|
Posted by Jim Wilkins on June 16, 2010, 7:07 pm
Please log in for more thread options
> ...
> The fisherman have a legitimate claim. =A0Their fisheries are impacted an=
d thus their
> livelihoods from something that should not have happened.
...
point, counterpoint.
I copied this from alt.energy.homepower:
> I just want the world to know.
> Dear Senator,
>
> My wife and I have a small store where we have been selling shrimp from f=
or
> 11 years. Our store is actually a boat in St. Andrews Marina. Everyday
> fishermen hired by BP are going out in search of oil. I see 30 to 50 boat=
s
> leave every morning. Many (it should be most*) of these are fishermen tha=
t
> have lost there means of making a living. BP has hired them and is paying
> them well. At this time we have no oil in Panama City.
>
> MY FIRST POINT, don't do anything that will affect the financial viabilit=
y
> of BP. You should encourage purchase of BP fuel, you need to keep BP heal=
thy
> so the stock price can rise, this makes BP stronger so it can continue to
> pay cleanup crews and claims.
>
> I am on this marina everyday and I know most of the fishermen, the fisher=
man
> are thrilled with the pay from BP.
>
> A small boat of 20ft gets $1000 dollars day, This is $250,000 a year for =
a 5
> day work week. Fuel and supplies are paid by BP. The larger the boat the
> higher the pay, $3000 a day is the highest I have heard. That's $750,000 =
a
> year, and the expenses are paid. Deckhands are getting $200 dollars a day=
,
> that is $50,000 a year. Most of these deckhands never saw $20,000 a year =
in
> there life.
>
> The pay is so high that the shrimpers are stopping shrimping and going to
> work for BP, on oil patrol. The same is happening in Apalachicola Fl, (ab=
out
> 100 miles SE of me) the oyster capitol of this area. Our local oyster bar
> had to find a new source for oysters, his oystermen went to work for BP.
>
> A quote from our local newspaper,
>
> "APALACHICOLA - With compensation checks easily available, oystering has
> slowed to a crawl on Apalachicola Bay. ...Seafood houses across the count=
y
> say they are able to obtain barely 10 percent of their normal allotment o=
f
> oysters. There are plenty of oysters. ( just know one to harvest them)
>
> Same with Apalachicola shrimpers, There is no oil and plenty of shrimp.
>
> Panama City Beach is a tourist area, when the oil gets here the thousands=
of
> hotel rooms will not have tourists, the housekeepers won't have work, the
> restaurants won't have customers and waitresses tips will dwindle. All
> business will be affected. Real estate is already greatly affected, peopl=
e
> don't want to buy with oil coming and some know prices will be lower in 3=
or
> 4 months.
>
> Now back to my situation, for the last 7 years we have been open 10 hrs a
> day, 7 days a week, 363 days a year.
>
> We will continue working until we can't. The plan was 7 to 10 more years,
> now I don't know if it will be one more month or one more year. At this
> point I am confident BP will pay for any losses that I may have in the
> future, but they need to continue to be financially strong.
>
> I'm sure you're aware that the BP stock price is down 44% since the spill
> started. This means they have lost 73 billion in market capitalization. I=
t
> is time to help the company recover rather than do anything that could
> affect the price further.
>
> Many retirees rely on BP dividends for retirement income. If you push the
> idea to create an escrow fund and cause the dividend to be unpaid, this w=
ill
> lower the stock price, further weakening the company. Without those
> dividends the retirees will find other stocks to get there income**.
>
> This could cause BP to fail.
>
> If you allow BP to stay strong, the 15 to 20 billion dollars of profit th=
ey
> generate every year will be more
>
> than enough to pay cleanup and claims.
>
> Please stay focused on the unintended consequences of creating an escrow
> fund.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Mike Knowlton
>
> **Recreational fisherman are jumping on this gravy train, it should have
> been commercial
>
> fishermen first. Retirees are supplementing their retirement with their
> recreational fishing boat.
>
> ** ( starting with 44% less money)
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap
>it closes? They get paid for not working? Shouldn't we all get paid for
>the seafood we don't get to eat? Aren't we small people too?