CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
GULF TIMECODED SCRIPT
USA: GULF
SOURCE: JASON N. PARKINSON/REPORT DIGITAL
LENGTH: 14.20
00:00:00 TITLE
00:04:00 FADE IN – WIDE: The BP cleanup operation on Grand Isle beach, Louisiana, just before sunrise.
00:10:00 Liquid drains from cleaned sand into a construction truck on Grand Isle.
00:14:23 CLOSE UP: Liquid draining from cleaned sand into a construction truck on Grand Isle.
NARRATION: “On the twentieth of April, two thousand and ten, the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, releasing one hundred and eighty five million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.”
00:20:13 WIDE: The BP cleanup operation on Grand Isle beach as the sun rises on a clear day.
00:25:23 The sun rises behind an Amerigas tanker truck at a cleanup operation on Grand Isle.
00:30:00 BP cleanup workers clear tar balls using shovels on Grand Isle beach.
00:33:00 WIDE: BP cleanup workers clear tar balls using shovels next to a construction vehicle on Grand Isle beach.
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
NARRATION: “BP and the U.S authorities stated that since the well was capped on the fifteenth of July eighty percent of the oil had been burned, dispersed or naturally evaporated. And they began reducing the numbers of clean up personnel and winding down their operations.”
00:36:00 One solitary family plays on a deserted beach along the Pensacola coastline in Florida.
00:39:13 A woman and two children exit the sea at Pensacola beach in Florida.
NARRATION: “In August President Obama stood on Panama City beach in Florida and declared the gulf beaches open for business.”
00:43:00 A fisherman pulls an oil absorbent rag on a hook out the water off the coast of Long Beach in Louisiana: “Check this one out, y’all,” he says.
00:48:01 The fisherman opens out the oil absorbent rag to reveal stains of oil.
NARRATION: “But nearly two months after the oil stopped flowing evidence emerged the oil was still out there, under the surface and on the ocean floor.”
00:53:02 A tropical storm makes landfall over Past Christian, Mississippi.
00:56:09 An oil boom lays strewn across an oil stained beach at Past Christian, Mississippi.
NARRATION: “And every storm that made landfall during hurricane season brought more ashore.”
00:59:09 Waves lap along the shore of a deserted beach at Long Beach Mississippi.
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
01:02:09 An oil stained tidal pool on the beach at Dauphin Island, Alabama.
01:05:09 A catfish with burns to its head and body swims in a tidal lagoon at Dauphin Island, Alabama.
01:08:09 A fisherman holds a clutch of dead oyster shells.
NARRATION: “For three weeks in August I travelled across four Gulf states, building a catalogue of pollution and illness, where holes in the food chain were already visible.”
01:11:03 A mousse of Corexit dispersant mixed with oil laps at the shore of the beach at Biloxi in Mississippi.
NARRATION: “But it was not only the oil that people feared.”
01:18:09 CROSSFADE: Donny Matsler was a diver and fisherman at Dauphin Island in Alabama. He worked on the BP oil cleanup operation as an observer, spotting oil slicks and informing the dispersant and burning teams of the location.
Donny sits in his kitchen. He says: “The first thing I noticed, my eyes started burning and watering. And one other thing I did notice that really got me, was my glasses that I wear, they fogged up. But when I just tried to wipe them off on my shirt I noticed an oily residue on my glasses and I said boy that’s weird. And then I started getting a burning in my throat. And then I said oh-oh, this is not good. And then I started smelling like the smell of nitro-methane.”
01:43:22 Donny Matsler walking on the pier at Dauphin Island harbour in Alabama.
01:46:22 Donny Matsler on the pier talking to another BP cleanup worker at Dauphin Island harbour in Alabama.
01:49:22 Donny Matsler boards his boat at Dauphin Island harbour in Alabama.
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
01:53:22 A brown Pelican sits on the pier at Dauphin Island in Alabama.
01:56:09 CLOSE UP: A brown Pelican head.
