Oil Spill Affecting Belmont BP Stations

It pales in comparison to the environmental damage being done, but at least two local business owners are feeling the affects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Sam Havre, who owns the BP gas station at 350 Pleasant St., said business has drastically declined since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion and resulting spill, which BP is being held responsible for by the U.S. government.

"It's definitely affecting business," said Havre, a Woburn resident.

"My regular customers still come in, but some people, I just don't know how they think, boycotting a dealer or gas station. All BP stations here in Belmont are all local businesses."

There have been nationwide efforts to boycott BP stations since the largest offshore spill in U.S. history, which has already contaminated the Gulf with an estimated more than 100 million gallons of oil and continues to increase. Although no formal protests have occurred outside Havre's station, he said his employees have been harassed.

"People come in here and give them grief," he said.

His station has less of a connection to BP than most people think, Havre said. BP, a British-based global energy company, sells gasoline to Green Valley, a distributor, who then sets the price and sells it to local dealers, like Havre.

Havre also owns the Shell gas station, across the street from his BP station, and a local Gulf station.

"People come into my Shell station and tell my employees, the same ones that work for me at BP, that they won't go to BP because of the mess they've made," he said.

Havre said he believes all sides are working diligently to cleanup the mess.

"Everybody feels bad about it," he said. "Yes, it's a tragedy but accidents happen."

Havre said other companies have had major spills, such as Exxon Valdez, which had a tanker leak 11 to 32 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, off the coast of Alaska, in 1989 after the vessel struck a reef.

He does understand that no matter what happens from now on, some people will still refuse to fill-up at his station.

"Some people are just going to see it that way," Havre said, "and there's nothing that I can do to stop them."

The cost of cleanup, which the White House has said BP is responsible for, has been estimated in the billions of dollars.

An owner of Brothers BP Inc. on Trapelo Road said his business has also been negatively affected by the spill. He was not available for further comments as of press time.