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(TENSE GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING)

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- It was Earth Day 2010 when the first
of more than 200 million gallons of oil

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spilled into the Gulf of Mexico following
a massive explosion on an oil rig.

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And the world watched the worst ecological
disaster in US history unfold in real time.

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No one was more shocked than
the people of Louisiana.

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As the spill continued
for nearly three months,

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many said it would change the
coast of Louisiana forever.

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Since 2010, the company
responsible, British Petroleum,

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has spent some of its billions to
combat the impacts of the spill,

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including several hundred million dollars
on a media campaign that people here say

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ignores an ongoing devastation that is
much larger than just the oil spill --

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the fact that Louisiana
is slowly disappearing.

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(TENSE GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING)

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- And now we want to bring you
the latest news on that giant oil

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rig which exploded and burned,
and now has sunk into the ocean

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off the coast of Louisiana.

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And tonight, Jeffrey Kaufman is at
the Naval Air Station New Orleans

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with the search for those who were lost
and the stories of those who survived.

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Jeffrey?

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- My name is Keith Jones.

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I'm a lawyer from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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At the outset, I want you to know that just
because I am here and addressing you today

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does not mean that I believe that Gordon's
death was more tragic or more important

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than the deaths of the
other 10 men that day.

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I know their families grieve
just as much as we do.

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I came to accept long ago
that not everybody likes me.

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It's OK.

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I'm grown.

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I can accept that.

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But Gordon was -- I'm sorry -- Gordon was
one of those people who everybody liked.

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I never dreamed anything
like this could happen.

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My secretary said "There's a
fire on a rig off of Fourchon."

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There are hundreds of rigs off of Fourchon.

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Maybe two hours later Michelle called me
and told me that they'd called her, and...

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that it was the Deepwater
Horizon that had exploded.

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And Gordon was unaccounted for.

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- The Coast Guard said this afternoon the
odds of survival at sea for the missing men

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are now slim.

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The search for survivors will
end before dawn tomorrow.

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- And then "kerplunk."

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Massive oil spill.

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People blown up.

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Spewing oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Disgusting negligence, of which the
court said they're paying for it --

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as they well should.

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- This is the picture
that's most dear to me.

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And I was standing right behind
Michelle when she took it.

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You know, it's his smile.

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It's him being a dad.

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It's just all things Gordon.

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So it's something I keep around me.

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That Gordon was good at what he
did was evidenced by the fact

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that when one of the mud engineers
assigned to the Deepwater Horizon left,

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BP was offered a list of mud engineers,
and from that list chose Gordon.

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He'd come in earlier
the day before, one day.

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This was going to be a week.

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And then Gordon was going to have six weeks
off to be with Michelle when she had Max.

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Max, his second son, was not born yet, not
'til three weeks after Gordon was killed.

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Gordon was there on the rig floor.

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So when the first explosion
happened, Gordon was gone.

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No one from BP ever called
anyone in my family.

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Nobody ever said, 'We're
sorry Gordon died on our rig."

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No one from BP ever had time for us.

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- It feels like the literal
staining of the society

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through the staining of the environment,
the death of people, the lack of will

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to take responsibility, at least initially.

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And people do put it in sinful terms,
because this was purely man-made.

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And it has the malfeasance under it
of not following certain guidelines.

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And the risk to the workers was ignored.

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- I dug away right here.

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You can see the oil's just seeping
down into the marsh, into the mud.

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As I dig away, it's just
pockets and pockets of oil.

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And no one knows how far it's
just going down into the mud

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or how far it's going into the marsh.

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- It really is sort of the comeuppance
of the longstanding, difficult deal

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with the devil that is the relationship
to the oil industry in Louisiana

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and in the Gulf South.

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- You have repeated multiple times
that the first words out of your mouth

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when you talk about BP are
always "safe" and "reliable."

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You've said that, haven't you?

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- I have.

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- And it is true that when you took over
in 2007, BP's financial performance --

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as you said -- was appalling, wasn't it?

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- Right.

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- And you had two years
to fix it, didn't you?

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You said that, too.

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- I said that in that speech.

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- "Mr. Hayward outlined new plans to
slash management layers from 11 to 7,

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redeploying some staff and removing others
to kickstart an oil group that he believes

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has become overcautious."

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Did I read that correctly?

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- You did.

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- And did anyone in BP's
management ever tell

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you to choose cost over safety in 2008?

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- No, they did not.

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- In 2009, as the VP of
Drilling and Completions,

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did you ever sacrifice safety for cost?

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- No, I did not.

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- Did anyone in BP's management ever tell
you to choose cost over safety in 2009?

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- Not explicitly.

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- BP is responsible both
legally and factually.

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This is their well.

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But BP is who made all the decisions that
one by one peeled away all the protective

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layers -- the things that
keep blowouts from happening.

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- Quote, "Assurance is killing us",
quote Mr. Hayward told US staff,

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noting that too many people
were engaged in decision making,

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leading to excessive cautiousness.

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Did you say that?

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- I said that "Assurance is killing
us" because there was lack of clarity

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as to who was accountable for what.

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- Did you then say "The
challenge for the industry

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now is to bring this cost
base down, and to do this

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fast to align with new market conditions?"

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Did you say that?

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- I did.

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- "We reduced our cash cost last
year by more than $4 billion."

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Did I read that correctly?

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- You did.

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- It is your testimony that your cost
cutting initiatives and your philosophy,

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as set out in these multiple
speeches we've looked at,

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did not flow down to drilling operations.

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Is that your testimony?

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- That is my testimony.

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- So this directive from
management to save money

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led to a reduction in expenditures in 2009
alone of somewhere between $250 million

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and $300 million in the Gulf of Mexico
drilling and completion operations?

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- That's my recollection.

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Yes.

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- You were told you were
leaving the company.

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- Right.

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- Did that cause you concern that the
progress that you all had made in matters

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of safety might be interrupted or halted?

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- It did cause me concern.

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And those were the concerns
I attempted to register.

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- Kevin Lacy resigned from BP just months
before the spill due to disagreements

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over the company's commitment to safety.

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At the time of the spill, four out
of five of BP's senior drilling

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officials in the Gulf of Mexico had
been on the job just a few months.

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After 27 years with BP, Tony
Hayward left the company

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and is currently chairman of the commodities
and mining giant Glencore Xstrata,

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the 10th largest company in the world.

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- As time goes by, we learn
more and more about whose fault

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it was that this blowout took our Gordon.

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Money drove every bad decision -- and there
were many -- that caused this blowout.

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These guys were driven to make
money, make money, make money.

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And that's all they cared about.

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Their negligence is always driven by greed
-- always, always, always driven by greed.

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- We've paid a high price.

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And yes, they have created
a lot of jobs here.

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They've made a lot of money.

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And the counterargument is, "Look,
the industry, we shouldn't sue them.

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They're here.

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Look at the good they do.

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They pay taxes.

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And they are people."

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My answer is, look at all the good
the Roman Catholic church does.

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They have hospitals, they've got
schools, they've got missions.

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You know what?

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You can't fool with the altar boy, Father.

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That's a no-no, you're going to get sued.

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- At some level, it's a stain
that is much harder to remove.

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The oil remains ... still there.

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And the industry remains,
and largely unchecked.

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- Since 2010, millions of
additional acres of Gulf sea floor

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have been leased for drilling.

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BP is among the companies
leading the expansion.

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And today, oil production
in the Gulf of Mexico

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is bigger business than it was when
the Deepwater Horizon exploded.

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While oil companies insist
the process is safer now,

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most do not believe the process
can ever be safe enough.

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- BP has spent nearly $28 billion so far
to help the Gulf economy and environment.

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And five years of research shows that the
Gulf is coming back faster than predicted.

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What happened here five
years ago changed us.

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I'm proud of the progress we've made.

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- BP's media campaign often describes
the Gulf environment as "resilient."

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It uses phrases like "bounced
back" and "strong recovery."

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Independent scientific assessments
say it will be many more years

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before the full impact of the spill
on wildlife, the environment, and man

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will be known.

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In the meantime, it is clear that fish
life from dolphins to sea turtles,

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shrimp to oysters, were harmed.

