Faith group defeats oil companies’ effort to dodge accountability
As oil gushing from the Gulf of Mexico sea bed drifts toward the shores of Louisiana, communities are scrambling not only to prepare for cleanup of the massive spill, but also to ensure that people who will bear the brunt of the devastation have the resources to hold BP and other oil and gas companies accountable for their apparent negligence.
Toward this end, the Micah Project — a grassroots faith coalition in New Orleans affiliated with the PICO Network – made their presence felt at a Louisiana state legislature hearing last week about SB 549 — a bill that would have limited legal assistance for poor communities who will likely face the disaster’s effects. From Micah Project’s action alert email today:
While the BP oil spill continues to wreak both environmental and human disaster all along the Gulf coast, oil and gas companies in the region – including BP – were quietly trying to pass a bill through the Louisiana state legislature that would have limited legal assistance for poor residents who are the victims of precisely the sort of environmental disaster currently facing the region.
At the Senate hearing on the legislation, over 65 members of Mary Queen of Viet Nam and others from New Orleans East presented Senator Ann Duplessis – the Senate Commerce Committee Chair – a letter expressing the community’s strong opposition to the legislation, SB549.
After more than two hours of presentations and discussions, the committee unanimously passed a motion to defer the legislation.
This victory will allow organizations like the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic (TELC) to continue helping residents protect themselves from environmental assaults from corporations. While we celebrate this win, New Orleans residents continue to suffer from health hazards and increased toxic exposures from landfills, illegal dumpsites and the recent BP oil drilling disaster.
Faith-based community organizing groups across the country like the Micah Project take on crucial state and local issues like this all the time, empowering people to improve their communities and deflating rhetoric that would divide us into “secular socialist” and conservative Christian camps. Their leadership might not make headlines, but it’s part of the backbone of the faith community’s work for justice and the common good.