On May 26, Escambia County Commissioner Grover Robinson sent a letter to Liz Castro about the Bayou Chico Staging Area. It was hand delivered to her at BP’s Government St. office. Robinson asked for three things:
1. Is BP committed to replacing out-of-town labor with local workers? “I would just like your written confirmation that locals will be trained and brought onsite in preference to out-of-town.”
2. “It is my understanding that the boom to be cleaned at the Pensacola Shipyard would only be contaminated boom from the Escambia Theatre. Will you confirm my assumption in writing?”
3. “I am requesting that you contact the Bayou Chico Association and provide their leadership and membership the opportunity to view the site….Finally I believe you need to confirm to the citizens that while BP is paying for this and is responsible it is actually being handled by a third-party contractor.”
Ms. Castro, whose new title is Director, Pensacola Community Relations, has sent her reply, dated June 6, to Commissioner Robinson. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t answer all his three questions:
1. She writes about the Qualified Community Responders (a program for beach cleanup) but says nothing about the workers at the Bayou Chico.
2. She says the boom to be cleaned will come from as far as Apalachicola. I’m not sure if that is what Commissioner Robinson meant as being in the “Escambia Theatre.” Castro then goes into functions of the Bayou Chico facility.
3. There are five subcontractors at Bayou Chico: O’Briens, MSRC, Eagle-SWS and ERM. John Naybor, president of the Bayou Chico Association, was included in the city council’s May 26 tour (before this letter was delivered). There is no mention of any other tours for the Bayou Chico residents so I assume BP has refused Robinson’s request.
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Here are the letters:
three requests to Liz castro-5-26-10
Ltr frm Liz Castro-Responses to GCR questions-6-6-10