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Most powerfully, scientists say 10
million gallons of oil from the spill

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still rests on the ocean floor.

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Perhaps no one spent more time
at the spill's ground zero --

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the waters and islands of Barataria Bay
off Plaquemines Parish -- than P.J. Hahn.

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Just days after the spill, PJ dove into
the murky waters to record these images.

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His wetsuit would later
disintegrate from the toxic waters.

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- In the very beginning a lot of the
oil was traveling under the water, which

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they said was not happening.

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When I dove offshore, we
actually photographed oil

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40 feet below the surface,
underwater plumes of oil.

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It looked like an Oklahoma
dust storm passing through.

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I see some over here.

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I see oil up in here.

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I see oil in here, too.

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Today, over four and a half years later
-- going on the fifth anniversary --

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we still have a lot of oil all through here.

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And these are the most active
estuaries on the planet,

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and you can see what happens is the
oil comes in and it covers the roots.

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And it's what's called
"shadowing the marsh."

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It'll come up, it's buried under the water.

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As a storm comes in, it will move this oil
up on top of the marsh, cover the marsh,

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get into the roots like it has done here.

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And then it just kills it.

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The marsh, when the roots die, the
shoreline begins to break apart.

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You just look anywhere in here,
anywhere where you see the dead marsh,

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you can see the oil that's
mixed into this root system.

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You still see how wet it is with oil inside.

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You can smell how bad the oil is in it.

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You can tell how fast this marsh is
dying off with this amount of oil that's

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back in here.

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Unfortunately, the marsh, we just
have to watch this slow death of it.

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- As far as the oil spill, the effect it
will have, this oil will be washing up.

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There will be tar balls and tar mats on
wherever the beach is, almost forever.

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We knew that in the beginning.

00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:41.030
(BIRDS CALLING)

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- All of these islands, at one time
in the '90s these were 40 acres.

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And you can see how fast save
they've been disappearing.

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This island, we have the last island
out here that will hold birds.

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You can see the number of birds that are
being able to come out here and nest.

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75% of all migratory birds
pass right through this area.

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And they use these little islands to nest
on because there's no predators out there.

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The birds imprint on these islands.

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So when they're born, they'll come
back every year to the same island.

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Unfortunately, there are a lot of rare and
endangered birds that have been using these

00:16:23.750 --> 00:16:26.370
islands to nest on that
can no longer nest on it --

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shore birds and various egrets
and, of course, the pelicans.

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They have a lot of the other
birds they have to fight off.

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And the nests are so close, they're
constantly pecking each other.

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These islands get to a certain point
-- this island has reached it --

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you might get one more nesting
season out of it, probably not.

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And then that will be -- this will be the
last island in this little series out here.

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And it'll all be gone.

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This was the ground zero to the oil spill.

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This is where all of the oil came through.

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All these little islands were receiving
the most oil during the oil spill.

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Looks like it was hit with napalm.

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This thing was five acres, over
five acres, during the oil spill.

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It was just absolutely unbelievable,
thick with mangrove trees.

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These mangrove trees were eight feet tall.

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And they were just thick, thick,
thick with birds as well too.

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Louisiana is slowly subsiding.

00:17:44.090 --> 00:17:45.310
And we have sea level rise.

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So these islands,
theoretically, probably 15,

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20 years of life that they would
have had left -- unfortunately,

00:17:53.090 --> 00:17:54.880
the oil spill just accelerated it.

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I understand oil and gas, this
economy here is based on oil and gas.

00:18:02.580 --> 00:18:03.750
We all understand that.

00:18:05.930 --> 00:18:09.280
If we don't start looking at
this planet more like a business

00:18:09.280 --> 00:18:13.266
and taking, but also putting back,
we're going to bankrupt this planet.

00:18:16.760 --> 00:18:22.850
- You leave the state for a year and come
back, and go out to places that you knew,

00:18:22.850 --> 00:18:25.500
many of them will be much smaller or gone.

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I've lived this issue most of my life.

00:18:27.870 --> 00:18:30.730
I've been a fisherman and a
hunter out here, and a boater.

00:18:30.730 --> 00:18:33.110
So I've watched this happen over the years.

00:18:33.110 --> 00:18:36.800
Where there used to be wetlands,
where there used to be dry land,

00:18:36.800 --> 00:18:42.146
places I fished, camped, walked on,
are now open water, and a lot of it.

00:18:46.340 --> 00:18:49.860
Two years ago, the National
Oceanic Atmospheric Administration

00:18:49.860 --> 00:18:53.580
took 31 place names off the
chart in lower Plaquemines

00:18:53.580 --> 00:18:57.810
Parish because they don't exist anymore,
and haven't for a decade or more.

00:19:08.470 --> 00:19:13.750
- BP has set aside $20 billion to fund
economic and environmental recovery.

00:19:13.750 --> 00:19:16.790
We're paying for all spill
related cleanup costs.

00:19:16.790 --> 00:19:21.580
And we've established a $500 million fund so
independent scientists can study the gulf's

00:19:21.580 --> 00:19:25.050
wildlife and environment for 10 years.

00:19:25.050 --> 00:19:27.910
Thousands of environmental
samples from across the Gulf

00:19:27.910 --> 00:19:32.501
have been analyzed by independent labs
under the direction of the US Coast Guard.

00:19:39.460 --> 00:19:43.950
- The fishermen who have long depended
on the Gulf are themselves caught.

00:19:43.950 --> 00:19:45.700
Their livelihood is fishing.

00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:47.140
It's what they know.

00:19:47.140 --> 00:19:49.480
But fish are smaller and fewer.

00:19:52.610 --> 00:19:55.780
- And they've got the BP commercials
saying "Everything's fine."

00:19:55.780 --> 00:19:56.600
Now, I'm not BP.

00:19:56.600 --> 00:19:58.400
I don't have $240 million.

00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.780
That's how much they spent on
commercials, that we know about.

00:20:01.780 --> 00:20:02.730
That we know about.

00:20:02.730 --> 00:20:05.945
$240 million.

00:20:05.945 --> 00:20:09.540
You know how many people they could have
really, legitimately squared away with?

00:20:09.540 --> 00:20:12.050
(CRASH)

00:20:14.370 --> 00:20:16.710
No shrimp.

00:20:16.710 --> 00:20:19.400
Waste of time, waste of fuel.

00:20:19.400 --> 00:20:23.070
I testified in front of Congress, said "How
would you like to get up every morning,

00:20:23.070 --> 00:20:27.160
go to work, knowing you're
going to lose money every day?"

00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:29.130
The crab production was down like 85%.

00:20:29.130 --> 00:20:31.330
Shrimp down 55%.

00:20:31.330 --> 00:20:33.090
And they don't get as big.

00:20:33.090 --> 00:20:37.500
So you've got a percentage
and a size problem.

00:20:37.500 --> 00:20:43.310
- A second generation fisherman, George
Barisich is under pressure from two sides.

00:20:43.310 --> 00:20:46.840
As well as the decline in fish
populations, many fishermen,

00:20:46.840 --> 00:20:51.740
especially those who helped in the cleanup,
believe they were made sick by the impacts

00:20:51.740 --> 00:20:54.963
of the spill -- the
contaminated air and water.

00:20:56.950 --> 00:20:58.790
- So now, I got a pulmonary problem.

00:20:58.790 --> 00:20:59.590
What's causing it?

00:20:59.590 --> 00:21:00.680
Nobody will say.

00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:04.270
You know, before this I was healthy,
I used to run the boat by myself.

00:21:04.270 --> 00:21:05.780
Now I can't take that chance.

00:21:13.012 --> 00:21:14.680
- It's in the blood...

00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:18.521
I guess I don't want to accept defeat.

00:21:18.521 --> 00:21:20.455
My mom and dad taught me.

00:21:20.455 --> 00:21:22.500
They were immigrants.

00:21:22.500 --> 00:21:27.190
They lived the American dream, were
given nothing, and they made it.

00:21:27.190 --> 00:21:28.850
I'm not born and bred to quit.

00:21:32.990 --> 00:21:38.890
Needless to say, you don't have to be
a rich man to stand up and be counted.

