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and gas wells during the drilling phase,” says Bob Harper, undersecretary for the Department of Natural Resources. “They focus on blowout prevention issues that the inspectors are expected to check very closely and document that these are in compliance.” Then there are the issues of money to cover all of Louisiana’s damages from the Gulf disaster. Graves says BP so far has ponied up $14 billion as the responsible party, and the federal government has expended about $900 million from its oil spill trust. The Natural Resources Damage Assessment process on the federal level will yield money for local projects, but it could take up to 10 years to complete the brick-and-mortar process. More immediately, BP is expected to pay as much as $22 billion in fines under the federal Clean Water Act. Louisiana’s congressional delegation is working to steer about 80 percent of the cash to Gulf Coast states for ecosystem restoration. BP recently put up a $1 billion “down payment” on its Clean Water Act fines, Banta says, and the process of divvying up the money will begin with each state receiving an equal allotment of $100,000 — despite the fact that 92 percent of the most heavily oiled shoreline is in Louisiana. “I know it’s not fair, but it was a tough negotiation,” Banta says. According to Peggy Hatch, secretary for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, BP likewise faces fines on the state level that could equal more than $300 million. “But they haven’t been levied yet,” Hatch told the committee. Aside from what the rivers do to south Louisiana, it’s safe to say major flooding could put last year’s oil disaster in a different perspective. Bob Graham, a former U.S. senator from Florida and a member of President Barack Obama’s Oil Spill Commission, warned as much last month during a visit to New Orleans. Over the past several months, more than one event has bumped the oil disaster from the front page — conflicts overseas, a national recession and even pop culture curiosities. “All those things and others have tended to draw the public’s attention away from what happened on April 20,” Graham says. Nonetheless, oil disaster recovery efforts continue. Businesses are still looking for ways to survive. People are dealing with economic losses and health concerns. And all of these challenges will remain come June and July, long after the big, muddy creek has risen and subsided. Jeremy Alford can be reached at jeremy@ jeremyalford.com.
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New Orleans at the cost of Acadiana. “If there’s ever a choice between Morgan City and New Orleans, we know who the choice is going to be,” Morgan City Councilman Larry Bergeron told The Advertiser in Lafayette last week. The impact of freshwater on coastal marshes also could devastate oystermen still trying to recover from last year’s oil disaster. State Rep. Reed Henderson, D-Chalmette, says oystermen in his district are only 10 percent whole from their losses so far. “Now I have the Bonnet Carre about to open up and put freshwater into St. Bernard and freshwater into Lake Borgne and kill what I have left,” he says. The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission was expected to hold an emergency meeting late last week to determine whether some of the oyster beds could be relocated. Commissioners are expected to open the oyster season early in some areas to allow an early harvest. Henderson adds that commercial fishermen in his area are bringing him accounts of slimy oysters, crabs with short life spans and others with small pinholes in their shells. Wildlife officials say both the oyster slime and lethargic crabs — meaning they’re live when harvested, but dying before market — are naturally occurring phenomena related to bacteria and other factors. “The United Houma Nation Tribe, they were experiencing crabs not having a good shelf life when they get back to the dock,” says Drue Banta, counsel for the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities. “They said they weren’t able to sell them because they were dying in a very short window of time.” Officials have no immediate explanation for the reported pinholes. That’s more bad news for crabbers. Casey LeBlanc, owner of Cajun Crab Connection on Bayou Des Allemands, says his company has gone from working 10 boats a day to about three. Complications from flooding won’t help. “Buyers had signs out, ‘Louisiana Blue Crabs Served Here,’ so they took that down,” LeBlanc says. “They went from customers requesting them to telling them they don’t want them no more. They scared they, you know, might have dispersant in them or whatever.” While last week’s hearing did veer into the river stages, it also addressed issues specific to the oil disaster. For example, on the other side of the Gulf coin, oilmen face changes. Enhanced state oversight of blowout preventers has become a major initiative, especially since it was considered a large factor in the demise of the Deepwater Horizon rig. At one time, Louisiana officials allowed inspections to be confirmed verbally. “We basically have developed a specialized form we use for inspecting oil
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