Ian Somerhalder: The Gulf of Mexico is GONE!
Ian Somerhalder‘s activism in efforts to help his home state of Louisiana recover from the Gulf oil disaster have been well-documented in this space. But the “Vampire Diaries” star says he’s still “beyond angry and beyond sad” at the state of the Gulf.
“I grew up on those estuaries,” he tells Zap2it. “I literally grew up on a marsh, freshwater bayous that run into a saltwater lake. The connection is like no other. The nutrients, the fruit of the waters, literally fed me and grew me into the guy I am. That’s a connection similar to what you have with your parents. It goes very, very deep.”
Nearly three months after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, causing the massive spill, Somerhalder questions the government’s response.
“The Gulf of Mexico could have been saved,” he says, making it clear he’s speaking only for himself. “It was destroyed by lack of leadership.
“In five or 10 years we will understand what truly happened — why President Obama didn’t federalize it, and why he has been a talking head for BP — when the smoke clears and the oil literally settles,” he says.
“It is a sad and strange coincidence of how much money BP gave to President Obama. There is no change or hope. This should have been federalized as a national disaster, and we will find out eventually what happened and why it happened this way. It doesn’t matter — the Gulf of Mexico is gone.”
