NAACP Report says BP has Provided "Little to No Relief" to Gulf Residents: Oil Spill Disproportionately Affected Black Areas

The BP Oil Spill is the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history. From that has resulted the biggest petrochemical poisoning of humans in U.S. history.[MORE] 

From [HERE] Last May, NAACP leaders in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi began an investigation into the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the needs of Gulf communities arising from the disaster. Today they released their completed investigation. [PDF] The report states "thousands of people have suffered extreme financial impact from this disaster and, after one year with little to no relief, many people are reaching the end of their ropes."

BP has purposely "underpaid, grossly delayed, and denied" people affected "without adequate justification." It states "though the Gulf Coast Claims Facility boasts about the billions of dollars paid out to thousands of people, the reality is that the vast majority of those people have been paid pennies on the dollar when a comparison is made between the amount of reported loss and the amount disbursed by the GCCF."

The report found that "of the 187,000 individual claims paid, 114,000(61%) payments were under $5,000." 

The report explains that asa result of the oil spill "financial woes for some have reached a critical juncture with loss of livelihood resulting in foreclosures, evictions, seizure of other property, loss of insurance, as well as reports of many formerly independent persons having to become reliant on public benefits such as food stamps."

Physical health issues have not been addressed. The report documents "high levels of toxins consistent with exposure to the oil spill and the dispersants used thereafter, as well as a plethora of reports of ailments including nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, skin lesions, respiratory issues, burning of the eyes, internal bleeding, etc. People have even reported premature deaths and fear that this is only the beginning as they have the example of the disturbing epidemiology of the Exxon Valdez incident, which was much smaller and didn’t feature the heavy use of corexit as did the Gulf Oil Disaster."

“Thousands of Gulf residents not only have not been ‘made whole,’” according to the report, “but many have faced elevated levels of toxins in their blood, community conflicts, destruction of families, culture erosion, loss of property ... and an end to their way of life for the foreseeable future.”