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Information You Can Use
Unemployment
Anyone suffering loss of a job or income because of the oil spill can find help from the Louisiana Workforce Commission, which will roll out its Mobile Career Units on Saturday, May 8, and Monday through Friday, May 10-14. The Units will be open from 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Islenos Museum at 1345 Bayou Road in St. Bernard Parish and St. Patrick's Catholic Church at 28698 Highway 23 in Port Sulphur. Click here for details.
Food
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is working with the USDA to provide emergency food assistance for those affected by the spill. Click here for details.
Small Business Loans
The SBA is making Economic Injury Assistance available to Louisiana Small Businesses affected by the oil spill. The SBA estimates that 6,000 fisherman and license holders in 10 parishes will be adversely affected. The SBA is currently in the process of deploying 50 employees to the area and setting up centers to assist individuals and businesses directly in applying for the disaster loans. An SBA disaster loan is capped at $2 million at a 4% interest rate for 30 years.
The SBA is extending to one year the first payment due date on its Economic Injury Disaster Loans to owners of small businesses financially impacted by the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill.
Effective immediately, no loan payments will be due for one year on all loans approved to small businesses affected by the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill. This is one way we are helping small businesses survive the disaster, so they can continue to drive local economic growth and provide jobs."
The SBA is welcoming requests for the one-year deferment on all disaster loans in the area affected by the oil spill, including pre-existing loans taken out in response to Hurricanes Katrinas, Rita or Gustav. Holders of pre-existing loans must request the deferment in writing to the SBA in order to get approval.
The SBA has also opened two more Business Recovery Centers (BRCs) to assist owners of small businesses affected by the spill. The new Business Recovery Centers opened today in St. Bernard Parish and Terrebonne Parish.
The two new Business Recovery Centers are in addition to 10 previously opened BRCs, which are co-sponsored by SBA and Louisiana Economic Development. The location and hours of the new centers are as follows:
St. Bernard Parish
Business Recovery Center
Los Islenos Museum
Ducros Museum
1345 Bayou Road
St. Bernard, la 70085
Open: Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Terrebonne Parish
Business Recovery Center
TPCG Government Tower
8026 Main Street
Houma, LA 70361
Open: Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Counselors will be available at each center to provide post-disaster counseling on how best to overcome the effects of the spill, and a variety of management, financial and marketing assistance, inluding how to adapt a business model to post-disaster changes in markets, supplier relationships, employee sources and other key factors. The counseling services are free.
Click here for more information.
Filing a Claim
To file a claim, call BP’s helpline at 1-800-440-0858. A BP fact sheet with additional information is available here. For those who have already pursued the BP claims process and are not satisfied with BP’s resolution, you can call the Coast Guard at 1-800-280-7118. More information about what types of damages are eligible for compensation under the Oil Pollution Act as well as guidance on procedures to seek that compensation can be found here.
You may also file a claim under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 against a federal trust fund set up after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska to pay damages from spills. Contact:
Tom Morrison
Chief, Claims Adjudication
Division
202-493-6831
Oil Spill Hotline for Vietnamese-Americans
The Vietnamese-American community has endured more than its share of hardship over the spill because of the language barrier and cultural obstacles in addition to the bureaucratic red tape typical of government relief agencies. It is estimated that at least one-third of all fishing boats on the U.S. Gulf Coast are Vietnamese-American owned and operated.
That is why I have established a rapid response team especially to help Vietnamese-Americans. Jennifer Linh Vu of my staff is in New Orleans to head up the team, which will consist of Tuan Nguyen of Mary Queen of Vietnam Development Corporation and Minh Thanh Nguyen of the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans. A BP claims specialist will be embedded with the team as it reaches out to Vietnamese fishermen and others who have sustained losses. Miya Saika Chen of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders will also work with the group.
I have set up a special claims hotline for Vietnamese-American oil spill victims. The number is (504) 814-0195. I encourage any Vietnamese-American whose livelihood has suffered from the spill to call the hotline for assistance.
