Making Contact Radio: BP 5 Years Later

Five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, not everyone is “back to normal.” On this edition, we follow BP’s trail from the Bayous of Louisiana to the fine art galleries of London.

Host:  Andrew Stelzer
Contributing Producer: Anna Simonton

FEATURING

Antonia Juhasz, investigative Journalist
Monique Verdin & Beau Verdin,Houma tribe members
David Gauthe, community organizer
Thomas DarDar, United Houma Nation Chief
Mark Miller, Southern Utah University History professor
Mel Evans, author of Artwash: Big Oil and the Arts

SEGMENTS

Houma Tribe Fights for their Existence 5 Years After BP

Reporter Anna Simonton takes us down to Southern Louisiana, where the Houma people have been battling BP–and the entire oil industry–for decades, as they struggle to maintain their community’s very existence.

Antonia Juhasz on BP and the Gulf, 5 years After Deepwater Horizon

We speak with author, analyst, and oil industry expert Antonia Juhasz. She’s been following BP since even before the Deepwater Horizon spill, going back to her 2008 book, “The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry and What We Must Do to Stop It.”

Keeping Big Oil out of Big Art

We go to BP’s corporate hometown, London England. For the past decade, going back even before the gulf coast spill, a coalition of artists has been subverting the oil giant’s efforts to greenwash its reputation through sponsorship of the art world, and specifically, the Tate, one of the most highly regarded art-institutions in the world.

Listen to the interview with Antonia:

Listen to the entire episode (also available on Making Contact):