NARRATION: “Donny was part of a sub-contracted that monitored for oil slicks around Dauphin Island. It was there he and 25 other locals came into contact with the Corexit dispersant that was being sprayed from ships and planes.”
01:59:09 Donny Matsler sits in his kitchen. He says: “My throat burned like I never had it burned before. And after that my arms started breaking out.”
02:03:11 Close up on Donny’s arms showing the scabs and scars.
02:08:11 Donny Matsler sits in his kitchen. He says: “I was like, just started throwing up, for about three hours.”
02:12:23 CROSSFADE: Donny Matsler sits in his kitchen. He says: “It wasn’t any kind of food particles. It was a, a brown, you know it was just a liquid brown and it was phlegm, which was a foamage phlegm that had brown in it. And I didn’t know the seriousness of that yet. But, I found out it was probably blood.”
02:38:23 Dr Riki Ott is a Marine Toxicologist and describes herself as a survivor of the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. She writes for the Huffington Post and is the author of “Sound truth and Corporate Myth” and “Not One Drop”.
Dr Riki Ott sits in hotel lobby in Jackson, Mississippi. She says: “When I first came to the Gulf in May I was getting reports and actually eye witness accounts from the fishermen who were out working either at the source or burning. I mean, this is the task force one burn team, and they’re sick. And they’re telling me its headaches, dizziness, nausea, burning eyes, sore throats. And it’s exactly what the Exxon Valdez workers had, I mean, to the tee.”
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
03:07:01 Fisherman James “Catfish” Miller sits on his fishing nets at home and plays with his dog.
NARRATION: “James Miller, Catfish to his friends, also worked for seven weeks on BPS Vessels of Opportunity program.”
03:13:22 James “Catfish” Miller talks about his experiences of working for BP at Past Christian harbour. He says: “You’d see these little boats with these dispersant tanks in them, with these little motors you crank up by hand, with these big nozzles that spray a hundred feet. Well, we would call in and say we’d see a big oil spot, they would send them out and they’d pull off of it and they would spray it.
03:27:09 A BP cleanup operation of ships and oil booms works off the coast of Grand Isle, Louisiana.
03:30:08 A BP cleanup operation of ships and oil booms works off the coast of Grand Isle, Louisiana. An oil boom lies across the sea in the foreground.
03:33:08 A BP oil clean up platform off the coast of Grand Isle, Louisiana.
James “Catfish Miller says: “We got to smelling this and we never had respirators or anything. I had four people on my boat. One of them kept getting high blood pressure. He had diabetes.”
03:36:09 James “Catfish” Miller talks about his experiences of working for BP at Past Christian harbour. He says: “I got headaches every day. I had nausea every day. Bellyaches every day like women when they go to menstrual periods, how they say they cramp. I’ve never incurred cramps like that. Then I had diaherra.”
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
03:47:10 Dr Riki Ott sits in hotel lobby in Jackson, Mississippi. She says: “I mean these chemicals wreak havoc on your body over time. I mean malfunctioning respiratory problems, immune suppression, DNA damage, reproductive damage, cancers, inability to properly metabolise calcium, so people break a leg or whatever and then it just doesn’t heal. You teeth and jaw starts falling, disintegrating, literally. I mean just on and on, fatigue, chronic fatigue, brain fog.”
04:15:18 Overlooking a decontamination pool, in the distance BP clean up team works on a restricted area of Grand Isle beach in Louisiana.
04:19:09 BP cleanup workers have their boots cleaned in a decontamination pool on Grand Isle beach in Louisiana.
NARRATION: “Figures from BP’s medical response in July said one thousand five hundred workers had reported some kind of illness or injury.”
04:23:22 BP cleanup workers use high pressure hoses to clean oil booms without wearing respirators at Barataria, Louisiana.
04:27:22 BP cleanup workers use high pressure hoses on oil booms without wearing respirators, as a truck delivers more oil booms for cleaning at Barataria, Louisiana.
