BP has apparently shifted from public relations mode to send-in-the-lawyers mode over its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Remember all those commercials where friendly, concerned BP employees were telling you that they were going to make sure everything got fixed because they lived there, too?
Well, forget it.
BP is reneging on its promise reneging on its promise to rebuild oyster beds, repair wetlands and build a new fish hatchery in Louisiana.
BP to Louisiana: Up yours.
"BP has clearly changed their approach," Barham said. "All we've asked is for them to do what they said they would do in their commercials, be here for the long haul and make it right."
That would be Robert Barham, Department of Wildlife & Fisheries director for Louisiana, who says the state will have to find the money somewhere else and then send BP a bill.
Good luck with that.
Back in November Gov. Bobby Jindal held a press conference with BP Chairman Lamar McKay to announce that BP would pay $218 million for for seafood marketing, tourism promotion, barrier island restoration and build a new fish hatchery.
So why is BP reneging on at least some of that? Well, because it costs money, of course.
But that's not the official reason. The officials reason is that the oil didn't kill the oysters
That's technically true, but disingenuous.
The state contends that its decision to open many freshwater diversions along the Mississippi River to full blast at the height of the oil spill kept oil from entering the oyster beds, though the fresh water killed the oysters, requiring the beds to be restocked with cultch, oyster shell deposited beneath the water on which oyster larvae grow.
So, the state had to flood the oyster beds with freshwater to keep them from being contaminated with BP's oil. The freshwater killed the oyster beds but now BP says it's not their fault because it wasn't the oil that killed the oysters.
It'll take some real slick lawyers to get a jury to buy that one.
So, what does the state do now?
Graves will be looking for money in other state coastal restoration programs to pay for planting wetland grasses and other repairs to stabilize banks of canals and streams damaged by oil from the spill.
"We're looking for any emergency funds the state has," Graves said. "We're currently flipping couches over to figure out what change is there.
Maybe after they check under all the sofa cushions in Louisiana they could have a bake sale.