May 2012
1 post
Gulf Fisherman Reel from Seafood Troubles
POSTED: 10:25 AM Thursday, May 24, 2012 BY: The Associated Press LAFITTE —
Gloom infects the hard-working shrimp and crab docks of this gritty fishing town as the second full year of fishing since the catastrophic 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill kicks into high gear. Usually folks are upbeat and busy in May, when shrimpers get back to work in Louisiana’s rich waters. This spring, though, catches...
April 2012
7 posts
Troubled Waters: Southern Studies Institute Index...
INSTITUTE INDEX: Gulf recovery two years after the BP disaster Date on which BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and burned: 4/20/2010 Number of rig workers killed: 11 Number of days the oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico: 87 Gallons of crude oil spilled: about 200 million Gallons of chemical dispersants applied to the slick: 1.8 million Peak length in miles of Gulf Coast shoreline where...
Troubled Waters: Gulf Communities Still Realling...
Facing South is your weekly source for in-depth coverage and fresh perspectives on the South, published by the Institute for Southern Studies.
On April 20, 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 workers and injuring 17 others. For three months the well gushed unchecked, sending 200 million gallons of crude oil into Gulf waters.
Two years later, BP...
Troubled Waters: Two Years into the BP Disaster
Facing South is your weekly source for in-depth coverage and fresh perspectives on the South, published by the Institute for Southern Studies.
Two years After the BP Drilling Disaster, Gulf...
By Jordan Flaherty http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/04/20/the-aftermath-of-deepwater-horizon/
On April 20, 2010, a reckless attitude towards the safety of the Gulf Coast by BP, as well as Transocean and Halliburton, caused a well to blow out 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. As the world watched in horror, underwater cameras showed a seemingly endless flow of oil – hundreds of...
New Orleans Green Building Resource Center Events
Global Green USA proudly partners with the AIA, New Orleans Chapter and USGBC, LA Chapter to present a monthly panel series on issues of sustainability and environmental responsibility. Students from University of Louisiana School of Architecture and Design will be presenting their poster sessions, featuring the work of fourth year architecture students. We’ll learn more about these...
National Wildlife Federation says Gulf of Mexico...
Tues, April 10, 2012 ~ by Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune Two years after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, there are still clear signs that the environment along the northern Gulf of Mexico, especially in Louisiana, continues to be affected by oil pollution, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Wildlife Federation. “Although the oil has stopped flowing from the...
Sea Foam in Bayou La Batre, AL Found to Contain...
On February 27, 2012, concerned citizens and LEAN members Dennis and Lori Bosarge collected samples of water and foam from the beach in Bayou La Batre, AL. While foam in general is a common and natural occurrence along the Gulf Coast; lately the dark color and persistence of the foam has been somewhat unusual according to some residents. Laboratory analysis of the foam did confirm the presence...
February 2012
3 posts
FUNERAL FOR THE GULF OF MEXICO
February 27, 2012 ~ ROBERT DESMARAIS SULLIVAN (aiglefort@gmail.com or 757.642.8607)
WHAT: Funeral service and procession for Gulf of Mexico, recently murdered by BP, Transocean and Halliburton under suspicious circumstances. Several government agencies appear to have been accomplices after the fact. Signs and costumes are requested in honor of the deceased, who is survived by her ailing...
Mardi Gras, Check. BP "Trial of the Century" Here...
by Robert Verchick ~ LEAN: Louisiana Environmental Action Network & Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper Well, another magnificent Mardi Gras has ended, and at this point, I’d normally be slouched on the sofa sipping a tomato juice (neat) and sorting beads. But not this year. That’s because next week, squadrons of lawyers, journalists, petroleum engineers, and fisher folk are scheduled...
Judge: BP contract shielded Halliburton in spill
January 31, 2012 ~ By Cain Burdeau, Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that Halliburton, the Houston-based company that supplied cement for the ill-fated Macondo well that blew in the Gulf of Mexico, may not have to pay many of the pollution claims that resulted from the catastrophic spill because it was shielded in a contract with well-owner BP. Still, U.S. District...
Long-term effects of Gulf oil spill on shrimp,...
January 30, 2012 ~ by Benjamin Aexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune Gulf of Mexico shrimp, along with all seafood, has been tested extensively to assure that it’s safe for consumption in the wake of the BP oil spill, but the long-term effects on fish species from that oil, and the chemicals used to fight it, are still largely unknown. Possible effects on the growth and mortality of Gulf shrimp...
