Bitter fish in crude oil sea

Quotables from this week in BP

Melancon

Former Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, was asked recently why Congress had refused to give the White House BP oil spill commission the subpoena power it wanted.

He said it "probably has everything to do with some not wanting the truth or maybe fear criminality might be found. ... But that is speculation on my part. Why wouldn't the Congress not want the truth? There was no holding back when the Congress was investigating a loose blue dress years ago. And that dress didn't damage the Gulf, the environment, the coastal wetlands, people's lives and livelihoods. But they wanted the truth, and that usually required a subpoena."

Bob Marshall Writes about fishing lodge owner Ryan Lambert's experiences.

"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, whose Cajun Fishing Adventures Lodge is one of the state's largest.

"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.

And also

"The only out-of-state bookings I'm getting are old customers who just want to show their support."

That new business has dried up, even after Lambert's Cajun Fishing Adventures was named one of the top five fishing lodges in the nation by Sportsfishing magazine.

Even the thrill of that honor was tarnished by BP, he said.

"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?"