STUNT: BP ships in additional clean-up crews to Grand Isle on day of Obama's visit

[Bluebear]

BP, the oil company taking flak for its inconsistent response to the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, bused in 400 workers to Grand Isle today to pose as clean-up crews during President Obama's visit, Jefferson Parish Council Chairman John Young said.

"It appears to have been a PR stunt by BP, not to say we don't appreciate the extra participation," Young said. "We certainly need them, but we don't need them for just one day that happens to coincide with a visit from the president."...

Young said he saw the workers dressed in red shirts, blue jeans and black shrimp boots mulling across the beaches and in the mess hall during the president's appearance. They were uniformed in a way "which you don't normally see workers dressed like that," Young said.

Reached later in the afternoon after Obama's departure, Young said the work crews had all but vanished.

"This is a total shame that a mockery has been made of this visit by the executives of BP," Councilman Chris Roberts said in an e-mail.


http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/bp_ships_in_clean-up_crews_to.html

[Dappleganger]

1. Sorry, I've run out of words today.

[SpiralHawk]

2. How many of those 400 are Latino immigrants?

Hmmmm?

[aquart]

3. Which tells you flat out that their cleanup efforts have been crap.

And they damn well know it.

[lib2DaBone]

4. Look busy when the boss comes around...

[flyarm]

5. and please don't tell me the BOSS doesn't know it is a scam! He and His homeland security boss were

told the same shit was going on over a month ago in Florida!

[Bluebear]

11. indeed

[William Z. Foster]

6. and another stunt

I think they shipped in a bunch of posters here at DU.

[Bluebear]

9. =

:))

[flyarm]

14. you bet they did ..but it is not new..they also sent their henchmen in for health care!

same M.O. the Bush junta employed..makes you wonder who is getting represented by whom eh?

it is always smart to follow the money..look who greased Obama and many dem pockets ..as well as the repigs..same folks ..

there are no two parties..that is an illusion they want people to believe and it is all a pile of horse shit! eom

[Mimosa]

7. BP is making me sick

Parish presidents and the governor can't stop this as long as BP is in control of the cleanup. The Coast Guard is ineffectual.

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/across_coastal_louisiana_offic.html

Excerpt:


And despite constant warnings from Jefferson Parish officials about oil approaching Grand Isle late last week, the boats needed to stop it weren't around when they were needed. As a result, oil washed up on beaches and authorities in Jefferson "commandeered" shrimp boats from BP in order to get booms out to the passes near the island.

"It wasn't a surprise to us. We had people in the air; we were aware it was coming," said Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts, who represents Grand Isle and Lafitte. "It'd be like a house on the same street as the fire department is burning down, and the fire trucks didn't get there in time."

In places like Venice, Grand Isle and Hopedale, local leaders are decrying a lack of urgency on the part of BP and the federal government after more than a week of seeing cleanup crews sluggishly reacting to oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill washing up on beaches and getting snared in marsh grasses across the state. As questions mount over the balance of power between BP and the federal government in the response to the oil spill, the same concerns being raised in committee halls in Washington are trickling down to local government officials in command posts on the front lines of the Louisiana coast.

[Forkboy]

8. People wonder why I'm so cynical at 42.

[Bluebear]

12. .

[Avalux]

10. My anger for BP is reaching gigantic proportions. n/t

[jeanpalmer]

13. It's all about managing perceptions

The oil will never get cleaned up. There's too much of it spread out over too great an area. But they don't want people to know that.

[blindpig]

15. It is all PR and liability advoidance

They care nothing for the people of the Gulf nor the environment. They are Capitalists. k&r

[Fumesucker]

16. Wow.. A Potemkin cleanup..

Whoda thunk it?

Well, pretty much anyone who has been around big business when a big wheel is about to visit..