海角大神

Facing a manmade catastrophe that could rival the cost of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of Louisiana residents are asking what they can do help stem an imminent tide of oil washing toward the state鈥檚 fragile wetlands.

Local radio stations and a state government web site are offering toll-free numbers for potential volunteers to call. At the Audubon Institute鈥檚 Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rescue Program in New Orleans, workers have been fielding dozens of calls from people who want to help save sea creatures.

But the front line of community involvement was at the Boothville-Venice School outside Venice, Louisiana. Over three hundred people packed the school鈥檚 gymnasium for a public meeting called by Parish President Billy Nungesser. Hundreds of fishermen signed up for a five hour safety class on handling hazardous materials, so they can offer their services deploying oil booms in the Gulf.

IN PICTURES: Louisiana oil spill

鈥淲e鈥檝e been having people who want to help calling my office for days,鈥� said Mr. Nungesser. 鈥淭hey want to help and don鈥檛 even ask about getting paid. They鈥檝e got their boats, they know the depths of the water. We want to include all the people we can to help.鈥�

David Kinnard, a community coordinator in Venice for BP, encouraged fishermen to register with the company鈥檚 Vessel of Opportunity program, which will pay local watermen to ferry trained workers who are deploying the booms. According to a BP spokesperson, the company has placed 250,000 feet of boom and has another quarter of a million feet awaiting deployments. Two thousand BP employees are working from Venice to contain the spill.

Mr. Kinnard said BP will also use local businesses as their first sources for supplies and services in their containment and cleanup efforts, an effort to help support a local economy that could otherwise be devastate by the spill.

鈥淲e鈥檙e here to help, we鈥檙e here to do what we can to make it right,鈥� said Kinnard. 鈥淥ur intention is to stage a response using this community and use local resources as much as possible.鈥� Kinnard could not say Thursday afternoon, however, how much local fishermen would be paid for their work or when they might be hired.

After the public meeting, the school gymnasium remained filled as local workers watched a two-hour video presentation by a local community college which counts towards their hazardous materials handling certification.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 fish right now because of the oil slick,鈥� said fishermen Sang Vo, 37, of Buras, La. 鈥淲e have to pay our bills but we can鈥檛 do nothing. Shrimp, fish, crabs, when the oil come in it will all be dead.鈥�

Ronald Billiot, a commercial fisherman who drove three hours from Houma, La., to attend the meeting, said the spill was already costing him $8,000 a day.

鈥淭his is what I do for a living and it鈥檚 all I do,鈥� said Billiot. 鈥淪ome boats work six months a year, I work year round. I鈥檓 ready to do whatever needs to be done to help out with this.鈥�

The oil company鈥檚 presentation did little to relieve the frustration of some local residents whose lives could be upended by the spill.

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 have a plan for this,鈥� said boat captain Richard Blank. 鈥淭he oil company didn鈥檛 have a plan, the state didn鈥檛 have a plan, the federal government didn鈥檛 have a plan. Now they鈥檙e not letting anyone help until they鈥檙e certified, and by the time we might get out there it鈥檚 going to be too late.鈥�

Efforts to block the oncoming oily tide have been hampered over the past day by 30 mile-per-hour winds that have pulled booms from their anchors and sent waves crashing over their tops. Most boats working out of Venice remained in port today because of the heavy seas.

鈥淚t looks like we鈥檙e not going to stop all the oil before it gets to the beaches, so we鈥檙e setting up a second line of defense on our inland water and marshes,鈥� said Parish President Nungesser. 鈥淚f it works itself twenty miles into the wetlands that would be the worst case scenario. We have to catch it before that to prevent that.鈥�

IN PICTURES: Louisiana oil spill

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