04:30:21 A BP clean up worker uses a high pressure hose to clean oil booms without wearing a respirator at Barataria, Louisiana.
04:34:09 BP cleanup workers use high pressure hoses on oil booms without wearing respirators at Barataria, Louisiana.
NARRATION: “At the oil boom cleaning operation in Barataria, Louisiana, workers were using high pressure sprays to clean oil and dispersant, without respirators. This is because BP publically stated that any workers would be sacked if they used respirators.”
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
04:34:09 Dr Riki Ott sits in hotel lobby in Jackson, Mississippi. She says: “If they had respirators and only worked fifteen minutes and then took a break in the shade they probably wouldn’t be getting sick.”
04:44:15 CROSSFADE: Dr Riki Ott sits in hotel lobby in Jackson, Mississippi. She says: “If people was giving respirators to people it would make it incumbent on BP to do long term medical surveillance and they do not want that. Exxon didn’t want it during the Exxon Valdez, it’s an additional expense and its going to show that oil is toxic.”
04:58:09 BP cleanup workers use high pressure hoses to clean oil booms without wearing respirators at Barataria, Louisiana.
05:01:09 A US coastguard takes interest in the boat of journalists at Barataria oil boom cleaning operation in Louisiana.
05:04:09 A BP representative stands watching the boat of journalists at Barataria oil boom cleaning operation in Louisiana.
NARRATION: “Documenting these scenes drew the attention of the coastguard, and others.”
05:06:21 A BP representative stands taking photographs of the boat of journalists at Barataria oil boom cleaning operation in Louisiana.
05:09:20 Oil burning ships sit by the dock at Venice harbour in Louisiana.
05:12:21 Oil burning ship sits by the dock at Venice harbour in Louisiana.
NARRATION: “Attempting to talk to Vietnamese oil burning workers at Venice harbour also saw security swoop in rapidly.”
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
05:16:09 As a security guard stops the Jason Parkinson from filming the record button is hit to catch the audio of the security guard in Venice, Louisiana. He says: “Y’all have any; y’all have a card to have the camera back here in this area?”
Jason Parkinson says: “Do we have a card? I didn’t realise we needed a card.”
Security guard says: “Yeah, this is a restricted area. This is a burn crew and the boats around here. We’ve had media try to come back here and now they’re getting really, really big on the security when people have cameras. Cause like, you know, Newsweek’s been trying to get on and sneak on boats back here in the past. They’re really strict on cameras right now, so.”
05:38:14 The conversation between the journalists and security guard continue at Venice, Louisiana.
Photographer Jess Hurd says: “What kind of card do we need?”
Security guard says: “It’s a, it’s a card approved by BP. It’s just a media pass.”
Jason Parkinson says: “Oh, it’s a card from BP.”
Security guard says: “Yes, saying you can have a camera back here, you’re approved by...”
Photographer Jess Hurd says: “So, is this all BP area.”
Security guard says: “Yes, ma’am.”
05:51:21 James “Catfish” Miller walks towards the Hancock bank in Biloxi to attend a meeting of local politicians and officials about the oil disaster.
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
Jason Parkinson says: “So, what is this meeting James?”
James Miller says: “It’s where they assign thirty four people, on a panel, to, I guess, oversee whatever’s going to take place to clean up the rest of the oil.”
06:06:02 Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour addresses the meeting in Hancock Bank in Biloxi. He says: “The other thing that I think a lot of people don’t think about is that the ten biggest oil spills in American history, seven of them were tankers. When you have more oil that’s coming to us on ships, you actually increase the chances of having a major oil spill.”
06:24:23 Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour addresses the meeting in Hancock Bank in Biloxi.
NARRATION: “As Governor Barbour addressed the Gulf of Mexico Alliance conference, at Biloxi’s Hancock bank, the frustration and anger felt by local people finally erupted.”
Governor Barbour says: “The huge numbers of people here make their money, make their livings fishing...”