Websites and Hotlines
For information about the response effort, visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.
To volunteer, call 1-866-448-5816.
To report oiled wildlife, call 1-866-557-1401. Messages will be checked hourly.
Click here for a description of the effects of oil on wildlife and habitat.
To report spill related damage, please call 1-800-440-0858.
For information about validated environmental air and water sampling results, visit www.epa.gov/bpspill.
Contact Information
To report oiled shoreline or request volunteer information: (866)-448-5816
To submit alternative response technology, services or products: (281) 366-5511
To submit your vessel as a vessel of opportunity skimming system: (281) 366-5511
To check on the status of your Vessel of Opportunity application: (713) 422-4554
To submit a claim for damages: (800) 440-0858
To report oiled wildlife: (866) 557-1401
To contact the Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center: (985) 902-5231; (985) 902-5240
For information about the response effort, visit www.RestoreTheGulf.gov.
For specific information about the federal-wide response, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/deepwater-bp-oil-spill.
To contact the Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center, call (713) 323-1670.
To contact Congressman Cao's office: (504) 483-2325; (202) 225-6636; www.josephcao.house.gov
Latest Developments
11/15/2010 03:22 PM EST
99.6 percent of federal waters now open
NOAA today reopened to commercial and recreational fishing 8,403 square miles of Gulf waters which extend from the Louisiana state water line to due south of the Alabama/Florida state line. This is the eleventh reopening in federal waters since July 22.
This reopening was announced after consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and under a reopening protocol agreed to by NOAA, the FDA, and the Gulf states.
The total area reopened today is about 3.5 percent of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico and 89 percent of the current closed area, as last modified on October 22. No oil or sheen has been documented in the area since July 25. At its closest point, the area to be reopened is about 10 miles from the wellhead.
NOAA sampled this area between August 31 and November 1 for finfish and shrimp, including tuna, swordfish, escolar, and royal red shrimp. Sensory analyses of 286 finfish samples and 55 shrimp samples and chemical analyses of 207 finfish samples in 33 composites and 50 shrimp samples in nine composites followed the methodology and procedures in the reopening protocol, with sensory analysis finding no detectable oil or dispersant odors or flavors, and results of chemical analysis for oil-related compounds and dispersants well below the levels of concern.
“This is the first reopening where we have added a supplemental test to detect dispersants in seafood, and all the samples passed,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “This is yet another indication that our Gulf seafood is safe for consumption.”
As announced on October 29, 2010, NOAA and FDA have developed and implemented a chemical test to detect the presence of dispersants in fish, oysters, crabs and shrimp. The level of concern for dispersants is 100 parts per million for finfish and 500 parts per million for shrimp. The test can reliably detect Dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DOSS) at levels of 2000 times below the lowest level of concern.
NOAA continues to work closely with the FDA and the Gulf states to ensure seafood safety. NOAA and FDA are working together on broad-scale seafood sampling that includes sampling seafood from inside and outside the closure area, as well as dockside and market-based sampling.
An area covering 1,041 square miles immediately surrounding the wellhead, remains closed to fishing. The boundary of the fishery closure has changed 32 times after it was first instituted on May 2, at which time it covered about 3 percent (6,817 square miles) of Gulf waters around the wellhead. As oil continued to spill from the wellhead, the area grew in size, peaking at 37 percent (88,522 square miles) of Gulf waters on June 2. To date, NOAA has reopened more than 82,900 square miles of oil-impacted federal waters under this protocol and sampling regime.
NOAA has a number of methods for the public to obtain information or be notified when there is a change to the closed area:
- Sign up to receive Southeast Fishery Bulletins by email at SERO.Communications.Comments@noaa.gov
- Call 1-800-627-NOAA (1-800-627-6622) to hear a recording of the current coordinates in English, Vietnamese, and Spanish
- Listen to NOAA Weather Radio for messages about the closure
- Follow us on Twitter: @usnoaagov to get a tweet when the closed area changes
NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Visit us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/usnoaagov.
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