Posted in Alabama Maritime News,BP British Petroleum,Environment,Florida Maritime News,Government,Gulf Coast,Louisiana Maritime News,Mississippi Maritime News,Texas Maritime News on July 14, 2010
Louisiana crawfisher, Drew Landry, a native of Lafeyette, Louisiana and a Cajun singer-songwriter, addresses the White House Oil Spill Commission and sings about the devasting economic environment, the effect on the unemployed workers and ecosystem
The song is a moving real honest to goodness folk song that evokes emotion and tells the story of the lives affected by the recent oil spill tragedy.
“We definitely need other solutions, going green — whatever it takes, man,” Landry said, as he addressed commission co-chair Bob Graham, a former Democratic senator from Florida. “We’ve got nothing. We don’t want to be a welfare state. There’s no point in that. We’re hardworking people.”
Landry told the commission that he and his neighbors work in crawfish holes or “pay the bills” in the oil fields, and the recent oil spill disaster has been devastating to their way of life.
“I never thought I’d be the hippie that brings the guitar into the meeting,” he said as he began to sing.
Watch video of Drew Landry singing to the Oil Spill Commission
After the song, Landry tells the commission “It feels like BP is in control of this deal, and the Coast Guard does what they want, you know, the press can’t be around. But more importantly, it feels like the people don’t have a voice in this thing,” “It shouldn’t be about a policy change it should be about what makes the most sense, how we’re going to keep these people working, It just sucks. Let’s just do the right damn thing. It shouldn’t be this hard. It shouldn’t take a committee to listen to people.”