>> yes. >> all of these boats, they belong to the grand bayou community? >> that is my nephew's boat. that is my brother's boat. if it is not brothers and sisters, it is brothers and cousins. the whole village is related. >> how has the oil spill affected your community? >> how? our livelihood. the shrimp, the oysters -- we have no way of making money. it is real bad. >> how quickly after the accident did you see oil here? >> it took about a week. you can imagine how much is on the bottom. it is going in the grass. i do not know. >> is it one year? is it five years, 10 years, 20 years? there is no way of knowing. we had these agencies and scientists who are looking at this. they are monitoring conditions. we ask, how long? they say they do not know. >> can you tell me about two weeks ago? >> i went to check on my oyster beds. there was a little bit of oil on the water. i just wanted to see what it looked like all my oyster bed. it was covered. miles and miles of oil. i picked up a pelican that was covered with oil. we called the president of de parrish and

while the federal government has closed off more water to fishing, some areas like bayou remain open. on this humid morning, members of the smith family were after brim, a perch-like fish, well aware that even these waters could close soon. >> tof the politicians and spokemens are pointing fingers at each other and so forth. >> that won't get the problem solved. >> stop pointing the fingers at everyone. >> get to the big table and come to the solution and get this thing wrapped up. >> reporter: for 34 years joe has been running joe's landing, a store and dock that is usually teeming with commercial and sports fishermen this time of year. but these days it's practically deserted. despite it all, he manages to keep up a sense of humor and a sense of understanding. what do you think about the way bp, the government, the other companies, the state have been handling this? >> i think they're doing the best job as they can. >> reporter: you've had some.... >> i wish they could do a quicker job. >> reporter: with the official job of hurricane season today, he can see even more trouble ahead.

i live right across the bayou -- >> and yes -- >> yes. i live right across he bayou. that is my brothers and sisters -- member cousins. the whole village is related. >> how has this oil spill affected your community? >> we were commissioner -- commercial fisherman. all of that is done. there is no way to make money. it is really bad. >> how quickly after the accident did you see oil? >> it to about a week to get here. you could imagine what it is like down on the bottom and in the grass. i use a lot of bond soap -- donohawn soap. >> is it one year, five years, 10 years, 20 years? nobody has the answer. we have agencies and we have all of these scientists. they are looking at this according to what they're saying, every day monitoring conditions. we ask, how long. they always say they do not know. >> can you tell me about the scene of two weeks ago? >> we wanted to check out the oyster beds. my nephew had been out here the day before. i just wanted to see what it looked like in the oyster bed. when i came out here, it was covvred. miles and miles of oil. i picked up a

you know as well as i'd do it that the people on the bayou understand what they have in terms of theural estuary. they do not rape it. >> they make their living off the land. and a lot of those folks, you grow up with them, all they know was fishing. all they know is what they have done for generations in south louisiana. and there is a possibility that that could be taken away from them. there's a family business and there is no backup plan. >> joining us is of dr. smith from tulane university. thank you so much for being with us. bp has tried the top kill procedure. they try to do that job shot. neither work. they are on their ninth procedure to stop the leak in the deepwater horizon. explain the procedure they are going to put together now. >> they're doing basically two procedures with one bit of cleaning up. they are cutting away the wreckage of the drilling riser that belonged to thehorizon, that was bent over and cracked and linking, most famously were you have been watching the rov footage that has been provided. they are going to cut that away and clean up the edge, and then

is that all of florida, we get a hurricane or a small tropical storm, it will blow it up into the bayou. it devastates the west side and then the east side. >> if they get these machines, does he had 18 machines? >> he's got 30 of the big ones. that ishat they're talking about today. and they're going to take them into what they call the blue water. the one that we had asked for, they just tested them for brown water, which is in those tests where they're supposed to give us 18 of them. think the pressure of bps today shutting them -- the bp yesterday shutting them down. >> you heard about that. shedding non those barges because of life preservers? -- shutting down those barges because of life preservers? me on. >> and the ast guard agreed with that? >> i am not after the guy. he is shown no leadership in thiswhole thing. you get comments like consider, maybe, mike. that is not a leader. let's go do it. you don't and singer -- nsider bringing in vessels from other part of the world. >> you just have to do. >> you pull out all the stops and make all the things -- anyone in the world that