00:21:43.264 --> 00:21:46.666
(RAINING)

00:21:53.470 --> 00:21:57.660
- Pointe a la Hache is an African-American
fishing community on the East bank

00:21:57.660 --> 00:22:01.640
of the Mississippi River, just
50 miles south of New Orleans.

00:22:04.870 --> 00:22:12.100
Decimated by Hurricane Katrina, the marina
had just reopened when the spill occurred.

00:22:12.100 --> 00:22:17.130
Byron Encalade is president of the
Louisiana Oystermen Association.

00:22:17.130 --> 00:22:20.140
His membership has largely stopped working.

00:22:20.140 --> 00:22:25.080
Many are living on food stamps,
waiting on settlements from BP

00:22:25.080 --> 00:22:28.990
that Encalade says will never come.

00:22:28.990 --> 00:22:33.100
- This community, fishermen here haven't
been working nearly since the oil spill.

00:22:33.100 --> 00:22:36.350
You look over there now,
there's no boats fueling up.

00:22:36.350 --> 00:22:40.270
There's nobody unloading shrimps or oysters.

00:22:40.270 --> 00:22:43.280
You know, it's horrible.

00:22:43.280 --> 00:22:46.320
This marina would be thriving,
we have people all over here.

00:22:50.690 --> 00:22:56.390
- BP says it has paid over $13
billion in claims and settlements.

00:22:56.390 --> 00:23:00.895
But many here say the
money has not reached them.

00:23:00.895 --> 00:23:03.020
- Well I think the constituents
feel like it's just

00:23:03.020 --> 00:23:06.890
another round of more paperwork,
another round of more phone calls,

00:23:06.890 --> 00:23:07.737
standing in line.

00:23:07.737 --> 00:23:10.820
And there's a lot of anxieties about
why is a new claim number required...

00:23:10.820 --> 00:23:12.930
- Y'all made this screw-up some kind of way.

00:23:12.930 --> 00:23:14.270
Y'all should be responsible.

00:23:14.270 --> 00:23:15.690
I'm out $10,000.

00:23:15.690 --> 00:23:17.110
I got three checks here.

00:23:17.110 --> 00:23:18.940
And they put stop payment on it.

00:23:18.940 --> 00:23:20.980
And now I can't get no results at all.

00:23:20.980 --> 00:23:25.360
I came in tonight thinking I could talk
to somebody and find out some information.

00:23:25.360 --> 00:23:27.480
And you can't find out anything here.

00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:31.680
- We've got fishermen down here who have
been turned down with claims and stuff,

00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:34.510
or paid pennies on the
dollar for their claim.

00:23:34.510 --> 00:23:35.760
I've been to Washington.

00:23:35.760 --> 00:23:37.030
I've intervened.

00:23:37.030 --> 00:23:38.840
I've testified before Congress.

00:23:38.840 --> 00:23:43.160
This oil spill will be devastating
for Plaquemines Parish.

00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:46.250
But it will be extremely
difficult for fishermen

00:23:46.250 --> 00:23:52.220
who depend on this livelihood as a
source of income and food source.

00:23:52.220 --> 00:23:54.450
- (WOMAN MAKING ANNOUNCEMENT)

00:23:54.450 --> 00:23:58.400
- Soon after the spill
began, BP offered individuals

00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:03.410
a one time payment of
between $5,000 and $25,000

00:24:03.410 --> 00:24:05.650
if they signed an agreement
saying they would not

00:24:05.650 --> 00:24:09.664
sue BP or file claims in the future.

00:24:09.664 --> 00:24:11.170
- I know the parish is...

00:24:11.170 --> 00:24:14.890
- Many, under incredible
economic stress, accepted.

00:24:17.430 --> 00:24:21.790
Many now feel they were rushed and cheated.

00:24:21.790 --> 00:24:23.560
- BP set this up to fail.

00:24:23.560 --> 00:24:26.750
They could put this massive
amount of money out there

00:24:26.750 --> 00:24:31.040
in the media and control public opinion.

00:24:31.040 --> 00:24:34.230
And in some way, even maybe
control the opinion of the courts.

00:24:37.270 --> 00:24:39.730
- Now think about it,
what they used to say --

00:24:39.730 --> 00:24:43.440
the flag of Texaco flies
over Louisiana capitol.

00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:45.190
Yep, it does.

00:24:45.190 --> 00:24:50.440
It's just easier to buy politicians than
it is to cap wells and clean them up.

00:24:50.440 --> 00:24:56.040
- It's going to take the people now to
pay attention and say, you know what,

00:24:56.040 --> 00:25:00.120
we have a... our forefathers gave us
the greatest thing in the world --

00:25:00.120 --> 00:25:06.210
the power to change the entire government
without picking up a rifle, an M16,

00:25:06.210 --> 00:25:09.840
without the use of an aircraft
carrier, with a little piece of paper.

00:25:09.840 --> 00:25:16.340
Just getting off our butts and go to the
poll and vote, and we could change it.

00:25:16.340 --> 00:25:21.377
- There are still 50,000 claims
from businesses and fishermen

00:25:21.377 --> 00:25:22.210
awaiting settlement.

00:25:30.750 --> 00:25:34.750
Very often, the people who suffer
most from environmental harms

00:25:34.750 --> 00:25:38.120
are the poor and, in many
cases, people of color.

00:25:42.920 --> 00:25:47.570
In southern Louisiana, it includes
African-American and Native American

00:25:47.570 --> 00:25:50.996
fishermen in Terrebonne
Parish south of Houma.

00:25:53.430 --> 00:25:56.890
- Oftentimes it's thought that communities
of color don't care about climate change

00:25:56.890 --> 00:26:01.580
or don't care about the environment, or we
only care about criminal justice and jobs.

00:26:01.580 --> 00:26:07.680
But the truth is, a number of us
love the land that we were born on.

00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:11.070
Our grandmothers taught us
the way to be on this Earth.

00:26:11.070 --> 00:26:12.900
And we care about what happens.

00:26:17.960 --> 00:26:22.790
- The people of the Houma Nation -- Native
Americans who moved deep into the swamps

00:26:22.790 --> 00:26:28.190
of Louisiana in the early 1800s to avoid
being killed or forced to relocate further

00:26:28.190 --> 00:26:32.960
west -- are some of the most
at-risk people in the state.

00:26:36.360 --> 00:26:41.670
Not only were their home waters bespoiled
by the spill, the land they live on

00:26:41.670 --> 00:26:44.468
is literally disappearing into the Gulf.

00:26:47.691 --> 00:26:50.260
- We're down here in
Dulac in South Louisiana

00:26:50.260 --> 00:26:55.410
where we're seeing massive coastal
erosion, and the United Houma Nation

00:26:55.410 --> 00:26:57.350
is on the front line of
this coastal erosion.

00:26:57.350 --> 00:27:02.080
They're losing their land, they're
losing their culture and their heritage,

00:27:02.080 --> 00:27:05.718
and they're really fighting
for survival right now.

00:27:08.530 --> 00:27:11.890
- Those that really needed
it didn't get their money.

00:27:11.890 --> 00:27:14.840
So that hurt a lot of
the fishermen down here.

00:27:14.840 --> 00:27:17.530
And a lot of the fishermen
had to go out of business.

00:27:17.530 --> 00:27:22.050
A lot of them sold their boats because
they had to keep fighting with BP

00:27:22.050 --> 00:27:24.370
to try to get their money,
and never could get it.

00:27:27.590 --> 00:27:31.840
- We've been helping folks
with their BP claims.

00:27:31.840 --> 00:27:35.900
So we're watching crabbers in St.
Tammany and oystermen in Plaquemines

00:27:35.900 --> 00:27:37.400
who haven't gotten a dime yet.

00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:42.650
They've not been compensated
for the work that they lost.

00:27:42.650 --> 00:27:47.642
We're seeing a whole region struggle
from what is still oil in our marshes.

00:27:50.540 --> 00:27:56.020
The BP oil disaster is ongoing, despite what
other folks have been told that it's over.

00:27:56.020 --> 00:28:01.270
- The vast majority of the oil has either
evaporated or been burned, skimmed,

00:28:01.270 --> 00:28:05.810
and recovered from the
well head, or dispersed.

00:28:05.810 --> 00:28:08.300
- We recognize they're
telling us the same lies.