Fisherman’s wife says: “And none of them have a seat at this table Governor. Please excuse me. I am sorry, I apologise Governor, but there is not a single commercial fisherman, not a single Vietnamese person, nor a single conservationist at this table.”
06:53:00 CROSSFADE: The fisherman’s wife continues to yell at Governor Barbour during the meeting at Hancock bank in Biloxi, Mississippi.
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
Fisherman’s wife says: “The people who are losing their homes and they can’t even buy their kids school supplies. You’re not going out there trawling all day for forty two pounds of shrimp that you have to sign a waiver to sell, a waiver that says you will be liable if anybody gets sick from them. You’re not having to do that. These men are doing that. Our fishing families are facing that. And BP is cutting them off. As you know, when you declared the Gulf open you cut their throats.”
07:26:12 James “Catfish” Miller addresses Governor Barbour. He says: “We need health care, we need counselling, there’s nobody testing us for chemicals. Well, I’ve been sick for quite a while.”
07:34:09 Another fisherman overcome with emotion as addresses Governor Barbour. He says: “This oil and the dispersants and all that’s there. And our fish are gone. I mean, you’re going to realise it later, I guess, and it’s going to be a big shock to everyone, because it’s gone, it’s done. I mean, I’ve been fishing all my life, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Continue your meeting. Thank you.”
07:55:17 As Governor Barbour leaves the meeting in Biloxi; video journalist Jason N. Parkinson asks him a question.
Jason Parkinson: “Governor, do you have any response on the people who say they are getting sick and is there going to be any help for them?”
Governor Barbour: “Well, they go to the doctor if they’re getting sick and try to find out about it. And those that say they’re finding oil, they need to come to the marine resource department and they have, marine resources have offered to take people out on marine resources boats, burn the states gas and try to find these dead fish or this oil that is supposedly in the water.”
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
08:22:10 James “Catfish” Miller talks about his thoughts on the state of the environment since the BP oil disaster at Past Christian harbour in Mississippi. He says: “You can go out there in our local sound; all animal life on the bottom is dead.”
08:26:09 CUT AWAY: Seagulls at Past Christian harbour in Mississippi eat dead fish on a pier.
08:30:21 CLOSE UP: Seagulls at Past Christian harbour in Mississippi eat dead fish on a pier.
08:34:21 Dead fish lie on a pier at Past Christian harbour in Mississippi.
James “Catfish Millar continues talking. He says: “Sealifes, Flounders, Croakers, Speckled Trout. We’ve had probably three of four thou... three of four million, excuse me, die on our coastline here, right where I dock my boat at Past Christian.”
08:38:21 James “Catfish” Miller talks about his thoughts on the state of the environment since the BP oil disaster at Past Christian harbour in Mississippi. He says: “Due to the dispersants in large bubbles under the water, making the oxygen level go into zero. Nothing can survive in, so it’s greatly concerned. And it’s going to be for years to come.”
08:48:21 James “Catfish” Miller pulls an oil absorbent rag on a hook out the water off the coast of Long Beach in Mississippi: “Check this one out, y’all,” he says.
08:54:00 James “Catfish” Miller holds up the oil absorbent rag to show the stains of oil picked up from dragging it through the water off the coast of Long Beach in Mississippi.
08:57:05 James “Catfish” Miller displays the oil absorbent rag to show the stains of oil picked up from dragging it through the water off the coast of Long Beach in Mississippi.
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
09:00:17 White Corexit dispersant foam lies on the ocean surface next to James Millers boat.
NARRATION: “Following his work on the cleanup operation, Catfish returned to the waters where he fished, to gather evidence of the oil plumes. It was there he also found Corexit dispersant foam.”
09:04:05 Using an oil absorbent boom people on the boat soak up some on the dispersant.
Man on boat: “Get that stuff on the surface there. Just get some of that surface stuff.”
Woman on boat: “The foam stuff.”
09:09:17 Donny Matsler looks down into the water as foam starts to gather at Dauphin Island, Alabama.
NARRATION: “At Dauphin Island Harbour Donny pointed out the same dispersant foam.”