January 2012
5 posts
Gulf of Mexico oil spill environmental data drives...
Jan. 12, 2012- Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune BP’s chief environmental scientist assigned to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Thursday said the company, working with state and federal trustees, remains on a fast pace aimed at restoring resources damaged during the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Briefing reporters by phone in advance of a month-long series of hearings on proposed...
Gulf Coast Children Experiencing Health Challenges →
In the wake of the BP Oil Disaster many Gulf Coast residents continue to face health challenges.
BP Oil Spill: Prosecutors Reportedly Preparing...
Dec. 29, 2011 ~ The Huffington Post Federal prosecutors are preparing the first criminal charges against BP in connection with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the worst of its kind in U.S. history, the Wall Street Journal reports. The charges, reportedly to be revealed early next year, center around several engineers and may include providing false information about the risks of drilling in...
December 2011
6 posts
Trustees approve projects to restore wetlands,...
by Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune Dec. 14, 2011 In a small nibble at what is expected to be a very large apple, federal and state officials announced approval Wednesday of the first $57 million for projects to reverse the damage caused by the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, including $28 million for Louisiana projects. Louisiana’s share will build more than 100 acres of...
Environmental groups file suit to nullify...
by Richard Thompson - The Time Picayune - Dec. 13, 2011 Environmental groups filed suit in federal court Tuesday to challenge the first oil and natural gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico since last year’s BP oil spill. The lawsuit was filed in District Court in Washington, D.C., by Oceana, Defenders of Wildlife, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Center for Biological...
2012-2017 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas... →
From the BOEM: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Learn about the 5-year program.
Science of the Spill: Presentations on Emerging...
by LEAN: Lousiana Environmental Action Network 7 Lower mississippi Riverkeepers ~ Dec. 8, 2011 On December 5th, 2011, The Sierra Club, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, the Steps Coalition and Mississippi Coalition for Vietnamese-American Fisher Folk and Families sponsored an educational forum to discuss the BP Oil Disaster and its impacts to our environment and communities, and how Gulf...
Targeting oil spill fines to ecosystem restoration...
Dec. 5, 2011 ~ by Bruce Alpert, The Times-Picayune WASHINGTON — A new report by Duke University economists says legislation that would target Clean Water Act penalties from last year’s BP oil spill to ecosystem restoration could be a big job generator, including for firms facing cuts in oil and gas industry work. The report was released Monday in advance of Wednesday’s House...
Ken Feinberg expands oil spill claims payments for...
Nov 30, 2011 By David Hammer, The Times-Picayune In a significant move for the gulf coast fishing industry, Gulf oil spill claims czar Kenneth Feinberg decided Wednesday to double compensation payments for shrimpers and crabbers. Feinberg announced that his Gulf Coast Claims Facility will compensate shrimp and crab harvesters at four times their documented 2010 losses from now on. “The...
November 2011
5 posts
Audit finds Shaw overbilled for sand berms after...
NOLA.com ~ The Assoc. Press ~ Nov. 8, 2011 The Shaw Group may have overbilled the state about $500,000 after it was hired by Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration to build $250 million worth of sand berms along the Gulf of Mexico to block oil spewing from an out-of-control BP well from washing ashore, according to the state legislative auditor. A legislative auditor’s report Monday said...
Gulf Shrimp Are Scarce This Season; Answers, Too
The New York Times ~ Oct. 11, 2011 by Campbell Robertson LAFITTE, La. — The dock at Bundy’s Seafood is quiet, the trucks are empty and a crew a fraction of the normal size sits around a table waiting for something to do. But the most telling indicator that something is wrong is the smell. It smells perfectly fine. “There’s no shrimp,” explained Grant Bundy, 38. The dock should smell like a place...
Gulf of Mexico oil spill survey conducted by...
By The Associated Press ~ Oct 1, 2011 About 100 student researchers from the School of Social Work at The University of Southern Mississippi on the Gulf Coast are conducting a survey of coastal residents on the effects of last year’s BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi Press reports that the survey was set to take place Saturday. Tom Osowski of the university said 260...
The Arctic and the Lessons of the Gulf
The New York Times Editorial Section~ Published: October 20, 2011 The Interior Department has been inching closer to approving Royal Dutch Shell’s ambitious plans to drill for what are believed to be huge deposits of oil in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska. In August, it approved an exploratory drilling plan for the Beaufort Sea, and two weeks ago it upheld the validity of leases in the neighboring...
