Beach Cleanup

 

James Santiago

Econ 3300

10/24/20

Beach cleanup

In April of 2010, after an explosion on Deepwater Horizon, which was an offshore drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico caused an oil spill. This explosion also killed 11 workers, the Deepwater Horizon was owned by a corporation called Transocean and leased to oil company BP (formerly British Petroleum). This oil leaked into the gulf for three months, effecting both ecology and economy of coastal states with, particularly Louisiana. During early efforts to clean up the oil-soaked beaches in Louisiana, you could spot workers wearing scarlet pants and T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Inmate Labor” were easy to spot. This raised multiple questions including is BP hiring prisoners while the oil spill forced so many residents into unemployment. BP stated that local workforce was not willing to work the hot, dirty, exhausting, and dangerous 12-hour a day job at the $10 per hour they were offering. According to the Louisiana Workforce Commission they could field 400 new non-prisoner employees on any Monday and then have only 200 show the following day. The state of Louisiana has prisoners housed in private prisons, parish jails, and work-release centers. Prisoners that partake in these jobs for between zero and forty cents an hour plus opportunity to earn time off their sentences. This is not available for prisoners convicted of dangerous crimes or have bad behavior. So, the question I raise is why we do not use prisoners to clean beaches.

Beaches has multiple sources of pollution from wet weather discharges, trash and litter, vessel discharges, and nitrogen and phosphorus. These different sources have resulted in beach closings, shellfish bed closings, and aesthetic problems. Some of these pollutants that could be cleaned up are trash, chemicals, sediment, gasoline, motor oil, antifreeze, fertilizers, pesticides, and pet waste. Collecting some of these pollutants would go a long way of cleaning up our beaches and building tourist areas up. Many American beaches have been closed or have restrictions on them. A beach closure can lead to significant economic and social losses to coastal communities and their surrounding areas. Now this can refer to full closure’s, swimming advisories, and contamination advisories.

Using prisoners to clean the beach would be a cheap and affordable. It will also give the prisoners less of a chance to escape. And make people close to the road crews, feel safer and keeps them away from other citizens. This is also a chance for the prisoners to give back to the community and maybe work a plan to get some time lifted off their sentence. The cleanup of the beaches would bring money and business into the economy. Some of benefits can be with food trucks, beach wear and other beach supplies. Also, they would bring in people to surrounding business and hotels and motels.

 

Prisoner Labor Used to Clean Up BP Oil Spill

 

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2011/mar/15/prisoner-labor-used-to-clean-up-bp-oil-spill/