Laurie Lambert's blog

An open letter to BP and President Obama

Laurie Lambert — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:21:06 +0000

Dear BP and Mr. President, My name is Laurie. I’m a 38-year-old resident of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I love this place. It has been my home my entire life, and home to most of my memories – both good and bad. I was born in Louisiana and lived in Gretna, LA until I was about 4 years old. My family built a home here in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi right around 1977. Hurricane Katrina destroyed that house that I grew up in. But we moved on. My family, friends and neighbors rebuilt.

I remember fishing with my grandfather and my cousins as a young kid. My grandfather taught me how to clean and eat the fish I caught. Back then, there were no concerns of being sick from eating those little fishies. It was a treat to catch, clean and watch either my grandmother or my mom cook dinner, from what I caught from our waters down here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I remember driving up and down our beaches as a teenager. I remember hanging out with boyfriends and girlfriends at the beaches here when I was a young adult. For most of my life, “home” meant good memories like this.

Well, damn you BP, for not allowing the children of today to have those wonderful memories as I do. Lately we’ve been building mostly bad memories, thanks to you – Memories of waves of oil washing ashore, dead dolphins, fish, and sea turtles, and sick neighbors and friends. Now, parents and grandparents alike have to worry about if it is safe to eat Gulf seafood. My question to you is, how do you sleep at night? 

A decaying dolphin in Gulfport, Mississippi, 10/31/2011 photo by Laurel Lockamy.

Our beaches in Hancock County now literally look like a mess and even in most parts smell like cr**. Damn you BP for the children today seeing dead fish scattered on our beaches. Damn you BP for all the dead sea turtles and dolphins now washing up on our beaches. And most of all, damn you BP for all the bad you’re doing by not telling the truth to the folks who do not know the real truth, like we on the coast do.  

And yes, Mr. President and BP, damn you for the thousands of sick folks down here that have no clue that their illnesses are caused by chemical exposure. And while I have your attention, both of you, y’all need to get with your buddy Kenneth R. Feinberg and the Gulf Coast Claims Facility and pay these deserving people their claims. How are these parents, who can barely pay their utilities, their mortgages or to put food on the table, supposed to explain to their children for the second year in a row that there will be no Santa this Christmas? Explain that to me, BP and Mr. President. 

How can you give my neighboring city of Pass Christian $100,000, but not put any of that to use in properly cleaning our beaches or helping the sick that have been exposed to these toxins? How can you consider simply covering up oil and tar balls with new sand and dirt “cleaning up” the beaches? The tide will keep uncovering the mess and exposing the oil and dispersants.

Damn you for that BP and Mr. President! 

Also, are you aware of the fact that more than 400 dead dolphins have been found on Gulf Coast beaches since the BP spill began last April? (Source: CNN).

Confronting July 4th Beachgoers about the BP disaster

Laurie Lambert — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:44:03 +0000

At the last minute I planned a friendly gathering in Gulfport, Mississippi for the July 4th weekend. Well, it ended up just being myself and my friend, fellow Mississippi Gulf Coast activist Laurel Lockamy. That was alright with us, because we accomplished what we set out to do: to inform, educate and possibly save a child or someone from getting sick from being in the waters of our Gulf.

Not only are we dealing with the after effects of the BP spill, we also have the effects of a sewage leak that happened last month in the Gulfport area, that was spewing out into the Mississippi Sound. Still, parents and their children continue swimming in those waters.

All photos by Laurel Lockamy.

We posted numerous signs by the road to bring attention to beach goers and motorists just passing by. Then Laurel and I walked the beaches, asking beachgoers about their weekend and what they thought about our beaches.

We got mixed reviews.

Laurel stopped and talked with a family whose children were swimming in the water. They were from north Mississippi, in Gulfport for the holiday weekend. Laurel explained that we were just trying to bring awareness to the public about how dirty our waters and beaches were. She explained to them how many dead sea turtles, dolphins and other marine life she and others have found on our coast, well over a year after the BP oil disaster began (in April 2010).

The family said they had noticed how black the sand looked and that they were wondering if it was from the oil. They told Laurel if we were out there doing this in the middle of the 100 degree heat, than we must be serious about it. They told their kids to get out of the water.

Just that situation alone made this whole day worth it to Laurel and myself. We got our message across to one family and possibly saved their children from getting ill. Now they will go home and tell someone else, and so on. That is how we have to warn unsuspecting tourists and locals right now, until we get the media and local officials to step up and tell the truth of what is going on.

I then came across a local, a young man probably in his late twenties riding his bike, with his little boy in a wagon behind him. He told me that the dead marine life is normal for our area. I disagreed and shared some information to prove myself, but he really was against me. So, I simply thanked him and went on.

But, I encountered him later, this time with a women about his same age on her bike. As they were reading my signs they said, “Oh come on, why would you say that? You are going to scare away our tourists!” This sign read, “2010 Deep Water Horizon Disaster is still killing people and marine life.”

I then tried telling them about all of the sea turtles, dolphins and other marine life that have washed up on our beaches just this year. I told them about the oily sheens we still get, and that when the low tide goes out there are still tar balls and Corexit foam on our beaches. I told them people need to be aware of this so they can make their own decisions whether or not to go to the beach, and whether or not to let their children swim in the water.