00:28:08.300 --> 00:28:09.660
They don't care about us.

00:28:09.660 --> 00:28:11.302
They're not going to clean it up.

00:28:11.302 --> 00:28:14.720
I think we're opening our eyes to
the fact that these companies aren't

00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:17.680
going to be responsible.

00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:20.600
The argument is, are you
going to try to save jobs

00:28:20.600 --> 00:28:22.860
or are you going to try
to save the environment?

00:28:22.860 --> 00:28:25.760
And I think that that's a false choice.

00:28:25.760 --> 00:28:30.300
And I think if we get more people involved,
we can actually take the power away

00:28:30.300 --> 00:28:34.380
from those big companies and get
back to taking care of each other

00:28:34.380 --> 00:28:36.400
and taking care of the
land that God gave us.

00:28:39.002 --> 00:28:41.307
(SEAGULLS CALLING)

00:28:42.690 --> 00:28:44.039
- BP's still here.

00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:46.080
And we're still committed
to seeing this through.

00:28:46.080 --> 00:28:47.510
- We want to be good neighbors.

00:28:47.510 --> 00:28:50.980
- And we're making sure people know
that the Gulf is open for business.

00:28:50.980 --> 00:28:52.280
The beaches are beautiful.

00:28:52.280 --> 00:28:54.200
The seafood is delicious.

00:28:54.200 --> 00:28:57.225
Last year, many areas even
reported record tourism seasons.

00:29:03.630 --> 00:29:07.300
- Proving the impacts on human
health from environmental accidents

00:29:07.300 --> 00:29:14.160
takes many, many years as scientists
gather definitive answers.

00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:19.020
- People outside Louisiana believe
all the PR they see that BP puts out

00:29:19.020 --> 00:29:24.070
on the television and in the newspapers
-- that it's fine, everybody come back.

00:29:24.070 --> 00:29:29.840
They're inviting the tourists back,
and come and eat all the seafood.

00:29:29.840 --> 00:29:31.650
And that's what people don't realize.

00:29:31.650 --> 00:29:35.730
They think it just happened, and it's
over with, and everything's fine.

00:29:35.730 --> 00:29:38.220
And it's not fine.

00:29:38.220 --> 00:29:43.570
The damage and destruction is just
huge as a result of the BP disaster.

00:29:43.570 --> 00:29:48.620
And it continues to degrade both
the environment and human health

00:29:48.620 --> 00:29:51.250
and the economy.

00:29:51.250 --> 00:29:55.900
I'm going to be presenting information
on the health impacts associated

00:29:55.900 --> 00:29:59.860
with the BP crude and the dispersants.

00:29:59.860 --> 00:30:03.500
First and foremost, we
need to stop the exposure.

00:30:03.500 --> 00:30:04.000
We need...

00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:09.930
- Advocates like Wilma Subra, a scientist
who has worked on behalf of environmentally

00:30:09.930 --> 00:30:14.990
at-risk communities across the country,
are often the last health care resource

00:30:14.990 --> 00:30:19.230
for those whose lives have
been harmed by the spill.

00:30:19.230 --> 00:30:21.850
- I got a call from BP
to help out with this.

00:30:21.850 --> 00:30:24.250
I never hesitated.

00:30:24.250 --> 00:30:27.950
It was south of my home,
and it needed to be done.

00:30:27.950 --> 00:30:30.610
And the reason I was
willing to take a chance

00:30:30.610 --> 00:30:35.970
is for the same reason the guys at
Chernobyl or Japan or 9/11, why they do it.

00:30:35.970 --> 00:30:37.120
Because it has to be done.

00:30:37.120 --> 00:30:38.511
Somebody's got to do it.

00:30:45.270 --> 00:30:50.930
- Cardiovascular, neurological,
and the memory loss.

00:30:50.930 --> 00:30:54.990
And then just physically
not being able to function.

00:30:59.150 --> 00:31:03.130
- Three days ago, I was in the hospital
for five days with severe abdominal pains

00:31:03.130 --> 00:31:05.125
with a tube down my nose into my stomach.

00:31:05.125 --> 00:31:07.500
- Starts with your headaches,
then you start throwing up,

00:31:07.500 --> 00:31:09.470
then you start passing a little blood.

00:31:09.470 --> 00:31:12.110
Right now, I'm on the verge
where I'm passing a little blood.

00:31:12.110 --> 00:31:13.526
- I was born and raised down here.

00:31:13.526 --> 00:31:14.980
I worked in the oil fields.

00:31:14.980 --> 00:31:16.479
I knew what it was going to be like.

00:31:18.857 --> 00:31:20.940
It was like, "Oh, no, it
ain't gonna be that bad."

00:31:20.940 --> 00:31:21.440
Yeah, right.

00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:23.260
OK.

00:31:23.260 --> 00:31:27.019
- How back far do you think
the oil goes into these?

00:31:27.019 --> 00:31:28.560
- As high as that water will take it.

00:31:37.190 --> 00:31:41.340
- I think the story of the
environmental struggles in Louisiana

00:31:41.340 --> 00:31:43.510
has always been the same issue.

00:31:43.510 --> 00:31:50.340
It's about saying the burdens we bear from
an industrial economy actually are palpable

00:31:50.340 --> 00:31:53.250
in these communities -- that
these people are actually sick,

00:31:53.250 --> 00:31:57.022
that they keep having problems, they
keep getting exposed to these things.

00:31:57.022 --> 00:31:59.480
Their air gets contaminated,
their water gets contaminated,

00:31:59.480 --> 00:32:02.400
and their health suffers from it.

00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:05.450
And time and time again, the
responsible party for that

00:32:05.450 --> 00:32:08.571
will fight tooth and nail
to say "It's not from us.

00:32:08.571 --> 00:32:09.570
Yeah, maybe you're sick.

00:32:09.570 --> 00:32:10.680
But you can't prove it was me.

00:32:10.680 --> 00:32:12.638
You can't prove it was
what I put in the water.

00:32:12.638 --> 00:32:15.039
You can't prove it was
what I put in the air."

00:32:17.272 --> 00:32:18.730
- I'm sure they were genuinely ill.

00:32:18.730 --> 00:32:21.290
But whether it was anything
to do with dispersants in oil,

00:32:21.290 --> 00:32:25.230
whether it was food poisoning or some other
reason for them being ill, you know...

00:32:25.230 --> 00:32:28.110
food poisoning is a big
issue when you've got

00:32:28.110 --> 00:32:32.960
a concentration of this number of people in
temporary camps, temporary accommodation.

00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:35.570
It's something we have to
be very, very mindful of.

00:32:35.570 --> 00:32:39.204
It's one of the big issues of
keeping the army operating.

00:32:39.204 --> 00:32:40.495
Armies march on their stomachs.

00:32:44.460 --> 00:32:49.390
- I was put on a mini barge as a deck hand.

00:32:49.390 --> 00:32:52.110
We were working this new
project that they came out

00:32:52.110 --> 00:32:57.660
with which was getting the oil boom that's
been on shore, on the marsh for over 100

00:32:57.660 --> 00:32:58.750
days.

00:32:58.750 --> 00:33:01.400
And it splashed all in my face.

00:33:01.400 --> 00:33:03.560
So then, they sent me to the eye doctor.

00:33:03.560 --> 00:33:07.060
Well, he says, "Your optic nerve
looks like it's going to explode,

00:33:07.060 --> 00:33:10.000
like it's a blister or something."

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:13.600
He wrote the letter that
it's more than probable

00:33:13.600 --> 00:33:18.470
that the toxins caused the
swelling and the optic nerve damage

00:33:18.470 --> 00:33:21.110
and destroyed my eye sight.

00:33:21.110 --> 00:33:25.040
I filed the first claim --
denial, sent me a letter.

00:33:25.040 --> 00:33:26.400
BP don't care.

00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:28.460
They say it's not their problem.

00:33:36.130 --> 00:33:40.280
- They burn the crude oil and the
dispersants on the surface of the Gulf.

00:33:40.280 --> 00:33:43.230
They put a boom around
it and lit it on fire.

00:33:43.230 --> 00:33:46.530
And they did that again when the
wind was blowing towards the coast

00:33:46.530 --> 00:33:49.240
and brought it in.

