T-shirts with slogans like “Drill Baby Drill” and “No Moratorium” were common sights Wednesday as thousands of people rallied against the federal moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling
The “Rally for Economic Survival,” orchestrated by a coalition of business organizations, was set in the heart of Louisiana’s oil patch, where thousands of jobs are tied to oil companies or companies that serve them.
“The president is not very popular around here these days,” said Dustin Hebert, 52, who works for a company that finishes pipe used on the rigs. “We are losing business, and we can’t make any plans for next year or the year after.”
Jindal recounted a conversation with Obama in which he said the president told him BP would pay claims for those left unemployed by the spill, or could apply for unemployment benefits. The remark drew sustained boos.
In addition to the deepwater moratorium, Jindal said state Department of Natural Resources data shows permits for shallow water drilling has slowed since the spill began.
“It’s ironic that the only drilling going on is BP,” Jindal said, referring to relief wells the company is drilling at the spill site.
Despite the rhetoric, industry experts say a feared exodus of deepwater rigs from the Gulf hasn’t yet materialized, and that the business would quickly rebound once the ban is off. The offshore petroleum industry and companies that serve it use about 100,000 people in Louisiana,
So here we are Big Petroleum Wins for the sake of those 100.ooo job and BP profits we have put the entire world environment at risk I have issues with that, don’t we depend on the sea’s for the air we breath how much will oil slicks and films effect the exchange that exchange between sea and atmosphere. What about the millions of birds and fish the gulf aqua culture what is their loss worth, how about those fishermen.
GOOD LUCK PLANET EARTH!!!