Green Labor Journal - Working for a Substainable Future

Gulf Oil Spill: Thousands Have Lost Jobs

Thirty days later and where are we?  Watch our video on "Unheard Voices from the Gulf Coast."

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May 20, 2010 - One month ago today, the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, tragically killing 11 men working on the BP oil rig and choking the Gulf with millions of gallons of oil - oil that is still pouring into the waters right now. Thirty days later and we are no closer to knowing exactly how much oil is pouring into the ocean, how quickly they can end this spill, or how extensive - or long-lasting - the damage will be.

We don't have answers, but we do have empty assurances from BP that the impact will be very modest.

Really? It's already done heartbreaking damage to both our environment and the American worker, with no end in sight. In the regional fishing communities alone, the spill's decimation of sea life has left thousands of fisher folk scrambling to make ends meet and wondering about their future.

BP has a lot to make up for. Just this year, it shut down its solar manufacturing plant in Maryland, costing 320 people their jobs. Now, with the oil spill, BP has shut down not just a factory but entire industries and thousands of jobs. It's time for BP to build up the economy instead of tearing it down. It's time for BP to invest in new, safe jobs in the Gulf Coast, to replace the jobs they destroyed.

It's time for our government to step up in the face of this catastrophe and point the way to recovery.

·    President Obama must take responsibility for holding BP accountable and restoring the environment and communities impacted, by pledging federal oversight of BP's clean-up and containment efforts
 
·    BP must take responsibility for restoring the economy by making a $1 billion long-term clean energy investment in the region, an investment of just 15% of their profits last quarter and an investment in the American worker

Please tell President Obama and BP that thirty days is too long and the progress made is too little. Tell President Obama and BP to take seriously the American lives and land that are lost, to take the action needed to cleanup this latest dirty energy mess and start the shift to a clean-energy future that America needs and deserves. Sign our petition now.

Thank you for believing in a better future for America,

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
CEO, Green For All

P.S.  Learn more about the gulf oil spill.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is the Chief Executive Officer of Green For All, a national organization dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through a clean-energy economy. Green For All works in collaboration with the business, government, labor, and grassroots communities to create and implement programs that increase quality jobs and opportunities in green industry – all while holding the most vulnerable people at the center of its agenda.  (http://www.greenforall.org)