00:33:49.240 --> 00:33:54.350
- Burning oil off the surface is a
widely used but controversial tactic.

00:33:54.350 --> 00:33:57.410
It may keep the oil from
reaching shore, but it

00:33:57.410 --> 00:34:01.010
creates toxic particulates
that can drift for tens

00:34:01.010 --> 00:34:06.340
of miles, contaminating air and water.

00:34:06.340 --> 00:34:09.239
- So there's this huge
quantity of oil in the Gulf.

00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:10.770
And there's also...

00:34:10.770 --> 00:34:14.320
for every 93 gallons of oil
released into the environment,

00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:16.960
they put a gallon of dispersant on it.

00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:19.389
The dispersant COREXIT, that was used.

00:34:19.389 --> 00:34:23.360
And again, that was also very toxic.

00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:28.880
- Banned in many European nations, COREXIT
was also used during the Exxon Valdez spill

00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:35.280
in Alaska, causing people respiratory,
nervous system, liver, kidney,

00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:36.577
and blood disorders.

00:34:40.600 --> 00:34:43.650
- Every time we have a
really bad weather front

00:34:43.650 --> 00:34:47.909
it brings in more and more of that
crude that's subsurface in the Gulf,

00:34:47.909 --> 00:34:51.000
and it starts that exposure all over again.

00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:55.179
And so these people then get
sicker and sicker every time

00:34:55.179 --> 00:34:57.640
there's a new exposure that occurs.

00:34:57.640 --> 00:35:01.560
And if you listen to BP, they act
like that exposure is not occurring.

00:35:06.850 --> 00:35:12.350
- In its own report five years after the
spill, BP downplays any link between it

00:35:12.350 --> 00:35:14.840
and people being made sick.

00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:19.090
- I've been doing these educational
workshops and then doing health surveys

00:35:19.090 --> 00:35:22.930
and doing blood samples on
people that demonstrated they

00:35:22.930 --> 00:35:26.140
were bioaccumulating the volatile organics.

00:35:26.140 --> 00:35:30.240
And then trying to get them health care.

00:35:30.240 --> 00:35:33.590
- I sense a little bit of
frustration in your voice.

00:35:33.590 --> 00:35:41.850
- Very frustrated, because the people are so
very sick and can't get the care they need.

00:35:41.850 --> 00:35:43.880
The business communities
don't want to hear it.

00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:47.770
As long as they have enough people
to employ for the jobs they need,

00:35:47.770 --> 00:35:51.030
they don't want to hear it.

00:35:51.030 --> 00:35:55.580
- More than 40,000 people claim to
have been harmed during the cleanup,

00:35:55.580 --> 00:36:02.820
citing skin, eye, and breathing ailments in
a class action settlement signed in 2012.

00:36:02.820 --> 00:36:11.032
Three years later, BP has paid just
900 workers a total of $1.3 million.

00:36:11.032 --> 00:36:17.310
Without a specific diagnosis of
a chronic illness by April 2012,

00:36:17.310 --> 00:36:22.647
the rest of the claimants will only be able
to collect a one time payment of $1,300.

00:36:27.140 --> 00:36:31.310
While BP contends the worst
of its spill is in the past,

00:36:31.310 --> 00:36:36.390
in the five years since there have
been nearly 10,000 other leaks, spills,

00:36:36.390 --> 00:36:38.920
and accidents along the Gulf coastline.

00:36:44.280 --> 00:36:50.730
- Part of what we're hoping to do is monitor
these sort of everyday oil and gas impacts

00:36:50.730 --> 00:36:51.330
to the coast.

00:36:51.330 --> 00:36:56.810
And there's constantly oil
being leaked into the Gulf.

00:36:56.810 --> 00:37:01.060
I think since BP, people are
maybe a little more aware.

00:37:01.060 --> 00:37:03.840
But I don't think they have
any idea of the scale of it.

00:37:06.040 --> 00:37:10.140
- Perhaps the most egregious is at
the site of a Taylor Energy platform

00:37:10.140 --> 00:37:14.220
that was destroyed in a 2004 hurricane.

00:37:14.220 --> 00:37:21.700
It has been leaking oil into the Gulf
ever since, more than 1.4 million gallons.

00:37:21.700 --> 00:37:26.910
In 2015, thanks to pressure
from Louisiana activists,

00:37:26.910 --> 00:37:30.720
a US district court rescinded
Taylor Energy's right

00:37:30.720 --> 00:37:35.280
to suppress information
about its 11-year spill.

00:37:35.280 --> 00:37:38.181
Yet today, it is still leaking.

00:37:41.340 --> 00:37:44.790
- So we have great environmental
laws in the United States,

00:37:44.790 --> 00:37:46.675
but they're just not well enforced.

00:37:50.690 --> 00:37:54.190
- Two years ago, the people of
BP made a commitment to the Gulf.

00:37:54.190 --> 00:37:56.970
And every day since, we've
worked hard to keep it.

00:37:56.970 --> 00:38:00.850
I want you to know there's another
commitment BP takes just as seriously --

00:38:00.850 --> 00:38:02.710
our commitment to America.

00:38:02.710 --> 00:38:07.420
BP supports nearly 250,000 jobs
in communities across the country.

00:38:07.420 --> 00:38:10.320
We hired 3,000 people just last year.

00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:13.360
BP invests more in America
than in any other country.

00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:17.010
We're working to fuel America
for generations to come.

00:38:17.010 --> 00:38:22.206
Today, our commitment to the Gulf and
to America has never been stronger.

00:38:22.206 --> 00:38:25.194
(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING)

00:38:35.154 --> 00:38:37.644
(CAR PASSING)

00:38:37.644 --> 00:38:40.632
- Put those damn weapons down!

00:38:40.632 --> 00:38:43.122
Not going to tell you again, god dammit!

00:38:43.122 --> 00:38:45.966
Get those goddamn weapons down!

00:38:45.966 --> 00:38:48.381
(CHEERING)

00:38:49.347 --> 00:38:50.313
Hey!

00:38:50.313 --> 00:38:51.762
Weapons down!

00:38:51.762 --> 00:38:54.660
Weapons down, dammit!

00:38:54.660 --> 00:38:58.540
- The last time most of the world
saw Lieutenant General Russel Honore,

00:38:58.540 --> 00:39:01.340
he was attempting to
give some order to chaos

00:39:01.340 --> 00:39:06.330
following the flooding of New
Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.

00:39:06.330 --> 00:39:09.840
At the time, General Honore
impressed upon the world

00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:14.825
that he was a serious man who will do
whatever it takes to stop wrongful actions.

00:39:17.610 --> 00:39:19.600
- Come on, Spinner.

00:39:19.600 --> 00:39:24.610
- A native Louisianan descended
from slaves and tenant farmers,

00:39:24.610 --> 00:39:30.110
in 2005 the General probably would not
have called himself an environmentalist.

00:39:30.110 --> 00:39:35.240
But since retiring from the US Army,
he has had a ringside seat to a variety

00:39:35.240 --> 00:39:39.460
of environmental degradations
impacting his home state,

00:39:39.460 --> 00:39:44.100
encouraging him to start up
his own -- the Green Army.

00:39:44.100 --> 00:39:48.110
- So the Green Army is about an idea,
not a place, for environmental groups

00:39:48.110 --> 00:39:52.870
to work together to appeal
to the people that we've

00:39:52.870 --> 00:39:55.830
got to do something to save our
environment and fight pollution.

00:39:58.950 --> 00:40:03.080
And what I see happening here, it's
almost like an attack on water.

00:40:03.080 --> 00:40:05.390
We will defeat ourselves
from within, because we'll

00:40:05.390 --> 00:40:07.280
destroy our water and our air.

00:40:10.620 --> 00:40:14.140
Oil and gas, for a long time they
made a lot of money and wealth here --

00:40:14.140 --> 00:40:17.730
most of them out of
state and out of country.

00:40:17.730 --> 00:40:20.190
- We care about the small people.

00:40:20.190 --> 00:40:25.180
I hear comments sometimes that large
oil companies are greedy companies

00:40:25.180 --> 00:40:26.580
or don't care.

00:40:26.580 --> 00:40:28.870
But that is not the case in BP.

