One of the biggest reasons that Katrina devastated New Orleans so completely is that the wetlands that have served as a storm buffer from the Gulf of Mexico in the past are mostly gone. To a great extent, the oil industry destroyed them to facilitate extraction and transport. The voters of Louisiana have made it crystal clear that they want the companies that did the damage to repair it. But thanks to Bobby Jindal and the Republican Party, the voters have been drilled, baby, drilled!
The oil and gas industry won a significant victory Friday in the Louisiana Legislature, receiving final passage of a bill that seeks to kill a lawsuit filed by a New Orleans area levee board against nearly 100 oil and gas companies.
The lawsuit by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East alleges the companies’ drilling activities damaged Louisiana’s coast and vulnerable wetlands.
Senators voted 25-11 for the measure by Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, that is aimed at retroactively voiding the lawsuit.
The vote sent Allain’s bill to Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is expected to sign it into law. The Republican governor opposed the lawsuit and pushed for the measure’s passage…
Inserted from <NOLA.com>
Effectively, no local government entities in LA will have the right to sue corporations without going through the Republican-controlled state government and any ongoing lawsuits pending, like this one, are now moot.
Rachel Maddow explained this issue in much greater detail.
This is how corporate criminals externalize costs. They make everyone pay part of their production costs, like the 2,000 people that died, and either the people that pay to repair the wetlands or the people who will lose life, limb and property, if the wetlands are not repaired. When Republicans own the government, so does Big Oil.
With Republicans in charge, what the voters want does not matter, and Big Oil will continue to pocket obscene profits, because the rest of us are paying the cost of the destruction they leave in their greedy wake and even subsidizing them with our tax dollars.
8 Responses to “LA Voters Drilled, Baby, Drilled!”
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"With Republicans in charge, what the voters want does not matter, and Big Oil will continue to pocket obscene profits, because the rest of us are paying the cost of the destruction they leave in their greedy wake and even subsidizing them with our tax dollars."
And in the next election which is all of 5 months away, how many citizens will remember how they were screwed, glued and tatooed by their Republicanus/Teabagger state government? My guess is that they will forget and continue to vote in these political criminals. They`ll become members of the League of Zombie Voters . . . no thinking, just go on auto pilot like before!
The sad thing is that the good citizens of Louisiana are still paying the price for this catastrophe. Oil Companies pay their pittance in fines. Pass the cost on to consumers and it's business as usual with more destruction to the environment.
And so it goes…the rich get richer and the poor starve to death.
There are so many things to say about this. I recently watched part one of a continuing series by VICE on the current situation in the Gulf. What has the Corexit has done, hide the oil and kill the life. The massive and concealed damaged from the over drilling of the area. President Clinton actually tried get Congress to finance the rebuilding of the Wetlands, foolish attempt. He had been given (excuse the word) scientific evidence that showed that if the Wetlands were salvaged, that is cleaned up and grasses natural to the area replanted, it would help break up incoming winds from future hurricanes. I don't know what damage Katrina might have done anyway, but the flooding would have been far less. That is not just my opinion.
To prevent people from a civil action sets a dangerous precedent for all of us. Silly, useless or vengeful lawsuits can be tossed out by judge. Those who have a right to attempt to punish the reckless pursuit of profit at the cost of human life, that should not be infringed in any way.
Republicans are not the only ones responsible for a republican majority, the democrats that stay home are equally responsible.
Thanks TC.
**Corexit: An Oil Spill Solution Worse Than the Problem?
http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/04/17/corexit-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill
I can understand (just don't ask me what I think of it) how the State can legislate away a lawsuit filed by a governmental agency. But could they do that to a class action civil suit? Not a government agency, but a group of citizens? I smell a project for Earthjustice and/or the ACLU. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.
Miss Texas Kitty: "Republicans are not the only ones responsible for a republican majority, the democrats that stay home are equally responsible." – brilliant.
They could not.
Greedy Oil Companies: Jindal will do whatever the oil and gas industry tells him to do. Also, the Koch bros, and any other right winger with money. He is a poor excuse for a governor. The people of La deserve better than him. The Missisisippi Gulf Coast is as poorly treated by their government. The media lost sight of the destruction done there by Katrina. They are still recovering. The wetlands were there for a purpose, but have been destroyed by oil and gas in these two states. They were destroyed by real estate developers in NC,Sc, and Fl.
Thanks all. Exhausted.
Sad indeed and perhaps why so many people like myself become cynical…