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The owner of a large fishing lodge in Louisiana - and long a staunch supporter of the oil and gas industry - has changed his opinion of BP. He now calls them liars...
Ryan Lambert, the owner of Cajun Adventures Fishing Lodge, says that the fishing industry and oil producers have always gotten along fairly well, but he has changed his mind as of late.
"The fishing industry has always lived side-by-side with the oil industry down here in Plaquemines Parish, and they've always told us that if anything happened, they would take care of the problem -- they would repair the damages and they would make us whole -- and I believed them," said Lambert.
"Well, they lied. About everything. They didn't take care of the problem, and they're not taking care of us. Guys in my business weren't made whole. A lot of them are starving. And now that the national media is gone, BP couldn't care less.
"I'm sick of it, and I'm telling the whole country about it -- on national TV, in magazines and in front of Congress."
Lambert says he estimates he lost 94 percent of his business last summer and fall, costing him $1.1 million in revenue. But worse, his employees are struggling.
He expected the 22 families that depend on his business for their livelihoods -- a lodge staff of eight, plus 14 guides -- to take a financial wallop, and they did. Only five of the guides were hired in the cleanup effort. The rest were "calling me daily hoping for work -- which I still don't have for them," he said.
He expected the economic hangover to carry into 2011, and it has; his bookings for May and June are down 55 percent from a normal year, and he has nothing beyond that.
This supporter of the oil industry and a skeptic when it comes to environmental groups has done a complete 180, and volunteers for national green groups, among them the National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Ducks Unlimited, The Green Group and the Izaak Walton league.
"Originally, I was using (the spill) as an opportunity to tell them about the real problem we have here: coastal erosion," said Lambert, who has been involved in that cause for years.
"But the bad experiences we've had with all the lies and broken promises in this disaster have really opened my eyes. And I want everyone in the country to know about it ... know you can't trust what (the oil industry) promises you."
Lambert said the bad experiences didn't start immediately, receiving a $5000 check early in the disaster. But after paying his accountant and documenting the loss of $1.1 million in gross revenue, he says he got a $200,000 check from BP.
"In order to apply for payment, you had to keep your business open so you could help mitigate the final cost, so that meant I had to keep staff and pay operating expenses through the end of the year," Lambert said. "But after all that, I'm still out $904,000 in lost income."
After being told to re-apply, Lambert said that was pointless; he was going to sue.
"Well, I'm tired of re-applying, because it never does any good," he said. "I'm tired of paying my CPA. Now I'm paying a lawyer."
Lambert says his real anger is about what has happened to the 600-plus charter and fishing-boat operators in the state, who took the $25,000 "quick payment" from Kenneth Feinberg, because they had no choice.
"The only ones who took that were guys who had no other choice because of their situation," he said. "They had house notes or boat notes or medical expenses and no business coming in. Well, now that money is gone, and they still don't have any business -- and they're just screwed.
"I don't know of any of the guys who have been made whole like they promised."
"They're independent contractors who work by themselves," he said. "Everyone talks about the ones who made a killing in the cleanup, but not all of them got those jobs. Only five of my 14 guides were hired."
Lambert is also furious that BP has exploited the fact that his lodge was named as on of the top five in the US in a national fishing magazine as proof that "the Gulf is coming back".
"BP had the audacity to put that on their website, like it was a positive thing showing the Gulf Coast was coming back -- thanks to all their efforts," Lambert said. "That just made me crazy.
"What we people should know is that all the millions they spent on those TV and newspaper ads about making things right is a lie.
"And what people in this state should ask themselves is: If a giant like BP isn't making us whole, what do they think is going to happen when the smaller fish in that business have an accident?"
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