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| Oil & Water don't mix; BP Deepwater Horizon rig explosion response team |
The Players
Last year, The Delasol Group established a working relationship with Fiduciary Management Group (FMG) to facilitate monetary distribution for Loss of Subsistence Use of Natural Resources; verbiage meaning that due to the oil pollution, there are people who can no longer eat food from the water, use the water in any functional capacity or go back to work if their vocation dealt with the water. This is a claim that affects households and small businesspeople in the region.
And that $20 billion to rebuild the Gulf Coast economy? As of Monday the following statistics (1) are predictably true:
The Numbers
- 29.45% of the Fund has been paid out since inception in August 2010.
- 61% of all compensation has gone to businesses.
- There's a 64% chance an individual will receive $5,000 or less (grossly understating the value of loss).
- Claiming Loss of Subsistence Use of Natural Resources comprises two-hundredths of one percent or .02% of all claims paid.
The Rub
Specifically, The Delasol Group and FMG are working alongside tribal leaders of the Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogees in Southern Louisiana. This is a population that falls short of the education and political clout to make easy work of the onerous documentation. The Delasol Group is a business which serves the disenfranchised. This is a population of skilled shrimpers, homemakers, oystermen, deck hands, administrative assistants boat operators and many others who deserve more than a cursory article; more than a federal oversight; more than an obliterated culture. Visit FMG's secondary website dedicated entirely to the cause to learn more about the firm's efforts and the BCCM website to read about the tribes' history, goals and concerns moving into the future.
The Mission
Should the Gulf Coast Claims Facility amend their erroneous processes to file and receive compensation for Subsistence Use claims of Natural Resources damaged by the BP Oil Spill, FMG will invest and allocate reward monies for current and future generations of the tribes. The Delasol Group will draft, publish and present and make permanently available economic literacy curricula sensitive to the tribe's socioeconomic needs to nurture and develop their assets.
In addition to muddied shores and tarred inlets, these citizens face off against both their own government and Big Business in a mutual quest of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in an all too familiar standoff. To achieve tribal-level justice the American Indians are pitted against businesses and victims in competition for a bigger piece of GCCF pie. No litigation necessary; it's not their day in court these people strive for. They, like so many other disenfranchised Americans seek a day when their land, language and lifestyle are respected as any other.
I'd like to see the NY Times write a piece on the income inequality rampant among those who have received GCCF payment and those who have not. Or an Op-Ed on the deleterious conditions marring a credible and accountable GCCF claim approval process. No, a follow-up on how the people in this video clip have improved economically with help from BP since this was filmed last March should do the trick.
BP has made amends for nothing until it has made amends for everything. The GCCF is as yet unsuccessful if it neglects even the least of victims. In the spirit of activist and theologian Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere (2)."
(1) Report obtained from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility website
(2) From King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, 16APR1963
@RogueEconomista
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