Thread:

Spillionaires

DEVASTATION!!!!

DEVASTATION!!!!!

OH THE HUMANITY!!!!!!







The British Daily Mail's website shows an article about the so-called "Spillionaires" of coastal Alabama. Who are they? "They are the shrimp boat owners who have prospered hugely from the millions of pounds handed out by BP," according to the Sunday article.

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The British press don't exactly have a reputation for pulling punches. They were, after all, the ones who termed Michael Jackson "Wacko Jacko."

Now, the home media for British Petroleum seems to be having a bit of a field day with the BP oil spill. Or, to be more specific, the local people who have gotten jobs helping in the cleanup/recovery effort.

Wrote Paul Thompson of the Daily Mail:

"It was the home town of Forrest Gump's shrimp-loving friend Bubba Blue in the famous movie. But since the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Bayou La Batre in Alabama has become home to a new breed of men known as the 'Spillionaires.'

"They are the shrimp boat owners who have prospered hugely from the millions of pounds handed out by BP."

According to Thompson, while poor British workers are seeing their pensions go to pot because the stock value of BP has plummeted, the shrimp boat set in the Bayou have raked in the dough since the spill.


According to the Daily Mail article, all that BP cash, "has led to greed and jealousy among the close-knit community where shrimp fishing has been the lifeblood for years."

Thompson quotes state Rep. Spencer Collier, R-Bayou La Batre, as acknowledging that "there are people here who have done very well out of the spill. We call them 'Spillionaires' and in a short space of time they have earned more money than they would in a very long time."

The seafood workers in question have been being paid as part of the Vessels of Opportunity program, designed to give local boats spill work since they are idled by an inability to fish.

The program has been controversial, with complaints early on that out-of-town boat owners were flooding the ranks and taking work from the local captains who needed it. Later, as some captains sat waiting fruitlessly for the call to work, others were hauling in five-figure paydays without ever getting on the water.

Some people have made enough in the VOO program that they've asked that that income not be considered against their BP claim. That is, they would like to be reimbursed for the fishing income they lost, without any deduction for what they were paid working in the cleanup program.
Perhaps the quirkiest reference in Thompson's report: That even drug dealers have tried to capitalize on the influx of "spillionaire" money into town

Thompson quotes Bayou police Capt. Darryl Wilson as saying: "Before the spill a rock of crack cocaine was being sold on the street for $20. Now that same rock is going for $40."

So how are the British readers greeting this news? Comments on the article range from a lack of surprise that BP is being "shafted" by "a nation that values greed and selfishness as positive character traits" to delight that a common, working man is making a buck in an era of "obscene bonuses" for bankers.

Originally Posted by Ultra26 # 1

Another from "It's no big deal"

Mark Miller, whose environmental clean-up firm has hired nearly 1,500 workers in the Gulf Coast in the past month, takes issue with the term "spillionaire" -- those who are cleaning up from the oil cleanup.
From contractors to portable toilets, these locals profit from cleanup effort.

"There are probably companies or people who became 'oil spill' experts in the Gulf of Mexico the day the spill happened," said Miller, owner of the New York-based Miller Environmental Group, which was founded in 1971. "The 'spillionaire' term, which originated with the Exxon Valdez spill, was more geared towards the instant expert and instant contractor that capitalized on that event and really didn't come with the real structure and capability and experience

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/spill...ry?id=11280500

But.....But........................

IT'S DEVASTATION!!!!!

DEVASTATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It seems Ultra, like Rahm Emanuel won't let a crisis go to waste.

I've taken my family scuba diving in about a dozen places in the Gulf. According to all I have heard and read, I'd gladly go back today and the divers from the sites report no evidence of the spill on the dives today.

Originally Posted by Uminchu

I've been certified since 86. Great sport.

I agree with your diving comment. There are a couple of things at work here. The dive operators need to downplay this as much as possible, and advertise as such. They also state there are affected areas, but they don't dive there. (duh)

The Keys and Mexico sites are clean.

The media on the other hand has a vested interest in doom and gloom. With regard to the OP, I have heard some of these "gulf shrimpers" have come down from as far as New Jersey to collect their fair share.

This is money BP posted on it's own however. They didn't do a good job of vetting perhaps. Something like 86000 claims paid out of 100000 claims received.

Full agreement with you there...

BTW I got my cert in '78...Did a lot of diving with my cousins at Catalina Island growing up and some in Hawaii. Unfortunately haven't done much lately.