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VELSHI: OK, let me bring you up to speed with what's going on. The top kill effort -- this is the effort by BP to cap off that well that continues to leak into the Gulf of Mexico -- has failed. And that caps off a tough week for the congressman who represents the Louisiana coast. Representative Charlie Melancon couldn't finish his statement before a committee on Thursday, he was so emotional about the whole thing. Now he's got to face his constituents with news that this oil is going to continue to ruin their waters and their beaches. The congressman joins us now.
Thanks for being here, Congressman. Very disappointing news today. When did you get the news, and how did you feel?
REP. CHARLIE MELANCON (D), LOUISIANA: Well, got it, I guess it was around 2:00 o'clock, if I remember correctly. And of course, knocked us down a little bit and upset us, to an extent. But the people of south Louisiana are resilient. We'll dust off, and we'll figure out where we need to go. We're going to continue to fight to save our marshes and our coastal areas and -- which is part of what I did today, being out in the marshes, being down in Plaquemines parish, trying to assess where we are, what we can do and what are the concerns and how I can help.
VELSHI: Well, what can you do at this point? I mean, other than stopping this oil from leaking, what can go into place that is going to try and help your parish, help your district?
MELANCON: Well, what -- what is happening right now is the fishermen who are out there worrying about the areas from which -- where they live, where they make their livings, where they're -- that we all love so much -- they're out there work their hearts out to try to make sure that the booms are up, that they're in a position that helps. They police them 24 hours a day. This is about saving not only a place that they love but a place where they make their living, tradition -- you name it, it's there. So that's what we can do.
Now, some of what we've done, we've got approval today that the federal government's going to send in a health clinic with the sick people that are coming. As I told people, we've got lots of place to clean the pelicans and we need to keep doing that, but we need to make sure that when these workers come in that are feeling ill or if they've got broken bones or injuries in whatever way shape or form, that they get treatment as quickly as possible because the closest hospitals are in the New Orleans area, and that's about an hour-and-a- half drive from Venice, Louisiana.
So doing that. And we've met with the fishermen and throughout the district at several town hall meetings over the last several weeks, trying to give them guidance, trying to give them a place where they can connect, get counseling to help them, trying to make sure that even though they're in limbo, if you would, between the date of the fire, the disaster and the sinking, and whatever date it's going to be that this thing is resolved and how it's resolved, so that they'll know what they can or can't do with their life going forward. We need to try and help them get through that period of time.
VELSHI: What's the sense that you have of those people in your district who work off of the sea, those people who fish for oysters, for shrimp, about how long this damage is going to keep them from their livelihood?
MELANCON: Well, that's -- that's the frustration because nobody can put a date on it. The only person who knows is the one that's upstairs that we usually go to on our sabbath day and pray. But what they're doing is, they're not sitting still. There's no -- no grass growing under their feet. They're out there working in these marshes, trying to make sure that they protect that which is most valuable to them.
It's the coastline and the coastal marshes, the estuaries of south Louisiana, as I've described them, America's wetlands. We produce 35 percent of the seafood consumed in this country. We have an economy in this coastal area that puts us, if you would rate us, as the 29th economy in the world. That's pretty strong. And most people don't look at south Louisiana in those terms, but we're a viable, integral part of this country, and it's a shame that we have to -- that the rest of the country needs to find out about that through such a mishap.
VELSHI: You were very upset earlier in the week. We share your fears. I spent a lot of time in your parish. Give us a sense for our viewers about the type of people who work in these industries, in the seafood industry. These are, in many cases, people who sustain themselves just by what they catch and what they sell on a weekly basis.
MELANCON: This time of year is when we start the shrimping season. This time of year is when the sports fishing guides' business really picks up. This time of year is -- and realize, south Louisiana is in the top five destination places for fishermen around the world. This is a place that people from -- throughout the world that love to fish come, whether it's offshore, whether it's in the coastal marshes. This is one of the places they come to.
The shrimping industry -- this is one the greatest places -- we've been hurt by a lot of the trades and dumping -- trade aspects of dumping of seafood, particularly shrimp, on us. But I passed through Lafitte this morning. The shrimp docks are shut down, places that used to get a million pounds of shrimp at least on a daily basis. No boat's even parked out there, much less unloading.
The people that have the boats are trying to put them to work, trying to make ends meet, worried about what the future holds for them. And that's, I guess, the biggest frustration. We are post-Katrina, and because of the aspect of what transpired in this region of the state, this region of the country, a lot of people have had post-traumatic stress disorder, if you would, were starting to see the light at end of the tunnel, feeling that this was going to be a good year.
VELSHI: And then this happens.
MELANCON: (INAUDIBLE) gave them an opportunity to step back up, and then boom.
VELSHI: Yes.
MELANCON: It's like a belly punch, a stomach punch.
VELSHI: Congressman, our thoughts are with you. Congressman Charlie Melancon in Louisiana, thank you so much for joining us. We'll stay in touch with you on this.
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