EMPIRE, La. — BP chief executive Tony Hayward took a day off Saturday to see his 52-foot yacht compete in a glitzy race off England’s shore, a leisure trip that further angered residents of the oil-stained Gulf Coast.
While Hayward’s ship whipped around the Isle of Wight, fury simmered on the steamy Gulf Coast, where crude has been washing in from the still-gushing spill.
“Man, that ain’t right. None of us can even go out fishing, and he’s at the yacht races,” said Bobby Pitre, 33, who runs a tattoo shop in the crossroads town of Larose, La. “I wish we could get a day off from the oil, too.”
BP spokespeople rushed to defend Hayward, who has drawn withering criticism as the public face of BP’s halting efforts to stop the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Company spokesman Robert Wine said the break is the first for Hayward since the Deepwater Horizon rig BP was leasing exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the undersea oil gusher.
“He’s spending a few hours with his family at a weekend. I’m sure that everyone would understand that,” Wine said.
He noted Hayward is a well-known fan of the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, one of the world’s largest, which attracts more than 1,700 boats and 16,000 sailors as famous yachtsmen compete with wealthy amateurs in a 50-nautical mile course around the island at England’s southern tip.
Bob, Hayward’s yacht, finished fourth in its group. It was not clear whether Hayward actually took part in Saturday’s race or attended as a spectator.
Obama’s golf game raises ire as well
Hayward had already angered many in the U.S. when he was quoted in the Times of London as suggesting that Americans were particularly likely to file bogus claims for compensation from the spill. He later shocked Louisiana residents by telling them that no one wanted to resolve the crisis as badly as he did because “I’d like my life back.”
Ronnie Kennier, a 49-year-old oysterman from Empire, La., said Hayward’s day among the sailboats showed once again just how out of touch BP executives are with the financial and emotional suffering along the Gulf.
“He wanted to get his life back,” Kennier said. “I guess he got it.”
In Washington, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel made the same observation Saturday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden enjoyed a round of golf Saturday near Washington, something they’ve done on other weekends since the spill and a fact that wasn’t lost on users of social networking sites. Twitter feeds compared Obama and Biden’s golfing to Hayward’s yachting, lumping them together as diversions of privileged people who should be paying more attention to the oil gushing into the Gulf.
“Our government, the executives at BP, it looks like they decide to worry about it later,” said Capt. Dwayne Price, a charter fisherman in Grand Isle, La., who now spends his days shuttling media out to the oiled waters. “Things need to happen now. The longer this is strung out, the worse it’s going to be.”
Messages seeking comment were left for officials at the White House, who have struggled to counter criticism at home of how the administration has handled the disaster. An Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday showed 52 percent now disapprove of Obama’s handling of the oil spill, up significantly from last month.
BP has put many idled commercial fishermen to work on the cleanup. But not everyone.
Sai Stiffler spent Saturday doing some repairs on his shrimp boat at Delta Marina in Empire, La., after a passing shower made things stiflingly hot and muggy. He signed up for BP’s “vessel of opportunity” program but hasn’t been hired, and he was not pleased that Obama was playing golf and BP’s CEO was at a yacht race while his life is on hold.
“Right now is no time for that,” Stiffler said. “I don’t think they know how bad people are hurting. They make a lot of promises but that’s it.”
Raymond Canevari, 59, of Pensacola, said he was insulted by the fact that Hayward would take in a yacht race while the oil still flows.
“I think everyone has the right to do what they want in their free time, but he doesn’t have the right to have free time at all,” said Canevari, who scouts the bayous, bays and Gulf for driftwood and other found objects, and turns the debris into nature-themed art. “Not until this crisis is resolved.”
Florida tar balls
Tar balls washed up on Destin, Fort Walton and Panama City Beach in Florida the farthest east the oil has been reported in the Sunshine State. From Pensacola in the west to Panama City Beach in the east — spanning about 100 miles of coast famous for white-sand beaches — the aftermath of the spill continued its march. On Saturday evening, hundreds of clumps of tar mixed with sand littered the high tide line at Fort Walton Beach.
Unfavorable onshore winds were pushing the oil closer, and more tar balls were expected to wash up in the next few days. A large plume of oil was about 30 miles offshore, officials said, and it would land on the Panama City-area beaches in the coming weeks unless the winds change for good.
Offshore containment
About 50 miles off the coast, a newly expanded containment system is capturing or incinerating more than 1 million gallons of oil daily, the first time it has approached its peak capacity, according to the Coast Guard. BP hopes that by late June it will be able to keep nearly 90 percent of the flow from the broken pipe from hitting the ocean.
More than 120 million gallons have leaked from the well, according to the most pessimistic federal daily flow rate estimates. Oil has been washing up from Louisiana to Florida, killing birds and fish, coating delicate marshes and wetlands and covering pristine beaches with tar balls.
A pair of relief wells considered the best chance at a permanent fix won’t be done until August.
Barges lined up to protect Louisiana bay
Officials in Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish officials on Saturday began lining up as many as 63 barges across two passes to protect their largest estuary, Barataria Bay.
“We call it Cajun ingenuity,” said Dean Bonano, the homeland security chief for Jefferson Parish. “And if it works, we will extend it to the other three passes entering the bay.”
Oil spill claims
The head of a new office created to process claims from the BP oil spill said a plan to handle the remaining damage claims will be in place in 30 to 45 days. Kenneth Feinberg was chosen by President Barack Obama and BP to oversee the Independent Claims Facility.
Feinberg said he also plans to have a program going forward that would guarantee that people making claims in the future would receive them within 30 to 60 days of submitting it.
Swimming in Alabama
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is causing confusion over whether it’s OK to swim on Alabama beaches.
In Orange Beach, two red flags flew Saturday and beach patrols told people to stay out of Gulf waters. Some of the city was hit with a new wave of crude and tar balls during the morning.
A few miles away, though, people were in the water at Gulf Shores, where only yellow warning flags were flying.
The state has issued advisories telling people to stay out of Gulf waters because of oil, and Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft said his city tells visitors to stay out of the water when tar balls are present.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
