Toxic Soup: Tell BP to Fund a Seafood Safety Program for the Gulf

"Toxic Soup" is a Change.org series focusing on how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacts the Gulf's seafood industry and marine life. For more posts on this issue, see here, here, here, here, and here.

BP certainly dug its own grave—then that hole started spewing oil all over the Gulf of Mexico. As we've covered extensively in Change.org's "Toxic Soup" series, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is wreaking havoc on the Gulf's marine life and seafood industry. And while it's too late to reverse the harm oil's already caused ocean life and fishermen (unless BP's team of engineers knows how to whip up a time machine, that is), Louisiana's got a plan to help assuage the damage.

Last month, the state's Departments of Wildlife and Fisheries, Health and Hospitals, Environmental Quality, Economic Development, and Agriculture and Forestry sent a letter to BP exec Tony Hayward asking the company to fund a seafood safety program. According to The Times-Picayune, Louisiana's governor, Bobby Jindal, reiterated the need for such a program this week during a news conference appropriately held at New Orleans' Acme Oyster House.

The state's agencies are calling for BP to allocate $457 million to create a 20-year initiative that would protect Louisiana's seafood industry and help repair some of the damage that's been done over the past two months. According to the letter sent to Tony Hayward, the plan would start a "science-based seafood safety testing program with transparent metrics of safety and quality" and a "certification program for quality and processing of certified Louisiana seafood." The initiative would also establish a short-term program to educate consumers on what's going on with Gulf seafood.

After the mess its caused, BP should give-in to Louisiana's request without a peep. Plus, $457 million is small potatoes compared to what that state stands to lose from a debilitated seafood industry—about $2.3 billion at the last estimate.

It's time for BP to stop shirking its responsibilities and start making a serious effort to atone for its gross negligence. Sign our petition demanding that BP fund a seafood safety program for Louisiana.