“They have activated freaking ski boats while my husband, who has been in the charter business for two decades, sits idle,” cries a Pensacola woman.
“We have these weekend warriors taking away jobs from those who fish for a living. Every day I see the boat trailers fill the parking lot as the pleasure boats get their assignments for the day while the commercial fleet sits idle. This is like stealing. These jokers are taking money away from those who are trying to feed their families,” complains a Biloxi charter boat captain.
An investigation by Rick Outzen, publisher/editor of Independent News in Pensacola writing for The Daily Beast, finds that in some areas along the Gulf Coast owners of pleasure boats — wealthy, professional boat and yacht owners who use their vessels for occasional weekend fishing excursions with family and friends — are getting a majority of contracts for British Petroleum’s Vessels of Opportunity program while the vessels of commercial charter operators and fishermen sit idle. The program contracts private boats to help in the clean-up, transporting supplies and other assignments connected to the Gulf oil spill.
BP has inked roughly 1,900 Vessels of Opportunity contracts ranging from $1,200 to $3,000 per day. But Outzen’s probe finds that in some counties in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, a majority of those deals are with the so-called “weekend warriors.” However, the report finds that a consensus among the commercial boat operators is that the disparity is the result of incompetence on BP’s part and not a conspiracy to blackball the charter captains and fishermen. A BP spokesman tells Outzen the company is aware of the problem and taking steps to remedy it.
The report comes amid complaints from fishermen hired along the Gulf Coast by BP to clean up the oil polluting the coast that they haven’t been paid since they signed contracts with the oil giant, many of them going on a month.
... written by Northsidian Shotgun , June 03, 2010 - 06:45 pm
These Brits BP, have an obnoxious manner of doing business and they take care of their business like the Bush and Cheney clans, always keeping it within the party framework......
... written by HARDHAT , June 04, 2010 - 12:53 am
This is a prime example of the way BP handles business, and " this article has been put to the curb too damn soon" just when you indy guys can make a difference, you waylaid this article , hell we already have the Daily Rags Weekly, whitewashing the goons undesirable articles.............
... written by Morrow , June 04, 2010 - 10:14 am
You said the two names who could have done the most to make sure the country was protected from an event this size. And why anyone would be surprised by the hiring practices is hard for me to understand. I have witnessed such all my life. One payola after another, and I'm not talking politcs this time. I've never seen or heard of any oilfield work being done without some kind of pay off, even down to coffee, boudin, buscuits, donuts etc. on "crew change day"....
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MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
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