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FLASHBACK: Oil greenwashing campaign scammed Mr. Bill in 2005.

America’s Wetland Foundation, a front group of Shell Oil and other major oil companies that are responsible for the Gulf region’s ongoing destruction, has a long record of tricking people like Sandra Bullock into supporting its oil-soaked agenda. In 2005, Walter Williams — the creator of the Saturday Night Live character Mr. Bill and a longtime environmental activist — was commissioned by America’s Wetland to produce a “Mr. Bill Estuarian” series to “warn of what could happen if the wetlands were not shored up and a hurricane hit New Orleans.” After he created the videos, however, they were presented on Shell-branded kiosks all over New Orleans, and Williams pulled his support from the campaign, weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Now, Williams has issued a warning on NewOrleans.com for the supporters of the “Restore the Gulf” BP-disaster greenwashing campaign:

America’s Wetland is an insidious plot by the oil industry to commit Louisiana’s future share of offshore oil revenues to funding the state’s coastal restoration plan “Morganza To The Gulf,” which basically only protects Port Fouchon and the oil infrastructure. They want the American taxpayer to pay for the mess they made that is now endangering their very facilities. They’re trying to stick it, once again, to the ‘small people.’

Sandra Bullock and the other celebrities in the BP-sponsored “Restore the Gulf” campaign are not the first environmental heroes to be scammed into supporting the America’s Wetland Foundation front group. With any luck, they’ll be the last.

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