09:13:07 Donny Matsler squirts dish washing liquid on to the dispersant bubbles. He says: “Go a little ancient secret here. It’s actually pretty safe for the environment. Watch it separate. See it separate. Right now you’re seeing the dispersment in the sheen and oil. See it separate? There’s your oil. See the dispersant follow it in too.”
09:31:07 The bubbles have separated away from where the dish washing liquid was squirted in the water, forming a visible ring of bubbles.
09:34:19 A close up of some of the dispersant bubbles containing brown oil . The cameraman questions Donny Matsler. He says: “So what was that you put in there?”
Donny Matsler says: “Ancient Chinese secret.”
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
09:37:20 Donny Matsler holds up the bottle of dish washing liquid. He says: “Dawn. It’s what they’re giving, cleaning up the animals with.”
09:41:07 A large patch of Corexit foam floats on the water in the harbour at Dauphin Island.
09:44:07 More Corexit foam floats in the water around the rear of a boat at Dauphin Island in Alabama.
09:47:07 Donny Matsler walks along the harbour pier at Dauphin Island, Alabama. Donny says: “Hell, there’s a pretty good sheen coming in from over there, because I’m getting a headache from it.”
Jason Parkinson says: “That smell just came in on the wind as well.”
Donny Matsler says: “Yeah, I just smelt it too. That’s why they’re dispatching everybody out.”
09:54:07 Donny Matsler sits in his kitchen. He says: “We kept wondering, where’d that oil go? I mean, all of a sudden. Man, this must be a miracle. They ain’t going to hide this oil that fast. And that’s exactly what Corexit does. It pushes it to the bottom.”
10:08:20 Dean Blanchard runs Blanchard Sea Food Inc, the main seafood packaging and distribution company in Grand Isle, Louisiana. He stands on the office balcony, overlooking his company. Dean says: “You know, basically they’ve been sinking it for over a hundred days, and they’ve got the Coastguard riding in helicopters out there looking for it. I think they’re using the wrong tool, they ought to be in a submarine.”
10:19:07 Shrimping boats sit at their moorings in Blanchard’s Seafood marina at Grand Isle, Louisiana.
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
10:22:07 CLOSE UP: Shrimping boats sit at their moorings in Blanchard’s Seafood marina at Grand Isle, Louisiana. A shrimping boat passes n the distance.
10:25:06 Dean Blanchard stands on the office balcony, overlooking his company. Dean says: “We know where the oil’s at. The oil’s sitting on the bottom of our fishing grounds. Every time we go out there with a boat we get in shallow, shallow water and our prop hits the bottom, oil comes up. We got boats that throw anchors. They pick up the anchor they got oil on it.”
10:35:20 A thunder storm makes land fall over Pensacola beach in Florida.
10:39:20 People walk along Pensacola beach in Florida.
NARRATION: “At Pensacola beach, Florida, one of the beaches President Obama declared ‘open for business’ it was a different story.”
10:43:07 Teaching assistant Travis Pregla stands on Pensacola beach in Florida and explains how he saw BP workers covering up oil slicks with sand. He says: “The sand, I mean, if you can tell from over here that it’s usually been further out. I mean that sign that’s behind me that says ‘no surfing’, you could, the sand used to be like another four barriers down. “
10:49:20 CLOSE UP: The “no surfing” sign on the pier at Pensacola Beach in Florida.
10:52:20 WIDE: The pier at Pensacola beach in Florida.
10:55:20 The shoreline at Pensacola beach in Florida showing the sharp increase in height of the sand.
10:59:07 A section of the beach at Pensacola showing the steep drop off by the shoreline and dark bands in the sand.
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
11:02:20 CLOSE UP: a thick dark brown line is exposed high up in the steep sandy ledge at the shoreline on Pensacola beach in Florida.
Travis Pregla says: “I came out here one night and I saw them. The oil came in to shore. BP workers out here that they hired, out here with sand trucks, just covering it up.”