I was deeply frustrated but kept my cool. I just reminded myself I will run into people like this that are going to disagree.

I then just wished them a happy and safe holiday weekend and went on my way.

During the time we were out there, a woman and her daughter stopped us and told us there was a dead dolphin floating over by the pier. They brought us over to show us, but the dolphin was gone. Luckily, the woman’s daughter had taken a photograph with her phone of the dolphin floating in the water. Another beachgoer later told Laurel that IMMS, the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies, came out just a bit ago and removed the dolphin.

IMMS usually never comes out that quick and to remove anything. But since it was a holiday weekend with such a large crowd, it was gone quicker then we could blink our eyes. Normally, when IMMS comes out, they count and spray paint the dead sea turtles or the dolphins, and then leave the carcass there to rot days and days on our beaches. Just this past April, a dolphin sat on our beach in Pass Christian, Mississippi for 5 days. We suspect it was buried in the sand rather than removed, because the smell of death was still very clear days after it was gone.

While we were on the beach, a WLOX TV 13 van pulled in. I asked the reporter if was he looking for us. He said he was there to do a story about the snowball stand but they were not there. So here was our chance to get our message into the mainstream media. The reporter interviewed me as Laurel took photographs. He then talked to other beachgoers, asking them what they thought of our beaches.
Laurie Lambert (photo by Laurel Lockamy).

When the news aired at 5:30 pm that day (

Why I quit selling Gulf seafood

Laurie Lambert — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:42:03 +0000

Just this past week I decided to leave my job as a food server at a casino in Hancock County, Mississippi. I’ve worked in tourism for 15 years. I just could not continue to serve Gulf seafood to unsuspecting tourists and locals after the BP disaster. There were other reasons for my leaving as well, but risking people’s health and pretending things are normal is totally against what I believe in.

It started when a random guest asked me where our lemon fish comes from, known down here as cobia. I asked our kitchen staff, and they finally received the answer from one of the higher up chefs; "It comes from the Gulf." My reaction, as a concerned server and coastal resident, was, "Are you serious? Why are we serving Gulf seafood?" They said, "The FDA said it is safe."

I started questioning and challenging this, knowing that the oil is still out there and the ).

The more I learned, the more my obsession with this disaster grew. It has totally ticked me off. Dolphins are washing up dead daily. People have unexplained health issues that our doctors are not aware of and not trained to treat. People are sick. People are dying. and other chemicals from BP’s crude in the bloodstream.

From the beginning, BP and government officials’ decisions seemed aimed at covering this entire thing up, rather than cleaning it up. Spraying of the chemical dispersant Corexit diminished the size of the slick on the surface. But all it did was make it less visible and sink it to the bottom, killing numerous organisms and marine life and allowing the oil to make its way into the food chain. The local government does not want people to know what is going on down here, so that we do not scare tourists away. BP workers and clean-up workers were told not to speak to anyone about anything or they would lose their jobs and have their lives destroyed.  

Like the tourism industry, the fishing industry (with the help of the FDA) has been pushing their marketing that the “seafood is safe.” But many commercial fishermen disagree. I disagree. So many others disagree.

Just yesterday I met a couple who owned a restaurant in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi for many years. They finally closed their doors because they did not feel right about serving seafood from the Gulf. Due to their concern for our residents and tourists, they are about to lose everything.

In this context, we need our local and national media to cover these issues. There has been a virtual media blackout on this catastrophe. What is the reason for lack of coverage and support?    What is it going to take to have the Media report accurately on the ongoing BP oil disaster? 200 people dying like the dolphins?

Independent scientists and journalists are working hard to share the truth of what is going on down here on the Gulf, but it is hard to combat BP’s multi-million dollar marketing campaign, and federal agencies that back it up.

Rather than being a part of the problem, I’ve decided to become a part of the solution. I could no longer serve Gulf seafood so I got myself out of the food and beverage and tourism industry, which is all I have known most of my life.

I do not have a large savings account and I have bills due. But, I just could not morally sell the seafood that we carried. I have decided I want to dedicate my life and time to being your Media down here on the Gulf, until we can get heard and results are seen. I will be contributing stories mostly about our residents, local people like you and me. I'll focus on health concerns, as well as any other concerns I come across for the people about our environment and safety. I look forwarded to being a bigger part of this each and every day until we get the needed help down here on our Gulf Coast.

Laurie Gayle Lambert was born in Gretna, Louisiana, and grew up in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Self-described as "just your average resident born and raised on the Gulf Coast," Laurie watched the Gulf Coast grow and fall apart and regrow since Hurricane Katrina. At almost 38 years old, Laurie left her job serving seafood in a casino, to raise awareness and speak truth about the ongoing BP disaster. She says "I have watched our Gulf Coast begin to die, from dead marine life washing up on our shores to friends and neighbors getting ill from the BP disaster. Until the media and government steps in. I will not stop spreading the word. We are the Media!" You may follow Laurie on her Facebook Page @

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