00:40:28.870 --> 00:40:30.750
We care about the small people.

00:40:32.840 --> 00:40:36.730
- British Petroleum, they
don't live near here.

00:40:36.730 --> 00:40:39.560
The difference between now and slavery?

00:40:39.560 --> 00:40:42.140
When they said, "We're
doing this for the economy,

00:40:42.140 --> 00:40:44.580
we're doing it for the
security of our country,

00:40:44.580 --> 00:40:47.870
we're doing it to build our
country" as a justification,

00:40:47.870 --> 00:40:50.470
is back then the plantation
owners lived on the plantation.

00:40:53.060 --> 00:40:58.260
- Ever since oil was first tapped
in the Gulf of Mexico in 1938,

00:40:58.260 --> 00:41:00.540
there has been a fierce
debate between those who

00:41:00.540 --> 00:41:04.970
see fossil fuel extraction as
a job provider and those who

00:41:04.970 --> 00:41:09.700
see it as an accident waiting to happen.

00:41:09.700 --> 00:41:15.720
In 2010, with oil still gushing from
the broken BP well and a moratorium

00:41:15.720 --> 00:41:20.320
on deepwater drilling enacted by
President Obama, the oil industry --

00:41:20.320 --> 00:41:26.970
backed by Governor Bobby Jindal -- rallied
Louisianans to fight drilling limitations.

00:41:26.970 --> 00:41:29.620
- The fact the federal
government can't do its job

00:41:29.620 --> 00:41:32.732
shouldn't cost thousands
of Louisianans our jobs.

00:41:32.732 --> 00:41:35.900
(CHEERING)

00:41:35.900 --> 00:41:40.190
- A tightly coordinated alliance
of industry and elected officials,

00:41:40.190 --> 00:41:45.850
whose campaigns they fund, often combines
two techniques to influence voters in Gulf

00:41:45.850 --> 00:41:53.584
states -- scapegoating the federal
government, and the threat of loss of jobs.

00:41:53.584 --> 00:41:56.040
- I worked for years in
the oil and gas industry.

00:41:56.040 --> 00:41:58.470
I want it strong, creating jobs.

00:41:58.470 --> 00:42:03.310
I fought the drilling moratorium
and job-killing federal regulations.

00:42:03.310 --> 00:42:08.090
- They don't understand in Washington DC --
once these rigs go, they're gone for years.

00:42:08.090 --> 00:42:10.140
We know at least of two
rigs going to Africa.

00:42:10.140 --> 00:42:12.940
We know other rigs are
already in negotiations.

00:42:12.940 --> 00:42:14.920
These rigs cost half a
million dollars a day.

00:42:14.920 --> 00:42:16.240
They're not going to wait.

00:42:16.240 --> 00:42:19.410
And once they sign multi- year
contracts, those jobs are gone for years.

00:42:19.410 --> 00:42:23.830
The estimates are in Louisiana
alone, we'll lose 20,000 jobs.

00:42:23.830 --> 00:42:27.320
Across the Gulf Coast, tens of
thousands of additional jobs --

00:42:27.320 --> 00:42:29.330
that's why today's so important.

00:42:29.330 --> 00:42:31.930
- They call it "job killers."

00:42:31.930 --> 00:42:34.770
Of course, there's no real evidence of that.

00:42:34.770 --> 00:42:39.920
The nation gets 30% of its total oil
and gas supply comes through that coast.

00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:44.940
And those pipelines come through here to
50% of the nation's refining capacity.

00:42:44.940 --> 00:42:47.010
No one's going to take those refineries.

00:42:47.010 --> 00:42:50.100
It's a ridiculous argument
to say we're going to leave.

00:42:50.100 --> 00:42:53.064
They have nowhere else to go.

00:42:53.064 --> 00:42:53.730
- Hi, everybody.

00:42:53.730 --> 00:42:55.080
This is Colonel Rob Maness.

00:42:55.080 --> 00:42:56.825
This is job's week.

00:42:56.825 --> 00:43:01.770
What you see behind me is wealth creation
off the coast of our state, the greatest

00:43:01.770 --> 00:43:05.800
state in America, Louisiana.

00:43:05.800 --> 00:43:07.270
- Jobs, jobs, jobs.

00:43:07.270 --> 00:43:14.220
So when people decided to be a part of
a democracy, it never was about jobs.

00:43:14.220 --> 00:43:16.780
It was about collective security.

00:43:16.780 --> 00:43:22.140
Safe water and safe air is a part
of that collective security --

00:43:22.140 --> 00:43:27.000
electing people to make this
concept of communal living work.

00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:28.820
What has that turned into today?

00:43:28.820 --> 00:43:31.820
Everybody that get elected
is the chief jobs officer.

00:43:35.330 --> 00:43:38.260
They say, "Yeah, General,
but they create jobs.

00:43:38.260 --> 00:43:39.840
It's good for the economy."

00:43:39.840 --> 00:43:42.460
Well if it's so good, why are
we the second poorest state,

00:43:42.460 --> 00:43:43.940
and we're the most polluted state?

00:43:43.940 --> 00:43:45.210
That cannot stand.

00:43:45.210 --> 00:43:48.540
We cannot continue to live that way.

00:43:48.540 --> 00:43:51.380
This isn't the democracy
our forefathers fought for.

00:43:51.380 --> 00:43:54.308
It's not the democracy I
tried to defend for 37 years.

00:44:00.470 --> 00:44:03.890
- For several years, the state of
Louisiana has had a master plan

00:44:03.890 --> 00:44:07.140
it says will help save its coastline.

00:44:07.140 --> 00:44:08.690
The price tag?

00:44:08.690 --> 00:44:12.870
Between $50 and $100 billion.

00:44:12.870 --> 00:44:17.680
That kind of money is necessary
because the 210 million gallons

00:44:17.680 --> 00:44:23.050
of oil spilled into the Gulf by BP
are not the state's biggest problem.

00:44:31.760 --> 00:44:37.390
The most lethal danger here is that
Louisiana is fast slipping away

00:44:37.390 --> 00:44:46.290
into the Gulf of Mexico waters, thanks
to a combination of hurricane damage,

00:44:46.290 --> 00:44:51.840
the man-made levee system, and the intrusion
into the Gulf by Big Oil and Gas --

00:44:51.840 --> 00:44:55.446
which dug more than 10,000
miles of exploratory canals.

00:44:59.340 --> 00:45:03.540
- The coast of Louisiana has
experienced a lot of catastrophes.

00:45:03.540 --> 00:45:07.350
But coastal erosion is the
biggest crisis that we have.

00:45:07.350 --> 00:45:08.890
And it's ongoing.

00:45:08.890 --> 00:45:11.690
When you look out over
this expansive horizon,

00:45:11.690 --> 00:45:16.720
anywhere you see a
straight line is man-made.

00:45:16.720 --> 00:45:20.235
That's where the oil and gas
industry either laid a pipeline,

00:45:20.235 --> 00:45:26.735
or dredged an access canal where
they did exploration and extraction.

00:45:34.230 --> 00:45:37.100
See all these little round shapes?

00:45:37.100 --> 00:45:38.840
That's kind of how the erosion works.

00:45:38.840 --> 00:45:47.020
It's a phenomenon where it makes these
round formations as pieces break off.

00:45:47.020 --> 00:45:49.230
All of this was solid wetlands at one point.

00:45:55.110 --> 00:46:00.920
Certainly, exploration and
extraction started before the 1950s.

00:46:00.920 --> 00:46:06.980
But in the 1950s, the State of
Louisiana began issuing permits

00:46:06.980 --> 00:46:13.410
with clear language requiring the
companies to put the land back together

00:46:13.410 --> 00:46:21.065
the way it was when they found it
as best they can to prevent erosion.

00:46:21.065 --> 00:46:28.860
It was very clear that the dredging of
canals for pipelines and for extraction

00:46:28.860 --> 00:46:31.840
was exacerbating the loss of the wetlands.

00:46:34.420 --> 00:46:40.800
The industry also understood that they
were causing harm to the wetlands.

00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:48.590
Their internal memos amongst
industry discussing the problem,

00:46:48.590 --> 00:46:53.860
still they ignored the problem
and ignored the permit language.

