Current Events … How We Can Help.

As you should probably know, April 20th brought a 39 million gallons of oil into the gulf waters. 

You may have also noticed, it has been one month and eight days that I have decied not to address it.  I can’t, I can’t hardly read about it because it hurts my heart to think about that beautiful body of water to be invaded – by another resource of all things.

I can’t think about the coral that got damaged, the animals that have been injured, the anxiety that comes with thinking of how it could ever get restored to its original state. 

The Washington Post reported today that President Obama visited the Gulf Coast for the second time to see the oil approaching the shore.  What a day at the beach right?  The article reports that the ocean is blocked by “caution” tape and the beach is lined with pom poms to deter visitors, it also says that our President actually picking up several balls of tar the size of a nickel and dime. 

The reason I have been able to report on this extremely devastating event is because thre are several ways folks like you and me can help clean this up.

Besides actual clean up Events, BP is providing training for all volunteers and will determine what their task is:

Training Level Information:
Level 1 (Basic HSE Training) – This person would be a volunteer who would never come in contact with spilled oil (helping with beach cleanup, for example)

Level 2 (Contractors and Paraprofessionals) – This person would be a contractor who will be conducting work at the staging site Level 2 has a BP safety procedure that has to be instructed by someone who has been trained by BP or PEC Premier.

Level 3 (Wildlife Recovery and Rehabilitation) – This person would be a trained Wildlife Recovery & Rehabilitation volunteer, who will be helping with the clean-up of wildlife. It is a graded certification course. OSHA reviewed the Level 3 training package from PEC Premier and give special support for BP to use this training package, specifically for this incident. For this first wave of level 3 training, we are giving priority to the wildlife specialists and BP contractors. 

Level 4 – Responders who might have direct contact to petroleum (this would include boat captains and crew who are already contracted to BP). Those who are not contracted must work through the Vessel of Opportunity program. Safety, Marine and Hazwoper training is delivered if their vessel is selected to be contracted through that program.

 What level would you want to participate at?  Leave your comments here! or tweet to @greenthinking

Tagged as: BP, current events, Obama, oil, training, volunteer