GASLAND- a film about Fracking
– ROBERT DESMARAIS SULLIVAN, Coordinator, Social Justice Team, First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans, aiglefort@gmail.com
Join us to think about the consequences for our health and our environment, if hydrolic fracturation, also called ‘fracking’, begins in Louisiana, as is currently being discussed.
WHAT: ‘GASLAND’, film about fracking in Pennsylvania WHEN: Sunday, Dec. 4,...
October 2011
1 post
LEAN, LMRK, Waterkeeper Alliance & Gulf Coast...
Louisiana Environmental Action Network & Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER© Oct. 13, 2011
New Orleans, LA- Louisiana Environmental Action Network and Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper along with Waterkeeper Alliance and several Gulf Coast Waterkeeper organizations announced today that Taylor Energy Co. LLC, Samsung C&T America, Inc., and Korea National Oil Corp. have been put on formal notice...
September 2011
7 posts
Non-Violent Direct Action Protest at The Shrimp...
A Non-Violent Direct Action Protest at The Shrimp Festival against the Big Polluter BP and to make the call for Clean Energy Alternatives and Jobs in Gulf Coast Communties! The event will be held in Gulf Shores, AL, on Oct.15, 2011, Noon - 4pm. For more information, please go to the link below… ...
BP Busted, Again: LSU Scientist Proves Fresh Oil...
By Stuart H. Smith (504) 593-9600 http://www.stuarthsmith.com/bp-busted-again-lsu-scientist-proves-fresh-oil-surfacing-at-deepwater-horizon-site-is-from-macondo-reservoir The debate is over, and both BP and our federal government have some serious explaining to do. Upending repeated denials from the British oil giant and ongoing obfuscation from NOAA officials, a Louisiana State University...
Resources Available for Nonprofit Organizations...
NEW ORLEANS - The Greater New Orleans Foundation is hosting an information session for nonprofit organizations serving populations in Assumption, St. Charles, St. James, and St. John the Baptist parishes to determine if they are eligible to receive funding from the Coastal Communities Fund. Through the Coastal Communities Fund, the Foundation will be awarding grants to nonprofit organizations...
Gulf oil spill investigators silenced, U.S. House...
Sept. 22, 2011 by David Hammer ~ The Times Picayune A U.S. House committee was forced to postpone a hearing on the findings of a federal investigation into the causes of the BP oil spill because the Obama administration suddenly refused to let investigators testify, the committee chairman said. The alleged silencing of the members of the joint Coast Guard and Interior Department investigative team...
Crude Oil discharges in Bayou Depont and North...
Around the World ~ Sept. 16, 2011
Louisianna - The Coast Guard continues the response to a report of a crude oil discharge in Bayou Dupont and north Barataria Bay, Thursday. The Coast Guard has determined that approximately 1,470 gallons of oil have been recovered from the site of the oil discharge in Bayou Dupont, near Wilkinson Canal in Jefferson Parish. Response crews have secured the source...
BP oil washed up on Fourchon
By Nikki Buskey Staff Writer Published: Monday, September 12, 2011 at 6:03 p.m. The wind and waves of Tropical Storm Lee ate away at the shore of Fourchon Beach Labor Day weekend and left a miles-long stretch littered with tar balls and cleanup equipment abandoned after last year’s BP spill. BP has reactivated cleanup on the island, sending 90 cleanup workers to the beach for the next 30 days with...
Oil slick in Gulf resembles chemical footprint of...
By Virginia Chamlee ~ The American Independent September 13, 2011
URL: http://www.americanindependent.com/193644/oil-slick-in-gulf-resembles-chemical-footprint-of-deepwater-locals-fear-another-major-spill Though the mainstream media have left the story alone, reports of a new slick of oil spotted about 40 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, near BP’s Maconda well, have many concerned ...
August 2011
5 posts
Nowhere to Hide: New Damning Evidence That Oil At...
[Kreweoftruth] Nowhere to Hide: New Damning Evidence That Oil At BP’s Deepwater Horizon Site Is From Macondo Well (PHOTOS) By Stuart H. Smith BP’s renewed denials of our allegation that oil is rising from its Macondo Well are withering under damning new evidence. With all eyes once again on the site that launched the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, experts from LSU to UC Berkeley...
Oil Rising from Macondo Well: BP Hires Fleet of 40...
By Stuart H. Smith http://www.stuarthsmith.com/oil-rising-from-macondo-well-bp-hires-fleet-of-40-shrimp-boats-to-lay-boom-around-deepwater-horizon-site
No, this isn’t a post from last year. Oil from the Macondo Well site is fouling the Gulf anew – and BP is scrambling to contain both the crude and the PR nightmare that waits in the wings. Reliable sources tell us that BP has hired 40 boats from...
