Fears over oil's economic impact

Fears over oil's economic impact

A giant oil rig under construction looms over the small town of Moss Point, Mississippi, looking something like the Death Star from a Star Wars movie.

Like many other communities in the Gulf region, Moss Point is economically bound to the oil and gas industry. I spoke with Theresa Goryer, an elderly woman who works at a gas station in Moss Point. Her two sons have worked on offshore rigs.

"They make good money," Goryer said. "They give up a lot in their family life for it. It’s not an easy job out there on those rigs."

For most people here, the energy industry means one thing: jobs.

But now, as millions of barrels of crude gush from BP's ruptured rig, threatening a vast swath of coastline, people here are weighing the benefits of oil and gas against the potential environmental and economic cost.

Tourism hit

In Gulfport, a few miles west of Moss Point, John Kelly is the town's chief administrative officer. He was in a rush on Sunday morning at city hall, as the local government went into crisis mode.

"It could be catastrophic," Kelly said of the spill. "This area is a tourism destination."

On Sunday the waves were choppy, the wind was strong, and the rain fell in sheets. But in good weather, the pristine, white sand beaches of the Gulf coast make this area a magnet for vacationers.

At the end of May, the Memorial Day weekend marks the kickoff of the summer season for hotels, restaurants, shops and other services on the coast. Tourism is a $2bn a year business in Alabama alone.

But oil and tourists don't mix.

"Tourists are leaving," says Gulfport city council member FB “Rusty” Walker.

"We know it is already impacting us. We have a national problem where people believe we have oil on our beaches—and we probably will. We know its going to affect our tourism economy for a long time."

BP backlash

There is grumbling about what some see as a tardy response by the federal government to the spill, but most people here are turning their ire on British energy company BP.

"We're gonna hold them responsible for the clean up and we are gonna be a part of that, and you can bank on it," Walker said

The federal government is also putting pressure on BP, which recorded profits of nearly $14bn last year.

Ken Salazar, the US secretary of the interior, told an American TV talk show that "our job now is basically to keep a boot on the neck of BP" to ensure that it cleans up the spill and pays for the damage.

The company's top executives insist they are working as fast and as hard as they can. But many here on the threatened coast want action, not promises.

"I think that particular company should pay for all the jobs that will be lost and all the little businesses that are going to be hurt," Theresa Goryer fumed.

"It needs to come out of their pocket."