VENICE, La. -- Caz McKenzie has been a charter fisherman for 10 years. Now instead of the thrill of deep-sea fishing, he works for BP helping to save sea turtles.
“The ones that have oil in their mouth and their throats, they all go to Audubon Rehab Facility and get cleaned up,” McKenzie said.
It’s the type of work federal leaders saw as they toured the coast Thursday. They admitted there’s microscopic oil under the surface with the potential to harm marine life.
“We won’t know for many, many years the full impact of the spill on the animals and plants in the ecosystem,” said Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator.
It’s part of the reason Secretary Ken Salazar has pushed to keep a moratorium on offshore drilling in effect. One on one in an interview with Eyewitness News, he stood by his belief.
“I believe the moratorium is right when we issued it. I believe it is right today,” Salazar said. “And I think until we can make sure that the fundamental question of whether or not drilling can be conducted safely is answered that we can allow the moratorium to be lifted.”
The drilling ban would help replenish stock for fisherman, but McKenzie said it’s not needed.
“The drilling has been part of the fishing industry here all along,” he said. “That’s some of the biggest artificial reefs in the world are right here. All those rigs provide habitat for all those fish that are here.”
But EPA administrator and native New Orleanian Lisa Jackson said the federal government knows this and has to consider everything.
“Those marshes are a part of every Louisianian. It’s part of who we are. It’s part of our music. It’s the way we speak. It’s in our gumbo. It’s in the way we cook. It is our culture,” Jackson said. “And that’s the vision for restoration for the Louisiana Gulf Coast, and indeed the Gulf Coast in general: healthy ecosystems.”
Salazar said he’s going to be meeting with advisors in the next few weeks about the moratorium on deepwater drilling.
