WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the second time since the BP oil spill disaster on the Gulf Coast, first lady Michelle Obama has plans to visit the region again this week. Mrs. Obama made her first trip to Pensacola, Fla., earlier this month and met with tourism officials, community leaders and local businesses. This week, the first lady plans to meet with personnel from the Coast Guard in Mississippi who have been responding to the massive oil spill.
Reportedly, Mrs. Obama will also christen a Coast Guard cutter named in honor of Dorothy C. Stratton, the Coast Guard’s first female commissioned officer.
President Barack Obama has visited the Coast three times, with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour refusing twice, to meet with him.
On May 28, rather than meet with the president, Barbour instead chose to attend a business groundbreaking ceremony in Mississippi, and on June 4, Barbour again skipped another in-person meeting with the president, in Louisiana, to discuss the oil spill.
For that meeting, Barbour’s spokesman said he was in New York meeting with bond rating agencies, while the governors of Louisiana, Alabama and Florida all met with Obama about the crisis.
White House officials said the past few months have been especially challenging for families and businesses in the Gulf Coast region and they agree that the BP oil spill is the worst environmental disaster the nation has ever seen.
The evidence of this disaster, they said, is not only in the oil washing up on some of the shore lines, but in the businesses and communities that are suffering.
The Obama Administration has vowed that they will not rest until the “oil well is capped, the oil is cleaned up, the natural beauty of the region restored,” and the people on the Coast “affected by this tragedy are made whole.”
Last week, BP successfully lowered a new containment cap onto the leaking well that has been gushing for about 84 days.
The oil spills stems from an April 20 fire onboard a Transocean Ltd. drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, licensed by BP. The incident began about 10 p.m., and the rig was located approximately 41 miles offshore Louisiana on Mississippi Canyon block 252.
The initial explosion on the rig reportedly killed 11 platform workers and injured 17 others.
Since the cap began leaking, BP officials claim they have paid out $201 million in losses to both residents and businesses along the Gulf Coast.
More than 32,000 claimants have received one or more payments in the past 10 weeks, BP said.
The largest groups to receive payments include fishermen, who have received $32 million, and shrimpers, who have received $18 million. In addition, about $77 million has been paid for loss of income to a variety of occupations including deckhands and employees of seafood processing plants and other businesses.
In all, BP said 114,000 claims have been submitted, but more than 61,000 claims lack enough information for BP to make a payment, or claimants have been unreachable after filing.
BP said they will continue to reach out to the thousands of people who have filed claims and suffered because of Gulf of Mexico related oil and gas spill.
Mrs. Obama continues to encourage consumers to show their support to the Coast by shopping and visiting the local areas.
Be the first to comment