00:47:07.080 --> 00:47:11.650
- Billions are being sought in what could be
a historic lawsuit filed in civil district

00:47:11.650 --> 00:47:16.810
court Wednesday morning by the Southeast
Louisiana Flood Protection Authority East

00:47:16.810 --> 00:47:22.150
that manages the east bank's
flood protection system.

00:47:22.150 --> 00:47:27.480
- I mean, clearly, coastal land loss
is the number one problem in the state.

00:47:27.480 --> 00:47:31.390
It threatens the very
existence of the state.

00:47:31.390 --> 00:47:35.980
- We do take our mission to
protect the public very seriously.

00:47:35.980 --> 00:47:42.050
And because of that obligation,
and with considerable reluctance

00:47:42.050 --> 00:47:48.900
but with a unanimous vote, we have now
filed the lawsuit against 97 oil and gas

00:47:48.900 --> 00:47:53.330
and pipeline companies over the industry's
contribution to coastal land loss.

00:47:55.840 --> 00:47:59.917
We recognize this as a controversial action.

00:47:59.917 --> 00:48:01.000
We regret its necessity...

00:48:07.450 --> 00:48:10.730
- John Barry's career has
taken him from football coach

00:48:10.730 --> 00:48:12.887
to acclaimed historian and writer.

00:48:17.180 --> 00:48:21.715
His expertise on people and water
propelled him into public service.

00:48:26.530 --> 00:48:31.510
In 2007 he was appointed to the board
of the Flood Protection Authority,

00:48:31.510 --> 00:48:36.022
responsible for helping guard New Orleans
against another Katrina-like disaster.

00:48:38.530 --> 00:48:44.960
- The emotional connection for me really
is understanding what Katrina did.

00:48:44.960 --> 00:48:50.420
That was the original genesis of the
lawsuit that I was pretty involved

00:48:50.420 --> 00:48:54.120
in getting it started, which
was all about flood protection

00:48:54.120 --> 00:48:59.450
and about the oil and gas
industries' role in coastal land loss

00:48:59.450 --> 00:49:02.516
and getting them to pay their share.

00:49:07.140 --> 00:49:09.820
The issue is really pretty simple.

00:49:09.820 --> 00:49:14.540
Levees and floodwalls are
the last line of defense

00:49:14.540 --> 00:49:19.380
to keep a hurricane storm
surge outside the city.

00:49:19.380 --> 00:49:27.030
The first line of defense is the
barrier islands, the marsh, and the land

00:49:27.030 --> 00:49:29.860
between the ocean and the levee system.

00:49:29.860 --> 00:49:34.401
All those things lessen the surge
which attacks the levees themselves.

00:49:37.350 --> 00:49:44.240
We continue to lose roughly a football
field worth of land every 45 to 50 minutes.

00:49:44.240 --> 00:49:47.210
And we've lost maybe
2,000 square miles by now.

00:49:49.860 --> 00:49:53.250
It's more than the state of Delaware.

00:49:53.250 --> 00:49:57.150
That's a huge chunk of land to
take away that used to buffer

00:49:57.150 --> 00:50:02.240
populated areas against storm surge.

00:50:02.240 --> 00:50:05.770
If you put Delaware between New
Orleans and the ocean, for example,

00:50:05.770 --> 00:50:09.850
New Orleans wouldn't need any levees.

00:50:09.850 --> 00:50:12.850
The State of Louisiana
looked at areas again where

00:50:12.850 --> 00:50:19.830
the land loss was greatest, and attributed
76% of the land loss to the oil industry.

00:50:19.830 --> 00:50:24.200
The fact is Exxon, Shell,
BP, Chevron, so forth,

00:50:24.200 --> 00:50:29.930
the oil industry's own study concluded
quote "the overwhelming cause", unquote,

00:50:29.930 --> 00:50:31.910
of the land loss was industry operations.

00:50:34.550 --> 00:50:37.480
And it's not just the fact
that they caused the damage.

00:50:37.480 --> 00:50:42.070
There were both permits issued by the
federal government, the Corps of Engineers

00:50:42.070 --> 00:50:47.430
and state laws which required
them, to quote the state law,

00:50:47.430 --> 00:50:50.283
"restore to the preexisting
condition", unquote.

00:50:53.910 --> 00:50:57.300
They're not responsible for all the damage.

00:50:57.300 --> 00:51:00.190
They are responsible for a lot of it.

00:51:00.190 --> 00:51:03.086
Fix the part of the problem they created.

00:51:11.760 --> 00:51:14.300
- In the last 45 minutes, the
governor issued a statement

00:51:14.300 --> 00:51:16.550
demanding the Southeast
Louisiana Flood Protection

00:51:16.550 --> 00:51:19.510
Authority cancel its contract
with the trial lawyers

00:51:19.510 --> 00:51:21.828
because the lawsuit oversteps
the board's authority.

00:51:24.220 --> 00:51:28.030
- It shocked no one that many in
the legislature and the governor

00:51:28.030 --> 00:51:35.650
himself were outraged that a levee board
was suing 97 oil and gas companies.

00:51:35.650 --> 00:51:40.585
These are the same companies that
provide all those jobs and campaign cash.

00:51:43.130 --> 00:51:49.940
For several months in 2014 the levee
boards lawsuit was the story in Louisiana,

00:51:49.940 --> 00:51:52.850
as the legislature worked
feverishly to derail

00:51:52.850 --> 00:51:55.430
the case before it reached the courts.

00:51:55.430 --> 00:52:00.910
- Also another amendment to
clarify that this bill affects

00:52:00.910 --> 00:52:03.610
all lawsuits that are out there.

00:52:03.610 --> 00:52:06.590
- So it's retroactive?

00:52:06.590 --> 00:52:07.130
- Yes, sir.

00:52:07.130 --> 00:52:08.140
It is retroactive.

00:52:08.140 --> 00:52:10.470
I never hid that before.

00:52:10.470 --> 00:52:16.840
And we put additional language
in here to clarify that.

00:52:16.840 --> 00:52:22.560
- Spurred by the industry, and led from
behind closed doors by Governor Jindal,

00:52:22.560 --> 00:52:27.630
in its spring session of 2014
the Louisiana legislature

00:52:27.630 --> 00:52:33.760
drafted 19 bills aimed at retroactively
disallowing the levee board

00:52:33.760 --> 00:52:36.016
to sue the industry for damages.

00:52:38.350 --> 00:52:40.610
- The levee boards have
taxing authority, correct?

00:52:40.610 --> 00:52:41.285
- True.

00:52:41.285 --> 00:52:42.910
- They have bonding authority, correct?

00:52:42.910 --> 00:52:43.570
- From my understanding.

00:52:43.570 --> 00:52:45.156
- And they have suing authority.

00:52:45.156 --> 00:52:45.942
- Yeah.

00:52:45.942 --> 00:52:48.150
- Then let it be thrown out
in the court then, right?

00:52:48.150 --> 00:52:50.774
- I mean that would be a response
to every piece of legislation

00:52:50.774 --> 00:52:52.610
filed, is "Why would we pass any law?

00:52:52.610 --> 00:52:53.650
Just let the judges..."

00:52:53.650 --> 00:52:54.970
This is a civilian state.

00:52:54.970 --> 00:52:57.620
Courts in Louisiana don't make law.

00:52:57.620 --> 00:52:58.604
They don't.

00:52:58.604 --> 00:53:01.520
That's what separates Louisiana from
the vast majority of the country,

00:53:01.520 --> 00:53:05.050
is the law is a solemn expression
of the legislative will.

00:53:05.050 --> 00:53:09.170
- If they're not liable,
go to court and prove it.

00:53:09.170 --> 00:53:11.280
There is no logic to their position.

00:53:11.280 --> 00:53:13.718
They do have a lot of political power.

00:53:13.718 --> 00:53:18.110
- (GROUP CHANTING) Exxon Mobil, BP,
Shell, take your oil and go to hell!

00:53:18.110 --> 00:53:22.530
- And I think people have
a gut reaction to the idea

00:53:22.530 --> 00:53:25.426
that anyone claims to be above the law.