11:06:07 As night falls the photographer uses protective gloves to remove sand from a large slick of oil under the sand at Pensacola beach in Florida.
Travis Pregla says: “You know, if you really wanted to get froggy and quite a few feet to dig down, that’s how high it is, but you would guarantee to dig down and find oil.”
11:10:20 As night falls the photographer steps back from the exposed slick in the sand at Pensacola beach in Florida to show the scale of the covered up oil.
Jason Parkinson says: “Well if that’s a tar ball it’s quite a bit one, isn’t it.”
11:17:20 A woman sun bathes on Dauphin Island beach in Alabama, an oil rig lies on the horizon.
11:21:08 A “beach closed” sign on Bay St Louis beach in Louisiana.
11:24:21 The beach is stained with oil around a tidal pool in Dauphin Island, Alabama.
NARRATION: “Across the Gulf coastlines the three weeks of filming became a steadily increasing catalogue of destruction, in a time when BP and the US authorities insisted the disaster was over.”
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
11:28:20 The beach is stained with oil around a tidal pool in Dauphin Island, Alabama.
NARRATION: “This was the condition of the beach at Dauphin Island in Alabama.”
11:32:08 The beach is stained with oil around a tidal pool in Dauphin Island, Alabama.
NARRATION: “Another which was considered open for business.”
11:35:08 CLOSE UP: A catfish’s head appears burned in a tidal lagoon on Dauphin Island, Alabama.
11:38:08 A catfish suffering burns all across its head and body swims into the deeper water in a tidal lagoon on Dauphin Island, Alabama.
NARRATION: “Catfish caught in a tidal lagoon were suffering burns across their heads and bodies.”
11:41:08 A seagull eats a dead fish by the tidal lagoon on Dauphin Island, Alabama.
11:43:08 Oil booms lay discarded on an oil-stained beach at Past Christian in Mississippi.
11:45:07 Dispersed oil stains the beach at Past Christian in Mississippi.
11:47:08 CLOSE UP: Dispersed oil stains the beach at Past Christian in Mississippi.
NARRATION: Along the Mississippi coast, form Biloxi to Bay St. Louis, the beach was stained from dispersed oil.”
11:49:20 Dead jellyfish stained brown wash ashore at Biloxi, Mississippi.
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
11:52:08 CLOSE UP: Dead jellyfish stained brown wash ashore at Biloxi, Mississippi.
NARRATION: “Jellyfish, the staple diet of green sea turtles, washed in on every tide.”
11:55:08: A jellyfish with clear colouring lies on the sand at Past Christian in Mississippi.
11:58:20 A jellyfish stained brown with dispersant bubbles inside its gut lies dead on the beach at Past Christian in Mississippi.
NARRATION: “Locals claimed the Jellyfish colouring was clear with purple and blue patterns, but these Jellyfish were brown.”
12:01:20 A blue crab lies dead on the beach at Past Christian in Mississippi.
12:03:21 A blue crab lies dead on the beach at Past Christian in Mississippi. It has been prised open to reveal its insides. Oil can be seen inside its shell.
12:05:20 CLOSE UP: A blue crab lies dead on the beach at Past Christian in Mississippi. It has been prised open to reveal its insides. Its gills are black and oil can be seen inside its shell.
NARRARTION: “Dead blue crabs also washed ashore. When examined their gills were black, not the usual off-white colouring.”
12:08:21 A shrimping boat trawls with nets on the horizon off the coast of Grand Isle, Louisiana.
12:12:18 A fisherman holds a hand full of freshly caught shrimp at grand Isle in Louisiana.
NARRARTION: “When the shrimping season started, the few boats that went out netted minimal catches, in a year that should have seen a bumper season.”
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
12:16:08 Two portable oil rig platforms lay anchored off an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana.
12:19:08 CLOSE UP: Two portable oil rig platforms lay anchored off an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana.
NARRARTION: “And it was looking the same for the oysters of Barataria Bay in Louisiana.”
