The Obama administration, rushing to reopen the Gulf of Mexico for fishing after BP Plc’s oil spill, conducted inadequate tests on seafood, helping erode demand for the region’s catch, the Sierra Club said.
“They threw the seafood industry to the wolves in order to say ‘mission accomplished,’” Louie Miller, senior regional representative for the environmental group in Mississippi, said today in an interview after a Washington news conference.
The public isn’t convinced seafood is safe after the oil spill because the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released data on 17 shrimp samples and doesn’t have a test for the dispersant used in the cleanup, Miller said. Because the waters are open, fishermen can’t file claims against BP for continuing economic damages, he said.
U.S. Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, faulted NOAA officials at an August hearing for releasing a report downplaying the amount of oil spilled in the Gulf before the findings had been fully reviewed.
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