00:53:29.080 --> 00:53:33.590
The industry wants a law
passed to protect them

00:53:33.590 --> 00:53:38.101
from a lawsuit, when all the lawsuit
asks is that they obey the law.

00:53:40.310 --> 00:53:47.200
You know, there's a basic American
value system here that's under attack.

00:53:47.200 --> 00:53:53.500
Nobody's above the law, not even
the oil industry in Louisiana.

00:53:53.500 --> 00:53:59.270
The other point is, all this protects
the industries own infrastructure.

00:53:59.270 --> 00:54:02.990
It's their pipelines,
it's their refineries that

00:54:02.990 --> 00:54:06.840
are at risk from hurricane storm surge.

00:54:06.840 --> 00:54:09.870
Tens of billions of dollars
of infrastructure --

00:54:09.870 --> 00:54:12.960
the industry wants this protected.

00:54:12.960 --> 00:54:15.925
They just want the taxpayers to pay for it.

00:54:19.730 --> 00:54:27.070
- When Barry's term was up, the
governor did not reappoint him.

00:54:27.070 --> 00:54:30.550
- Finally tonight, nearly
100 big oil and gas companies

00:54:30.550 --> 00:54:35.080
will not pay for decades worth
of damage to the Louisiana coast.

00:54:35.080 --> 00:54:39.980
On Friday, a federal judge dismissed
a controversial lawsuit filed in 2013.

00:54:39.980 --> 00:54:43.080
- Federal Judge Nanette Brown
worked as a corporate defense

00:54:43.080 --> 00:54:47.730
lawyer for decades for the same oil
industry that she gave the pass to.

00:54:47.730 --> 00:54:50.590
She was a hands-on oil
and chemical lawyer who

00:54:50.590 --> 00:54:55.087
represented industry polluters in some of
the ugliest environmental cases in America.

00:54:57.710 --> 00:55:03.070
- One could argue that our weakest cultural
reality is democracy and leadership.

00:55:03.070 --> 00:55:06.280
And too often, the apparently
objective world of science

00:55:06.280 --> 00:55:10.838
is subject to greed and
political malfeasance.

00:55:13.650 --> 00:55:15.740
I think it's very much in
the public consciousness

00:55:15.740 --> 00:55:17.540
that the state is disappearing.

00:55:17.540 --> 00:55:20.910
But I don't think there is
enough in the consciousness

00:55:20.910 --> 00:55:25.920
to resolve to do something about it
in the incredible thorn and brier

00:55:25.920 --> 00:55:31.425
patch of our politics, and the
conflicts of public and private.

00:55:31.425 --> 00:55:35.850
- The industry used to really
dominate politics in the state.

00:55:35.850 --> 00:55:41.375
And it's still the single most
powerful voice in Louisiana politics.

00:55:41.375 --> 00:55:43.602
But there are other voices now.

00:55:55.280 --> 00:56:00.460
- I think when I grew up, the real tragedy
is I think I took this culture for granted

00:56:00.460 --> 00:56:02.750
-- that it would always be there.

00:56:02.750 --> 00:56:07.410
But I was a kid having fun and
listening to music and drinking beer

00:56:07.410 --> 00:56:12.250
and doing all the things that
teenagers or young people

00:56:12.250 --> 00:56:16.610
did in the late '50s, early mid '60s.

00:56:16.610 --> 00:56:22.410
I mean, it was a blessed time
to be in Louisiana in some ways.

00:56:22.410 --> 00:56:28.430
We have a ancient and complicated and
necessary relationship with water.

00:56:28.430 --> 00:56:30.272
And we're also very, very fragile.

00:56:33.440 --> 00:56:39.310
We're under a massive assault, our
culture is, because we're losing sediment,

00:56:39.310 --> 00:56:41.820
the sea level is rising, and we're sinking.

00:56:41.820 --> 00:56:42.795
It's simple.

00:56:42.795 --> 00:56:44.420
We're getting hit with a trifecta here.

00:56:48.700 --> 00:56:50.680
The Dutch almost lost their country in 1953.

00:56:55.440 --> 00:56:57.577
They spent three or four
times their GDP, saying

00:56:57.577 --> 00:56:59.160
"We're not going to lose our country."

00:56:59.160 --> 00:57:00.220
Guess what?

00:57:00.220 --> 00:57:05.860
They have made a fortune exporting
technology on how to live with water.

00:57:05.860 --> 00:57:09.781
And so we need to do the same thing.

00:57:12.482 --> 00:57:13.940
You're going to have upfront costs.

00:57:13.940 --> 00:57:17.050
But you're going to do
unbelievable on the back end

00:57:17.050 --> 00:57:20.050
because we actually have a
chance to make something.

00:57:20.050 --> 00:57:23.390
We have a chance to make something
the world desperately needs.

00:57:23.390 --> 00:57:26.720
We have a chance to
develop a technology that's

00:57:26.720 --> 00:57:28.945
more valuable than anything
you can imagine, that

00:57:28.945 --> 00:57:31.070
affects hundreds of millions of people.

00:57:31.070 --> 00:57:37.020
And that is the relationship
between human beings and water

00:57:37.020 --> 00:57:41.320
at a time when it's never been more
complicated, more difficult, or more

00:57:41.320 --> 00:57:41.820
challenging.

00:57:44.320 --> 00:57:48.080
It's a massive engineering problem,
and it's one that we can solve.

00:57:48.080 --> 00:57:52.800
And we solve it, we've literally
got a chance to change the world,

00:57:52.800 --> 00:57:55.850
not just change south Louisiana.

00:57:55.850 --> 00:57:58.340
- I consider myself a cautious optimist.

00:57:58.340 --> 00:58:02.980
I think we all have to have
hope in everything in life.

00:58:02.980 --> 00:58:06.650
We need to work on saving the
coast, rebuilding the coast,

00:58:06.650 --> 00:58:10.360
and inhabiting the coast we have better.

00:58:10.360 --> 00:58:14.050
- I think there's always a
struggle to be hopeful in the face

00:58:14.050 --> 00:58:17.050
of these sorts of things.

00:58:17.050 --> 00:58:21.790
You can't be so broad to alienate
an entire sector of the economy.

00:58:21.790 --> 00:58:27.720
But it's like, what other industry do
people accept catastrophic tragedies

00:58:27.720 --> 00:58:29.310
as the cost of doing business?

00:58:29.310 --> 00:58:34.910
They take it as a trade-off that we
have to bear, which I think is a lie.

00:58:34.910 --> 00:58:38.680
It's a myth that's perpetuated by people
who gain from not having to spend the money

00:58:38.680 --> 00:58:40.410
to address these problems.

00:58:40.410 --> 00:58:44.360
And the cost of doing business is losing
our coasts, and polluting the air,

00:58:44.360 --> 00:58:46.004
and contaminating the water.

00:58:46.004 --> 00:58:47.420
We can't afford to be in business.

00:58:49.300 --> 00:58:52.830
- I think we just need some innovation and
we need some courage from our leadership,

00:58:52.830 --> 00:58:56.310
so that folks don't have to wrestle with
working for the oil and gas industry

00:58:56.310 --> 00:58:57.425
or saving the land.

00:58:58.880 --> 00:59:00.960
- If you help the people
just a little, then they

00:59:00.960 --> 00:59:03.613
can make decisions for
their own communities.

00:59:05.930 --> 00:59:09.580
- The opportunities of
this are breathtaking.

00:59:09.580 --> 00:59:15.070
We have the most unique culture, the
most unique place that you can imagine.

00:59:15.070 --> 00:59:18.790
But we're in danger of losing all of this.

00:59:18.790 --> 00:59:23.190
And so in return for all of the
things that we have, we owe something.

00:59:23.190 --> 00:59:26.260
There's an obligation here.

00:59:26.260 --> 00:59:32.380
One of the things I love about the
Louisiana Civil Code is, everywhere else

00:59:32.380 --> 00:59:35.500
calls "contracts."

00:59:35.500 --> 00:59:38.110
In Louisiana, we call them "obligations."

00:59:38.110 --> 00:59:39.842
I think I like that word.

00:59:39.842 --> 00:59:40.550
It's a good word.

00:59:40.550 --> 00:59:41.500
We have obligations.

00:59:41.500 --> 00:59:44.850
(GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING)