, regular employees, and independent contractors … from all claims and damages” arising from helping to clean up the mess that BP has made. [emphasis mine]
Most fisherman refused to sign this, but some did because they’re desperate. Now, some of those people are sick, and they can’t share their stories without fear of legal repercussions.–
From the article that you linked to:
–David Kinnaird, BP’s liaison to Plaquemines Parish, spent Saturday night ripping up the contracts that hundreds of local commercial fishermen had signed to work for BP cleaning up the slick that could wipe out the local seafood industry.–
Rather than a deliberate attempt to trick fishermen out of their right to sue, it seems that BP rushed to sign fishermen up to clean up the spill without changing the standard contract they used. And they immediately destroyed the contracts and declared that it wasn’t their intention to do so when that was pointed out.
The fisherman _can_ sue because the contracts in question were destroyed.
Did you read the article that you linked to?
-Darren MacLennan
The article I linked to is actually extremely generous to BP. The fishermen’s attorneys claim BP agreed to rip up the contracts only after they raised hell: http://www.wwltv.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/BP-legal-problems-92731449.html.
I guess it depends on if you believe BP issued contracts that “accidentally” forbid fishermen to sue if they get sick during the clean-up.
In response to another comment. See in context »I apologize for my obnoxious tone in the earlier thread, but it seems easier to attribute what BP did to laziness rather than outright malice; they used a boilerplate contract, didn’t realize the implications and got slapped around as a result.
And Firefox seems to interact _really weirdly_ with True/Slant’s comment system…
In response to another comment. See in context »When compared to BP’s other behavior (using UK banned dispersants, getting coastal victims to sign wavers, bullying and intimidating the media, incredible negligence, and outright lying to the government,) I think attributing anything they do to laziness is still too generous of a diagnosis.
In response to another comment. See in context »Alison, here is a excellent story on what its like in the clean up area for the clean up crew and reporters.
http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/05/oil-spill-bp-grand-isle-beach
Ms. Kilkenny,
There is an interesting update here. A T/S correspondent going by the name of Knut reports that the the field tapped by the DH is…”A 100 million bbl field that would produce 18,000 bbls of crude a day.”
http://trueslant.com/davidknowles/2010/05/25/live-top-kill-bps-latest-failed-attempt-to-plug-oil-well/#comment-2859
If this is correct, that is a gigantic find, extremely profitable, if the entire volume does not leak out into the Gulf of Mexico first!
Fascinating (and horrifying) if true.
In response to another comment. See in context »SDounds like the democrats’ friends….the lawyer sharks will do well off of this….
No matter how much superb reporting and commentary I read about the BP oil spill, my bafflement will not rest. My bafflement centers on this question: Why is any company allowed to launch any enterprise that might degrade the environment before the company develops scientifically reliable worst case scenario responses?
Shame on BP. But shame, too, on state and federal regulators for adopting a lax attitude about protecting the environment. Shame on legislators for placing large corporate campaign finance donors above the public good. And shame on voters (myself included) for electing/re-electing representatives who are reactive, at best, instead of proactive when it comes to good stewardship of the earth.
Hell yeah.
In response to another comment. See in context »This is truly sad. Then on top of it you have idiots on the right that want to spin it as if the oil is really no big deal. People like Rush Limbaugh telling everyone “it’s natural, it’s from the ground, nature will take it’s course” Well, nature taking it’s course sometimes causes a lot of pain and death. Then you have this sort of nonsense: http://tinfoiler.com/2010/05/04/crazy-hippie-terrorists-cause-oil-spill/
I didn’t really pour over the HTML of tinfoiler.com, but suspect I’d see plenty of [sarcasm] tags.
In response to another comment. See in context »