12:21:21 Ex-fisherman Luke Cibilich walks on an island oyster shells in Barataria Bay in Louisiana.
12:24:20 Ex-fisherman Luke Cibilich stands on an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. He looks out at two portable oil rig platforms on the horizon.
NARRARTION: “but not because of the oil, as ex-oyster fisherman Luke Cibilich explained.”
12:27:21 CROSSFADE: Luke Cibilich is an ex-oyster fisherman of Barataria Bay. He runs a charter boat company for fishing trips. He stands on the island he owns in Barataria Bay and looks down at a clutch of empty oyster shells.
NARRARTION: “The oysters died from the fresh water. When the oil come in they was afraid it was going to go all the way into the marsh. So they opened the fresh water diversion and had too much fresh water and now all the oysters died from the fresh water, this side of the lake, this side of Barataria bay.”
12:41:20 Luke Cibilich holds the cluster of empty oyster shells. They are covered in green algae; a sign there was too much fresh water in the lake.
12:45:21 A sign saying “authorised personnel only” hangs on a fence separating the beach on Grand Isle in Louisiana.
12:48:20 A sign saying “authorised personnel only” hangs on a fence at the water’s edge of Grand Isle in Louisiana.
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
12:51:20 Clean up trucks are parked by a containment fence on Grand Isle in Louisiana.
NARRATION: “Some sections of Grand Isle beach in Louisiana were still authorised personnel only, fences restricting public access due to contamination fears.”
12:54:08 Looking along the shoreline open to the public of Grand Isle in Louisiana the beach is littered with small black tar balls.
12:56:21 A closer look of the beach at Grand Isle in Louisiana shows thousands of tar balls of varying sizes lie at the high tide mark.
12:59:08 CLOSEUP: Tar balls litter the sand on Grand Isle in Louisiana.
NARRATION: “Less than a hundred metres away, where the beach was considered “open for business” the shoreline was littered with thousands of tar balls.”
13:02:08 Looking over a contained area of the beach at Grand Isle, Louisiana, a fin can be seen emerging out the water several metres from the shore.
13:04:20 CROSS FADE: A fin emerges from the water several metres off shore at Grand Isle, Louisiana
NARRARTION: “Grand Isle locals described seeing sharks and dolphins feeding just metres off the shore.”
13:08:08 Zoomed in on a fin emerging from the water several metres off shore at Grand Isle in Louisiana.
NARRARTION: “A stark warning there was little food out in their usual deeper feeding grounds.”
CRUDE AWAKENING Duration 14.20
13:13:20 Dr Riki Ott sits in hotel lobby in Jackson, Mississippi. She says: “There’s no way that releasing this much oil on a daily basis, so, fresh toxic oil into the Gulf every day, along with fresh toxic dispersant released into the Gulf every day for almost three months straight, basically at time of year when things are being born and young life forms are in the water column – there’s no way this isn’t going to create havoc.”
13:37:20 Tropical depression number five makes landfall as the sun rises at Biloxi in Mississippi.
13:40:21 Tropical depression number five rolls in along the Past Christian coast in Mississippi.
13:43:21 Thunder storm clouds of tropical depression number five hang low just off the coast Past Christian coast in Mississippi.
NARRARTION: “But most disturbing of all were the scenes after the August storms from tropical depression number five made landfall.”
13:46:20 Along the shoreline at Biloxi in Mississippi Corexit and oil mixed together into a mousse washes ashore after tropical depression number five.
13:50:20 Corexit and oil mixed together into a mousse washes ashore at Biloxi in Mississippi after tropical depression number five.
13:54:21 Corexit dispersant foam washes ashore at Grand Isle in Louisiana.
13:58:21 Corexit and oil mixed together into a mousse washes ashore at Biloxi in Mississippi after tropical depression number five.
NARRARTION: “A creamy brown mousse washed up all along the Mississippi and Louisiana coastlines, a thick foam that I had seen before. It was the highly toxic mixture of Corexit dispersant and oil.”