>> we're in grand bayou and on our way out to barataria bay. we will look at the oil. >> [inaudible] >> oil sheen? the heavier packages that you can see there. we have a problem with erosion. this is compounding the problem. the entire coastline is covered in oil, as far as you can look. but we have boom. ok? ok, i hope you got the sarcasm in that. >> can you explain that sarcasm? >> i mean, how effective was this response? how effective was that? you make the call. i look at that and it makes me sick, because i know what this means. there is more to come, because it is still going on. they have not stopped the flow. all of this time, it has been flowing, and it was allowed to reach year. -- here. there is more to come. this is the response. how can we plan the next step when this continues? >> we are right on the coast. we getting ready [inaudible] >> [inaudible] we have several acres. -- 70-some acres. >> what would this normally look like? and green. not with all this oil on it. >> what do you see now? >> a lot of disaster. i have seen a lot

you know as well as i'd do it that the people on the bayou understand what they have in terms of theural estuary. they do not rape it. >> they make their living off the land. and a lot of those folks, you grow up with them, all they know was fishing. all they know is what they have done for generations in south louisiana. and there is a possibility that that could be taken away from them. there's a family business and there is no backup plan. >> joining us is of dr. smith from tulane university. thank you so much for being with us. bp has tried the to kill procedure. they try to do that job shot. neither work. they are on theirinth procedure to stop the leak in the deepwater horizon. explain the procedure they are going to put together now. >> they're doing basically two procedures with one bit of cleaning up. they are cutting away the wreckage of the drilling riser that belonged to thehorizon, that was bentver and cracked and linking, most famously were you have been watching the rov footage that has been provided. they are going to cut that away and clean up the edge, and then they

you a sense of where they were at. 61 vessels out of daulphin island. 74 out of dog river. 142 from bayou lebatre. 23 vessels from fairhope. we're trying to optimize the local knowledge, expertise, and talent. i would also like to talk about our qualified community responder program. what we're trying to do is find unemployed individuals that would like to seek training and get involved in this response. the goal is to train over 4000 people across these states, 1500 in alabama, 1500 in mississippi, 1500 in florida. we have trained 2700 individuals and they are ready to deploy. 898 in alabama, 1500 in mississippi, and 344 in florida. there are 1900 individuals scheduled for training. the types of tasks today are involved include carrying in handling the material and supplies, shovelling debris, removing the debris from beaches, operating power washers to clean rocks and beach areas, washing oil-covered items, and removing other trash and debris. safety is a primary concern. we make sure they go through basic training for what they are doing and for exposure to potential materials they wil

captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> i am from a grand bayou. >> what brings you here today? >> to get a food voucher because i was denied food stamps. i am a commercial fisherman. >> what kind of fishing do you do? and how long have you had this? >> all my life. >> have you gotten help here before from catholic charities? >> yes, sir. >> what has it been like for you? why do have to wait so long? >> we are now number 7. there are seven people ahead of us. >> first come, first served. >> they give out 75 numbers. if you are number 76, you do not get it. we got here at 7:00 cannot last week, and we were number 85. >> we are disturbing food carts and vouchers. these are $100 for smaller, local grocery store. we also wanted to offer wynn dixie because there are some food items that these stores to not have appear. -- do not have. the vietnamese like to purchase the jasmine rice. we tried to accommodate them. >> myrtle? >> nice oto meet you. here is your card. are there any children in the household? how many people in the family? >> just me. >> we

i am from grand bayou. i am here to get a food voucher. i am a commercial fisherman. >> what kind of fishing do you do? >> shrimp. >> have you got some help here before? >> yes, sir. >> what is the process like? >> we have been here since 4:00 this morning. we're now number seven. there were seven people ahead of us. >> first-come, first-served. >> they give out 75 numbers. if your number 76, you do not get anything. we got here last week at 7:10, and we were 85. >> we're distributing food cards and food vouchers. these are for $100 for these local restores. we also wanted to offer a winn- dixie card because, there are items that the stores did not have that the public may need. the vietnamese population purchases jasmine rice there. we wanted to try to accommodate them. >> myrtle, nice to meet you. here is your card. are there any children in the household? >> no, sir. >> how many people are in the family? >> just me. >> sign this. >> we are native american. with been here for 300 years -- we have been here for 300 years. it is not only a

