siana was number one."
Louisiana alone, Jarvis said, estimates losses could exceed $295 million by 2013, according to the state's Department of Tourism.
"That is a huge number," Jarvis remarked. "Alabama has seen its beach traffic go down 41 percent. Mississippi has seen traffic go down, and in particular Mississippi, for example, they rely on revenue from the gambling industry, and they've lost more than $100 million, they expect from all of this."
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that BP would try to put such an absurdly positive spin on the beach report. After all, this is the same company that made some of the more memorable corporate PR blunders in history. At the forefront are former CEO Tony Hayward's mind-boggling comments about environmental impacts being "very very modest" and his ponderings about getting "my life back." See NRDC's excellent slideshow presentation Yours Truly, BP.
But BP's beach tweet is at odds with what some local residents say they see almost daily. The beaches near Grand Isle, Louisiana are still impacted by tar balls and globs of oil that are buried on the bottom offshore. It's unclear when the beach ever will get back to normal, as I discovered last spring.
Along the coastline of Mississippi, residents walking the beaches near Gulfport still spot dead dolphins and sea turtles washing up on the beach, something they say was highly unusual before the BP oil well blow out.
Gulfport resident Laurel Lockamy has photographed lots of dead sea life strewn across the beaches in recent months. Recently she discovered a foul smelling patch of ocean water linked to wastewater discharge near Gulfport beach. She also found out the Mississippi DEQ still has an oil impact statement on its website that advises people not swim in the area 24 hours after a significant rainfall event, something Laurel and many others were unaware of. Locals say there are no signs posted directly on beaches where swimmers would be informed about those health threats.
Swimmers aren't the only ones still at risk. Gulf fishermen say the taint of BP's blowout continues to impact everything they do. They report shrimp catches in some areas are as bad as they've ever seen, while seafood market prices have hit rock bottom. No one wants to buy their seafood after the disaster last year, they complain. Many fishermen also say they have not been compensated by BP for their losses, despite promises made by BP claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg.
Recently, fishermen rallied at the Louisiana's capitol steps to protest the low market prices and lack of compensation by BP. On top of these complaints, shrimpers also are blamed by some environmentalists and NOAA fisheries experts as the main cause of record sea turtle deaths over the past year. That's something shrimpers vehemently deny and say the turtle deaths instead are related to the BP oil disaster.
Many fishermen have no idea how they will make it through the year if conditions stay the same. It can cost them more in gas and expenses than what they make for their catch. "They just like to kick us when we're down," said one Louisiana fisherman. "That's something we're used to. We don't have any choice but to just keep trying to make a living like we've always done."
But it will be years until they really know if their fishery has survived the gusher of oil unleashed by BP and its drilling partners. The beaches may appear clean to some, but what's going on underneath the water is a different story. Scientists continue to investigate the true damage caused by this disaster, a process that won't end soon. Meanwhile, drilling in the Gulf continues to expand while experts warn Congress has yet to pass oil drilling safety legislation recommended by the presidential oil spill commission earlier this year.
But opposition to new legislation by oil companies and their political allies is powerful. Well-funded oil industry PR campaigns will continue to try to deflect attention away from negative realities on the ground and at sea. As the tweet about NRDC's beach report shows, BP will contin