Luckett Speaks Out on Oil Spill… Oil Rigs, Economy and Leadership
LUCKETT SPEAKS OUT ON OIL SPILL
Oil Rigs, Economy and Leadership
(CLARKSDALE, MS) — A year ago today the Deepwater Horizon oil spill began with an explosion taking the lives of eleven workers, including four fellow Mississippians. In the following three months 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf in the worst environmental disaster in the history of the United States, about twenty times larger than the Exxon Valdez.
Bill Luckett, businessman, attorney and Democratic candidate for Governor, today releases the following series of statements…
Oil Rig Workers and Industry: “First and foremost we have to keep in mind the workers. Much of the Gulf Coast makes a living off the oil rigs. We have to make sure these fellow citizens are safe. We can’t have someone in an office somewhere trying to cut corners at the expense of those on the rigs. Four of the eleven workers killed were from Mississippi including Neshoba and Franklin counties as well as State Line, MS.”
Gulf Coast Economy: “All along our great Coast there are people who lost work and watched their communities hurt and struggle. From questions about contamination in our seafood to the slowdown in tourism revenues there has been and will continue to be widespread human costs. We have to keep testing to track and respond to any health effects. Casino and other tourism revenues were down last year as compared to 2009. NOAA has repeatedly tested Gulf seafood and found it free of contaminants. But is this information being intentionally delivered to the American people? Where is that story in the news? I know people who are scared to go fishing when they shouldn’t be. Our seafood is as good as it’s ever been. The Governor or, if he is busy, the Lieutenant Governor should be on the coast with a plate of fresh caught Gulf shrimp and fish telling the world that our seafood is great. Silence is the worst response; leadership has been lacking.”
Luckett Considers responding differently, as a public servant, to the oil spill: “There is the appearance that some politicians did not want to take the oil spill too seriously; to sweep it under the rug. When Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant responded to Coast residents’ fears of the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history saying ‘You really don’t know what you’re talking about. That is just a lawn mower’ you begin to wonder if he really wanted to get to the bottom of this mess and make sure tourism and seafood industries and its beautiful environment completely recovered. It was more like Phil wanted to score a quick political photo op and move on to something else. That’s a shame. We have years of serious, dedicated leadership ahead of us to completely get past this oil spill and make sure it never happens again.”
Specifically, Luckett said that if elected he would:
*Ensure that sufficient oil spill money was set aside to continue testing of seafood until contaminant levels return to baseline levels.
*Work with the university system and their experts to set up a program to monitor the long term health consequences of the spill.
*Support the Attorney General’s efforts to ensure that time delays are not being used as a negotiating tactic to force claimants to take smaller settlements with BP.
*Work with the state’s Congressional delegation to push for federal legislation to set aside some of the record fine to be assessed to BP for the spill to finance a full recovery of the Gulf Coast instead of applying it to other EPA activities.
*Develop and pursue an aggressive strategy to promote Mississippi’s tourism and seafood industries to the U.S. and the world.
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Luckett Information on the Web:
Luckett for Governor Website: www.luckettforgovernor.com
Follow Bill on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BillLuckett
Join the Luckett Campaign on Facebook: www.facebook.com/LuckettForGovernor
Updated Luckett Photo Galleries at Flickr: www.flickr.com/luckett4governor
Messages from Bill and Event Footage on YouTube: www.youtube.com/luckett4governor
Magnolia Tribune
