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Nungesser: One year since Gulf spill, 'Who's in charge?'

By Leinz Vales, CNN
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Nungesser still asking who's in charge?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser is among those dealing with the spill
  • "A year later, I can't look you in the eye and tell you who's in charge," he says
  • Oil continues to hit the shores of Louisiana, Nungesser tells CNN's Eliot Spitzer
  • "We need full disclosure by BP and the Coast Guard, so this never happens again"

(CNN) -- A year after the onset of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, one of the most prominent Louisiana figures dealing with the disaster's aftermath remains frustrated.

"A year later, I can't look you in the eye and tell you who's in charge," Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said in an interview with CNN's "In The Arena" host Eliot Spitzer.

"They've changed out so many BP and Coast Guard people, just when you get somebody you think you can trust and make promises about cleaning...they're gone."

Nungesser pointed out that oil remains in the marshes. He admitted that although the amount of the oil is not at the same level as it was during the crisis, the oil continues to hit the shores of Louisiana, especially when a storm approaches the coast.

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"The oil is being picked up off the bottom of Bay Jimmy, slammed into the marsh. It's killed the grass. There's nothing to hold the mud together." Nungesser added,

"We've begged for bank stabilization,...nothing's really been done out here."

In a BP video, "A Year of Change," Group Chief Executive Bob Dudley apologizes for the crisis and highlights what BP did in solving the problem.

"In everything we've done since that day, we've tried to act as a responsible company should. The short film explains what we've done." Dudley says,

"It shows how we responded to the accident. How we acted to stop the leak. It shows how we worked with thousands of local people to clean the ocean and the shoreline."

Two months after the Gulf oil spill, BP agreed to create a $20 billion fund to help victims who were affected by the oil spill. Since the incident, BP has reportedly spent over $16 billion in claims and clean up.

Spitzer pushed Nungesser to address reports of elected officials profiting off the recovery efforts.

"Anybody that took advantage of it should be prosecuted." Nungesser said. "But let's not throw the attention."

Nungesser said he wanted better transparency as to what is being done to continue the recovery of the Gulf Coast.

"We need full disclosure by BP and the Coast Guard, so this never happens again," said Nungesser.