imagine that guy in the bayou, mississippi, he did not build it. he cannot take his kids fishing because there is oil out there. he gets all the bad side of this thing. by the way, deepwater horizon -- the parent company transocean -- is a swiss company. one thing that i am hopeful that will come on of this is we will reserve the privilege of taking minerals out of the ground using american-owned, american-made vessels. host: in the "financial times" -- we are talking to gene taylor of mississippi about the oil spill --i am having trouble finding the right word. next phone call from massachusetts. brian, independent line. caller: good morning. i hear you talking about responsibility, market-based economies, but you seem to be cutting short the fact that government has the responsibility for what happened down there. i remember when gasoline shot up to $4 a gallon and everyone was screaming about all the money that we've been giving to oil companies for technology improvements, keeping the price of ggs down. i wonder where all that money went? i hea

i have been down in the bayou area off and on for the last 36 years. . . that people disassociate themselves from that. that is not the role. there is in shakedown. it is insisting on responsible conduct and a responsible response to something they caused. and i find it outrageous to suggest that if in fact we insisted that bp demonstrate their preparedness to put aside billions of dollars, in this case $20 billion, to care of these people who are drowning. these guys don't have deep pockets, the guy who runs the local marina, the guy who has one shrimp boat or one small business. he can't afford to lose $10,000, $12,000, 15,000, or $30,000 a month. i was proud of the president. they were cooperative. he said i want you to take care of those people now who, if they don't get help now, are going to be under, gone. and i might add this fund is not a ceiling. people can go back to it as many times as they can prove they have been damaged, and they need help. and the cleanup costs are all bp's costs separate, apart and above that $20 billion. what is wrong wit

the people of louisiana and how much we love the land, the water, the estuaries -- you come from the bayouwell as i do. the people on the buy you understand what they have in terms of the natural estuaries. they do not reap its -- they do not rape it. >> this is hurting no one harder than them. >> a lot of those folks, you grew up with them, all they know is fishing. all they know is what they have done for generations. now there is a possibility that could be taken away from them. there is no backup plan. joining us now is dr. eric smith from tulane university. thank you for being with us. bp has tried the top kill procedure and the jump shot. neither worked. they are now on -- the junk shot. neither worked. they are now on their ninth procedure. explain the procedure they are putting together. >> they are doing to procedures. -- they are doing two procedures. they're cutting away the wreckage of the rig. it has been that laying there. they will cut that away. they will clean up the edge. then, they will install a cap over its which will be a into a drill pipe that will go up to the drill

again, there are serious consequences for the area, especcally the wetlands and the bays and the bayous that are a criticallhabitat for shrimp and other things to develop. >> so we could have health impacts to human beings from eating it creatures in the future that have been exposed in the future to this toxic stew. you have human beings right now who are being exposed to chemicals and oil that could have long-term negative impacts on the health of americans. i justtthink that there should be no expense spare to ensure that we put in the preventive health-care guarantees that we are not going to allow for this to affect the people down here in the gulf especially, but, ultimately, all across the country, because this food chain upstarts here, but it goes right up into mississippi and the atlantic coast, as well. fishermen. >> you could take over my job very eloquently summarizes my testimony. >> again, i am only reflecting your testimony. >> you have summarized what i wanted to say. hearing here today. >> a lot of the things we do, monitoring the dolphins, being on top of this huge cha

we aren't looking for answers pretty -- we are looking for answers and what comes of the bayou. >> what happened here during katrina? >> the village was impacted like many places. the water came in. the community was devastated. we are still in recovery right now. we have only managed to get five homes rebuilt. three homes have been renovated. we have three more working, in the works. people want to come home. there have been many problems to their recovery and the effort we have been making. now, with the lack of resources and funding come into the village because it cannot go out on the water or earn the money to put back into the community, this to e a problem to the return efforts that we have been making. katrina was a natural disaster. we knew it in some way how to deal with that even though it was kind of a norm. storms have always come into the coast. we are here. we are part of it. loss and recovery. we are used to that. we've can prepare and recover from it. we are able to feed ourselves in the aftermath. with the disaster in the gulf with the oil, we cannot do that. our livel