BP Oil Spill Complicates Obama's Clean Energy Push
WASHINGTON, April 19, 2011— -- One year after the largest oil spill in the nation's history began unfolding along the Gulf Coast, George Moorman of Lucedale, Miss., says he and hundreds of other former BP sub-contractors hired to clean up the mess continue to suffer from its consequences.
"It's horrible down there, still," Moorman, 52, told ABC News as he took part in a protest Monday outside the White House. He said oil continues to wash ashore along with dead wildlife, and that the workers who toiled in 100-degree heat for months last summer have become sick after inhaling the toxic fumes.
"We're not here to get a check. We're here to get it right," he said.
The refrain has become a common one for victims of the spill and eco-activists who say the Obama administration and Congress have failed to keep their promises of tougher environmental regulation and new policies to wean the country from its addiction to oil.
There has been no major legislative action on the environment in the past year, despite Obama's calls to curtail offshore drilling and promote ambitious new goals for clean energy.
The House passed the Waxman-Markey energy bill in 2009, which would among other things, cap emissions and increase energy efficiency in buildings, home appliances and power plants. But Democrats failed in several attempts to move similar legislation in the Senate, and with the Republican takeover of the House, prospects now seem even dimmer.
