On Monday, I had the privilege to take another flyover to document the environmental consequences in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac. A special thanks is deserved by pilot, Skipper Tornsmeire, and the nonprofit, Southwings, for making this flight possible. This was a joint flight between GRN, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, and the Lower Mississippi River Keeper.
You may recall that I took my first post-Isaac flyover on Sunday, September 2nd and brought back images of flooded out coal terminals, refineries and communities in Plaquemines Parish. Click here to see some of those images in an article in the Times Picayune. While we flew over all of those same locations again on this latest flight, I have included herein photos only of other areas that I did not get to in my initial flight including, but not limited to, the flooded out Stolthaven chemical plant, numerous leaking storage tanks found throughout the flight, clean-up crews on the beaches of Grand Isle, and the marshes of Bay Batistse.
You may also recall that I took the convoy down into lower Plaquemines last week and took a boat into Bay Batiste where fresh, liquid oil was coating miles of marsh. That oil has since been confirmed by Ed Overton at LSU to have been a match to the BP Macondo well. Myself and the guys I was with that day from Greenpeace collected additional samples which were sent to an independent lab and we are awaiting the results of those tests.
Anyway, as you browse through the photos, be sure to enlarge the slideshow on your screen and click show info on the top right so that you can read a brief description of each image. When you see an image of leaking oil, you can be assured that I have filed reports with the National Response Center and have had numerous discussions with the Coast Guard whereby I provide them with detailed information that they need to investigate such as date, time, GPS stamp, etc. Anna Hyrbyk from the Louisiana Bucket Brigade was on Monday’s flight with me and also filed numerous NRC reports.
We are now two weeks out from Hurricane Isaac’s landfall in Southeast Louisiana. Many of the communities hardest hit have a long road to recovery. Some of these communities are still working to remove the water. It is during trying times like these that we urge you to reach deep to provide much needed support for our coastal communities. If you’ve already been thinking about getting involved by volunteering or donating, here are some great organizations that could use your help.
Jonathan Henderson is the Coastal Resiliency Organizer for GRN.
On Monday, I had the privilege to take another flyover to 
