MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: BP Oil Spill Five Years Later

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SCHULTZ: Coming up on the Ed Show. More on the impact of the Gulf Coast,
five years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. I`ll be joined by Brent
Coon, an attorney who`s firm represents nearly 15,000 victims, also
Congressman Frank Pallone who is working to introduce a bill to ban
offshore drilling in the Atlantic, and the Dean Blanchard one of the
country`s largest shrimp buyers.

Dean will discuss what he has seen in the wake of the spill.

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SCHULTZ: And finally tonight, five years after the BP oil spill, negative
effects are still lingering, and the recovery is slow. Some members of
Congress and people living in the Gulf Coast region want more to be done.

I`m join tonight by Dean Blanchard, New Orleans areas shrimper and owner of
Dean Blanchard Seafood, also with us tonight is Attorney Brent Coon whose
firm represents victims of the BP spill, and with us here in New York,
Congressman Frank Pallone who`s a member of the Energy and Commerce
Committee who`s introducing legislation to ban offshore drilling at the
Atlantic.

Congressman, I`ll start with you first tonight. What would this ban mean?
What would be allowed? What would not be allowed?

REP. FRANK PALLONE, (D) NEW JERSEY: Well there wouldn`t be any offshore
drilling for oil and gas off the coast of the Atlantic. Ed, what I want
people to understand is that the BP oil spill could happen easily again.

There were bunch of recommendations by a bipartisan commission which
Congress never enacted, and this type of deep water drilling is as just as
dangerous and prone to a spill as it was five years ago.

SCHULTZ: So, they`re doing the same stuff today they were doing five years
ago...

COON: Yeah.

SCHULTZ: ... that there`s really been no curtail of operations at all?

COON: No. Not really. And beyond that, the fact to the matter is that in
the Atlantic, all of the drilling would have to be far out at sea just like
the BP drilling had done. You don`t have the oil or natural gas close to
shore as you do in the Gulf.

So, the type of deep sea drilling if you will, that took place in the case
of BP would have to be done all on the Atlantic to have any results, and
the impact on the tourism industry would even be greater because we`re so
dependent on tourism off the coast of New Jersey, Virginia, the other (ph)
states.

SCHULTZ: Would you go so far as to say that the BP oil spill five years
after the effects is really had no impact on law makers?

COON: It has had no impact whatsoever.

SCHULTZ: Dean, now, that you hear that, its five years after the fact, how
do you feel about it? Good to have with us tonight.

BLANCHARD: Well, it`s surely not surprising. I mean, the Exxon Valdez,
didn`t have no effect on the lawmakers to make new rule. They made new
rule but the oil company didn`t follow.

SCHULTZ: Where are you five years after the fact? What is your business
like today compare to what it was?

BLANCHARD: I told my wife, we`re going to go `till Labor Day, if things
don`t change we`re going to close.

SCHULTZ: Why is Labor Day the drop dead day for your shrimp industry?

BLANCHARD: Well, it`s the last day of our summer season on the isle and
I`ll figure we`d give it to the (inaudible) so we`re going to give it until
Labor Day and if there ain`t any change, we`re just going to close.

SCHULTZ: You get a sense that your area has changed forever?

BLANCHARD: It would never be the same in my life time. I realized that.
I mean, all you got to do is look at what happened in Alaska. I mean, I
don`t know if I got 30 years left.

SCHULTZ: Brent, what about BP`s announcing $134 million in proposed early
restoration projects? Are they trying to make it right?

BRENT COON, BRENT COON & ASSOCIATES: I think it`s the part of their long-
term public relations campaign. To a layperson earning $134 million sounds
like a lot of money but when you break that down into -- how much it
actually cost to make proper reparations, it is a proverbial drop in the
bucket.

SCHULTZ: The 15,000 people that you represent, Mr. Coon, are they going to
see restitution?

COON: You know a lot of them are not. Ed, we talked about this on your
last series on this case and nothing`s changed. I mean, it`s five years
now...

SCHULTZ: Since the last time you and I talked nothing`s changed?

COON: Nothing`s changed. BP`s entrenched; it`s a witch hunt against the
claimants at this point. Nothing`s changed with the numbers.

They appeal every word that comes out of the claims process. Less than 15
percent of the claimants that submitted claims over the last three years
have been paid, less than 1 percent of the businesses that went under of
the 4,000 businesses at submitted claims had been paid.

It`s a debacle. BP is winning that public relations battle, and they`re
basically starving everyone out and wearing them out.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, what do you make of those numbers?

PALLONE: I didn`t see the actual numbers there in terms of the recovery
but I wouldn`t be surprised. I see...

SCHULTZ: I mean BP, according to Mr. Coon, the attorney who represents
15,000 people, less than 50 percent of the people are going to get
restitution on this.

PALLONE: Yeah. I`m...

SCHULTZ: Why does Congress let them get away with this?

PALLONE: Well, I think they shouldn`t. I mean, you know, one of the
things I should tell you, Ed, is that, you know, the Democrats have wanted
to implement these changes to protect the drilling which, you know, ever
since the BP spill, the Republicans have been in the majority in Congress.

So, that`s why we haven`t been unable to make any changes and to do what is
necessary for recovery as well. But, I think that they should get every
cent of what they`re looking for damages so that they can come back.

I would hate to think the same thing would happen in New Jersey or around
the East Coast if we had a similar spill.

SCHULTZ: But they`re operating the same way, and it could happen.

PALLONE: It could easily happen again.

SCHULTZ: All right. Dean, Governor Bobby Jindal released a statement
today saying that more needs to be done. What would you like to see him
do? What has he done in your opinion?

BLANCHARD: Well, I don`t know if you realized that but it`s Brad (ph) is a
lawyer for BP. I mean, he hasn`t done that.

He has done nothing to help us. I got in an argument with him right at the
beginning. I`ve known Bobby for a long time. He`s done nothing to help
us, nothing at all.

SCHULTZ: Dean, again, you say, Labor Day is the drop dead date for your
business. Don`t they win if you do that?

BLANCHARD: I got no choice. I just can`t afford. It cost me $5,000 a day
to run my business. If I can`t make money between Memorial Day and Labor
Day, I know for sure, I`m not going to make money in the winter time. So
if I can`t get head enough by Labor Day to (inaudible) me through the next
winter. I just as soon (ph) shut down and -- if I`m going to go broke, I
rather go broke watching T.V. on the sofa than working myself to death.

SCHULTZ: Brent, have you seen lives destroyed?

COON: Many.

SCHULTZ: Explain.

COON: Well, it`s just like what Dean said. I mean I`ve been sitting here
talking to him before the show today. It`s tragic what`s happened to these
coastal communities that lived of about of our marine estuaries in the
gulf, and in the tourism. We`ve had literally millions of lives affected.
We`ve had hundreds of thousands of businesses affected. We`ve had
thousands of businesses that ran out of capital, Ed.

Every week, some of them, still collapsed from the impact of the economy
from five years ago. They just ran out of money to keep things going.

SCHULTZ: Five years ago today. It is the anniversary.

Dean Blanchard, Brent Coon, Congressman Frank Pallone, great to have you
with us tonight. I appreciate it.

That`s the Ed Show. I`m Ed Schultz.

"PoliticsNation" with Reverend Al Sharpton starts right now.

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