Gulf Residents to Oil Industry and Government: Our Health is Not a Tradeoff

[Joanne98]

Earlier this week an icy wind whipped through the French Quarter. But inside the New Orleans Sheraton, the atmosphere was hot.


That's where 250 people gathered to attend a forum sponsored by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Appointed by President Obama, it had just released its final report after a six-month investigation into the nation's worst oil disaster in history.

People in the Gulf were anxious to sound off about their anger, frustration and flat-out despair about the way the oil industry and the government had handled the cleanup response and compensation for the millions of people impacted by the ongoing disaster.

Commissioners Frances Beinecke and Don Boesch prevailed over the bad weather in Washington and made the trip to the Big Easy. The audience was largely receptive to their report, which recommended an extensive overhaul of the oil industry's failed safety practices in the Gulf and the creation of new independent agency to monitor offshore oil drilling activity.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Gulf-Residents-to-Oil-Indu-by-Rocky-Kistner-110114-987.html