NOTE: I have not known Telley S. Madina, Sr. for a long time, but in the short period I have, I've been struck by his love for his native New Orleans, and the entire Gulf Coast region, and by his passion for people and community. Like many residents of that area, he remains deeply affected, nearly five years later, by the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. So when the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill happened and quickly became the worst oil spill disaster in American history, Telley texted me several times asking if I could help get the truth out to the American people, to the American government, and to anyone who is truly concerned about our nation, and our environment. I asked a few basic questions and Telley, ever ready with facts and answers (including a great timeline of events), replied instantly. Here is our exchange:
KP: When and how did you hear about the BP spill?
TM: April 20th. I heard about it from my father-in-law, Byron Encalade, 3rd
generation Oyster fisherman from Pointe A'La Hache, LA. I also tuned in,
after, to WDSU Ch. 6 news.
KP: Who do you know who has been directly affected by this, the worst
oil spill in American history?
TM: Byron Encalade and members of Louisiana Oyster Association and the South
Plaquemines United Fisheries Cooperative. Of course, there will be a direct
effect on New Orleans and surrounding areas via tax dollars for sale of seafood
and the ability to attract tourists to New Orleans.
KP: Can you state what happened there with that spill?
TM: Yes. Here is the timeline I created about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill:
April 20, 2010--Explosion and fire on Transocean Ltd's drilling rig
Deepwater Horizon licensed to BP; 11 workers are killed. The rig was
drilling in BP's Macondo project 42 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana,
beneath about 5,000 feet of water and 13,000 feet under the seabed.
April 22--The Deepwater Horizon rig, valued at more than $560 million,
sinks and a five mile long oil slick is seen.
April 25--The Coast Guard says remote underwater cameras detect the well is
leaking 1,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It approves a plan to have
remote underwater vehicles activate a blowout preventer and stop leak.
Efforts to activate the blowout preventer fail.
April 28--The Coast Guard says the flow of oil is 5,000 barrels per day
(bpd) (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters)-- five times greater than first
estimated. A controlled burn is held on the giant oil slick.
April 29--President Obama pledges "every single available resource," including the
U.S. military, to contain the spreading spill.
--President Obama also says BP is responsible for the cleanup. Louisiana declares
state of emergency due to the threat to the state's natural resources.
April 30--An Obama aide says no drilling will be allowed in new areas, as
the president had recently proposed, until the cause of the Deepwater
Horizon accident is known.
--BP Chairman Tony Hayward says the company takes full responsibility for
the spill and would pay all legitimate claims and the cost of the cleanup.
May 2--President Obama visits the Gulf Coast to see cleanup efforts first hand. U.S.
officials close areas affected by the spill to fishing for an initial period
of 10 days. BP starts to drill a relief well alongside the failed well, a
process that could take two to three months to complete.
May 5--A barge begins towing a 98-ton containment chamber to the site of
the leak. BP says one of the three leaks has been shut off by capping a
valve, but that would not cut the amount of oil gushing out.
May 6--Oil washes ashore on the Chandeleur Islands off the Louisiana coast,
uninhabited barrier islands that are part of the Breton National Wildlife
Refuge.
May 7--BP tries to lower a containment dome over the leak, but the
100-ton device was rendered useless by a slush of frozen hydrocarbons that
clogged it. A fishing ban for federal waters off the Gulf is modified,
expanded and extended to May 17.
May 9--BP says it might try to plug the undersea leak by pumping materials
such as shredded up tires and golf balls into the well at high pressure, a
method called a "junk shot."
May 11/12--Executives from BP, Transocean and Halliburton appear at
Congressional hearings in Washington. Senate Energy committee chairman Jeff
Bingaman says that it appeared that the explosion on the rig was due to a
"cascade of errors, technical, human and regulatory." The executives blame
each other's companies.
May 14--President Obama slams companies involved in the spill, criticizing them for a
"ridiculous spectacle" of publicly trading blame over the accident in his
sternest comments yet.
May 16--BP succeeds in inserting a tube into the leaking well and capturing
some oil and gas.
May 18--The U.S. nearly doubles a no-fishing zone in waters affected by the
oil, extending it to 19 percent of U.S. waters in the Gulf.
May 19--The first heavy oil from the spill sloshes ashore in fragile
Louisiana marshlands and part of the mess enters a powerful current that
could carry it to Florida and beyond.
May 26--A "top kill" maneuver starts involving pumping heavy fluids and
other material into the well shaft to stifle the flow, then sealing it with
cement.
May 28--President Obama tours the Louisiana Gulf coast on his second visit: "I am
the president and the buck stops with me," he said.
--BP CEO Tony Hayward flies over the Gulf. BP says that the cost of the
disaster so far is $930 million.
May 29--BP says the complex "top kill" maneuver to plug the well has failed, crushing hopes for a quick end to the
largest oil spill in U.S. history already in its 40th day.
May 31--The U.S. government and BP are warning that the blown-out oil well
may not be stopped until August as the company prepares a new attempt to
capture leaking crude.
June 1--BP shares plunge 17 percent in London trading, wiping $23 billion
off its market value, on news its latest attempt to plug the well has
failed.
KP: What can we do to support the people of the Gulf Coast through this
latest tragedy?
TM: We need help with keeping a magnifying glass on this oil spill and BP.
We need Congress to continue to hold hearings to get to the bottom of
what happened. We need more BP/Federal resources on the ground to resolve this problem
quickly. Seafood fishermen need help, to their organizations, from non-profits,
specifically minority fishermen, to help pay their house and business
bills.
KP: How does this oil spill impact on the Gulf Coast's ability to
recover from the events around Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago?
TM: It hinders the process. You can see on nola.com that Mayor
Landrieu is now saying that he may call for a mandatory evacuation for a
category 2 storm, when rule of thumb was New Orleanians didn't normally
evacuate until Category 3. This is because of oil possibly being sprinkled over
the city. Thiswill suck up a considerable amount of city and state
resources.
KP: Finally, what should BP be doing to fix this problem?
TM: BP needs to stop the oil from leaking. They need to clean up all the oil
And BP should pay for all legimate damages and claims.
Kevin Powell is a 2010 Democratic candidate for Congress in Brooklyn, New York. He can be reached via his website, www.kevinpowell.net