Tribe fights for survival as BP oil spill ravages Gulf Coast

Today, BP reported a $17 billion loss for the last fiscal period, due in part to putting $32 billion aside to pay for the oil disaster. This loss, according to outgoing CEO Tony Hayward, allows the company to take a $10 billion corporate tax credit. The company also announced a replacement for Hayward - US board member Robert Dudley, the first American to serve in this position.

Meanwhile, the BP oil disaster continues to devastate many on the Gulf Coast, including the Houma Nation. With 17,000 members, the tribe is the largest on the Louisiana coast. Although they have lived there since pre-colonial times, the nation isn’t recognized by the federal government. First hard-hit by Katrina, the tribe is now contending with the largest environmental disaster in US history. Zoe Sullivan reports:

TRANSCRIPT:

Like the rest of the Gulf Coast population, the United Houma Nation faces what could be an end to its sea-based way of life. The Houma have relied on fishing and hunting in the wetlands and on the coast for generations. In more recent times, some have also turned to work in the oil industry. Tribal leaders see the BP oil disaster as the last straw, and maybe- the Houma's last stand. Erosion has been eating away at the wetlands for decades, accelerated by canals [the] oil companies dug for shipping. Now oil may destroy fishing beds and hunting grounds, as well as local plant life, all of which form an integral part of the indigenous lifestyle and culture.

"We need to take the opportunity to bring out case to the world."

Mike Dardar, is a member of the United Houma Nation Council:

"It's taken away our ability to stay in our homeland. It's taken away our ability to sustain ourselves as we've always known how to do."

Dardar says the majority of Houma are having trouble feeding their families because they can no longer work on the water. Losing their livelihoods is just one way the Houma are being hit. Native plants may also be wiped out by oil pollutants- undermining traditional health care remedies for rashes, colics and colds, as well as materials for indigenous crafts.

In the face of these threats, tribal leaders are weighing how to use a human rights framework to call for justice.

Kirk Cheramie is a member of the tribe:

"Just the fact that the oil spill occurred, and the lack of federal regulation, is cause enough for it to be  a human rights violation under the United Nations Human Rights Commission. "

Cheramie points out, though, that the U.S. hasn't ratified the U.N.'s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, bringing into question whether public officials can be held accountable for the disaster's impact on the Houma and other native people.

This isn't the first time oil has damaged indigenous communities. A delegation from Ecuador came to visit the Houma in early July to share their experiences battling Texaco/Chevron over oil contamination.

Cheramie says there are similarities between Louisiana and Ecuador:

"Everyone around the world looks up to the United States as this rich, powerful… government that is just, for the most part, and they were not expecting to find that the regulatory atmosphere for oil and gas here was just like it is in their country. It's heavily controlled by political contributions to politicians and buying off any adversary."

Millions of gallons of oil are still floating in the Gulf and hitting the coastal beaches and marshes. Houma nation members say they may be forced to evacuate permanently if storms push the oil further inland.

Steve Williams is a member of the United Houma Nation Council and a New Orleans-based artist:

"Because we're not a federally-recognized tribe, we don't have an official reservation or anything like that to go, but we're working on options, a safe zone for us to be. "

In the face of this, the tribe may find some protection under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, a document the United States has endorsed. The principles outline how people who are forced to move by disasters should be treated, and it specifically mentions indigenous people and others with a special dependency on their lands.

Zoe Sullivan, FSRN, New Orleans.

Photo: leaders from United Houma Nation and from Ecuadorean Amazon meet to discuss effects of BP oil spill

Photo credit: Rainforest Action Network