Concerning the arrests during the Non-Violent...
By Cherri Foytlin ~ in her own words The day before yesterday, on August 4, 2011, one year after the President of our United States stood on national television and said that 75% of the oil that had spewed into our Gulf was gone, I was booked into the New Orleans Parish Police lock-up with the charge of Criminal Trespassing. The day before, I had been called by the Louisiana State Police...
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT
Our partners at the Government Accountability Project will be in Louisiana and other Gulf coast states from August 10th - 16th to take statements from oil spill clean-up personnel (former or current, public or private-sector), and residents with health or safety concerns believed to be related to the BP Oil Spill. We are encouraging all of our members with first hand information about the spill,...
Environmental Justice and Non-Violent Rally...
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4: WHAT: Teach-In for Unification for Environmental Justice in the Gulf Coast WHEN: Thursday, August 4, 10 am-1pm WHERE: First Unitarian Church, 5212 Claiborne, NOLA NOTES: Confirmed speakers to date - LaTosha Brown GCF, Anne Rolfes - LABB, Aaron Viles - GRN, Dr. Mike Robicheau, Darlene Campbell - Immaculate Heart, Stephen Bradberry - The Alliance Insitute, Devin Martin - Sierra...
July 2011
5 posts
Tulane, community groups to study oil spill's...
July 7, 2011 ~ City Business staff report ~ New Orleans City Business Tulane University will research whether the months-long oil spill that resulted from Deepwater Horizon disaster last April could have any potential health impacts on pregnant women and those in their reproductive years. The National Institute of Health has awarded Tulane’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine a $6.5...
United Commercial Fisherman's Association
July 5, 2011 Louisiana Environmental Action Network & Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER It has been well over a year since the oil disaster of 2010 began in the Gulf of Mexico; it’s end however is no where in sight. As time goes on and problems are left unresolved their impacts increase with each passing day. This past week the Alliance for Justice released a report describing the many...
Drilling advisers to meet in New Orleans July...
June 25, 2011 by The Times- Picayune Staff The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement will hold the second meeting of the new Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee at the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel in New Orleans on July 13 from 1 to 5 p.m. and July 14 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The meeting is open to the public; there will be space for about 100 visitors on a first-come,...
U.S. House approves bill to limit EPA authority...
Jun 25, 2011 by the Times-Picayune Staff The U.S. House passed legislation last week that would give the Environmental Protection Agency six months to approve or reject permits for drilling and force the agency to measure potential air pollution from offshore drilling on land, not at the drilling site. “We are determined to get our domestic energy production up and running again, despite...
June 2011
4 posts
Testimonial of Sick Gulf Resident Brandon Casanova →
From LEAN: Louisiana’s Environmental Action Network & Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPERS
Link to the video of testimonial by Brandon Casanova
(posted 6/8/2011- link viability unknown as time passes)
Toxicologist Compiles the Science Behind Oil...
June 3, 2011 ~ Louisiana Environmental Action Network & Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPERS As we all know, people along the Gulf Coast are still suffering effects from the events of the oil spill of 2010. For over a year now, LEAN/LMRK, along with many others, have been working to bring attention to this problem and ultimately find solutions. Perhaps the greatest obstacle we face in trying to...
Oversight Committee Meeting of the Gulf Coast...
The members of the Joint Select Committee on Oversight of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility chaired by Representative Joe Harrison will meet as follows: DATE: Monday, June 6, 2011 TIME: 1:30 p.m. PLACE: House Committee Room 4 PURPOSE: Discussion of claims submission and processing by the Gulf Coast Claims Facility
54 ENVIRONMENTAL, FISHING, CHEMICAL REFORM, AND...
LEAN: Louisiana Environmental Action Network & Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper New Orleans, LA May 23, 2011 - Today, a coalition of 154 organizations urged EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius to take immediate action to avert the growing health crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. The groups, which include a variety of public health, environmental...
May 2011
4 posts
New Orleans family oyster company sees only dark...
By Brett Anderson, The Times-Picayune ~ May 15, 2011 Al Sunseri is livid. It’s not his usual disposition. Last June, when Sunseri announced the BP oil spill was forcing his family’s company, P&J Oyster Company, to cease regular business operations, his tone was measured. The move cost 13 of the company’s employees their jobs — everyone not named Sunseri — leaving...