thanks for nothing, bp

The Daily Beast has another story on Vietnamese fishermen whose lives have been rocked by BP's catastrophic oil spill: BP Leaves Immigrants High and Dry. A third of the fishers affected by the spill are Vietnamese, and they don't have equal access to restitution payments and other aid:

It's a little-known aspect of the oil spill story: An estimated third to a half of the 11,000 commercial fishermen impacted by the disaster are Vietnamese, yet BP and Coast Guard officials have done precious little to accommodate this community.

BP's claims office in Delaware lacks Vietnamese-speaking adjusters, in spite of the oil company's "intent to compensate fishers within 48 hours," according to BP spokesperson Hugh Depland.

The fishers today have two options: Sign up for BP's "Vessels of Opportunity" program, where they can be trained to deploy booms and skim oil, or file a claim, which would reimburse them up to $5,000 for their losses. The first option is less than ideal, as only a fraction of those trained will be awarded jobs. The second option is stymied not only by language barriers, but also because $5,000 will hardly make up for what could end up being a year or more of severely depleted income.

Hey BP, how about a third option: hire Vietnamese American fishers fluent in English to translate for and assist other fishers through the cumbersome restitution process. A community is essentially being forced to rebuild. Again. No thanks to BP, which appears to have absolutely no clue.