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by Mark Maxwell Abushady, NYC Film
“One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. So begins this film of the story of environmental activist Tim DeChristopher, who found himself in a position to bid on public land parcels opened to oil and gas development by the Bush Administration, and bid on them with no intention of developing them, thus at least delaying the development process. The area in question, part of the public lands in Utah, had been designated a “multiple use” area. However, with the decision to open the land to oil and gas development, “use” would have been narrowly focused on energy production. Roads, drill pads, holding ponds, and pipelines would follow. That’s the short story. The long story is more engaging, farther reaching, and potentially more impactful. Tim DeChristopher is well spoken; acting and speaking from the heart. This puts him at odds with our political system, oil and gas interests, and our legal system. To these, he pays the price of several of his young years. This is understandable only to those who place the strict letter of the law over moral conscience, as the auction was declared invalid by the Obama administration before Tim’s trial. However, Tim willingly serves his time, and entreats all to peaceful civil disobedience. “At this point of unimaginable threats on the horizon, this is what hope looks like. In these times of a morally bankrupt government that has sold out its principles, this is what patriotism looks like. With countless lives on the line, this is what love looks like, and it will only grow...” – Tim DeChristopher During the course of waiting through the many delays for a trial, Tim visits West Virginia and the town he grew up in. There he is confronted with mountain-top removal mining of coal, and notes the poor and closing towns, and a bulldozed graveyard in an area which was supposed to revive because of the energy industry’s interests there. Tim believes that his generation hasn’t had images of civil disobedience; “tangible examples of what it looks like when people take power and are committed to changing the system.” He notes that little use of civil disobedience have occurred thus far, but hopes to introduce it as a tool for change. “It’s not a matter of the majority. It’s a matter of conscience acts through the individual.”
On April 20th, 2010 a series of epic and devastating failures began, the effects of which will be felt long after many of us are gone. The first of these was the failing of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and the releasing of 200 million barrels of toxic crude into some of the richest and most bio-diverse waters of the world. Other failures ensued, and past failures were brought to light, including the failure of BP and government agencies to properly clean up the waters, the failure to set up a system of restitution that wasn’t rife with delays and burdensome paperwork, the failure to understand the nature of both community and business in the affected areas, the failure of the press to pursue truly investigative reporting and provide ongoing investigation of this spill, peoples health and livelihoods; that’s just a start. This film is the story of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig explosion and ensuing disaster as told by those most directly affected both personally and professionally. Many are brought to tears relating the issues and their treatment at the hands of corporate, governmental, and environmental agencies. Many of these issues are ongoing. A local paper noted the detection of oil and dispersant chemicals in crab eggs. The same issue heralded the opening of shrimping season. All those interviewed in the seafood industry had questions as to its safety. Especially for Louisiana residents who consume over 4 times the national average and thus consume significantly more toxins than what the percentages the FDA uses to determine safe levels of contaminants. Additionally, huge jumps in deformed, mutated and sick fish were seen, including shrimp born without eyes or eye sockets, and estimates of 20% - 50% of fish caught had lesions or sores. BP continues to advertise ‘the gulf’ states as destinations and as sources of the greatest seafood, but it is up to the fisherman and others in the seafood industry to pay for ongoing monitoring and safety checks. The liability is theirs as well. So much of the clean up was a visual clean up . . . if the public doesn’t see evidence of contamination, then BP’s liability is greatly reduced. Perception is everything, or close to it. Even though the dispersant ‘Corexit’ is banned in Europe due to its highly toxic nature, approximately 2 million gallons were sprayed and dispersed in the Gulf, causing the oil to sink, out of sight, below the surface. Time is spent examining the Exxon Valdez disaster, these many years since it was considered cleaned up. “Dig a few inches into the sand and oil will still well up,” notes Marine Toxicologist Riki Ott, Ph.D. Communities were wiped out as Exxon appealed judgments no less than 5 times and paid out a settlement which was a fraction of the original judgment. Regarding safety issues, after the Exxon Valdez spill, congress called upon Oil companies to dedicate a portion of profits to research clean up and safety issues. At an investigative hearing, it came to light that while BP has spent much on the development of new techniques and hardware, less than 0.0033% of profits were earmarked for research and development of safer practices.
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