[StBernard] Council Meeting and Murphy Oil]

[Westley Annis]

Murphy Oil Spill Issue
 
 The thing that makes most people very nervous about this situation is that
it sounds as though Murphy is rethinking the magnitude of thier spill and
thinks perhaps it only involved (conveniently) the three streets west of the
plant. I live in the oil spill area but I'm a lot closer to Paris Rd. than
that. I don't like thier implication that it was car gas tanks that left the
residue on everything. My car doesn't have crude or even diesel in it. After
the $5 million donation, it seems as though the official attitude towards
Murphy has somewhat tempered. I reported to Murphy's claims department quite
some time ago but I have not received a callback from them as I understand
many others have. As long as the parish could say definitively whether I'm
within it and can't possibly inhabit my lot, I could know what decisions to
make. Without that info I have no idea what I can do. I also think it is the
duty of the parish to bring in Fed eral testing agencies to test samples as
opp osed to Murphy doing their own conclusive sampling.
*RESPONSE*
** 
*The oil spill issue has not been diminished.  Residents who have not 
gotten contacted from Murphy should continue to call at least every 
other day.  There are call backs happening so keep at it.*
** 
*The official attitude from the parish has not changed from the start- 
Murphy is repsonsible for the spill and Murphy will responsible for 
making the situation right.*
** 
*The monitoring agency of the cleanup effort has been the coast guard 
and EPA is the lead on the environmental end.  Unfortunately, there are 
positions that the parish is exploring that are not ready for public 
disemmination yet- but these positions are to protect the parish residents.*
** 
*Residents are encouraged to take samples in their homes and around 
there property- document when and where the samples were collected.*
** 
*Craig Taffaro*