Action or Greenwashing for the Gulf?

I just spent two days at the “State of the Gulf of Mexico Summit 2006” in Corpus Christi, Texas. Sadly, what was most evident at the summit was the amount of greenwashing going on by energy corporations like Shell, BP, Exxon, Kerr McGee, Hess and Apache. These oily characters loaded participants down with lavish give aways, like the messenger bag that included a calculator, fancy pen, leather note pad, stapler (all proudly emblazoned with their logos); they even paid for our meals – money that could be better spent by actually addressing many of the issues covered in the Summit, issues these energy corporations helped create. Is it any wonder that the federal and state agencies in the room rarely challenge the actions of these companies even, as is the case with LNG facilities, when they threaten important natural resources of the Gulf?

The stated intent of the summit was to bring state and federal officials from both the United States and Mexico together to examine the ecological and economic status of the Gulf of Mexico. And I am sure that their intent was legitimate. However, much of the focus of the summit was on a new Gulf of Mexico Governor’s Action Plan developed by the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, a partnership between Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. There were several impressive presentations, such as Admiral Watkins, Co-chair of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative discussion of the recently released report card on Ocean Action Plan implementation – which gave mostly poor grades to federal efforts to implement that plan. Presentations by members of the National Ocean Economic Project provided important base-line information on the economic benefits provided to the nation by Gulf resources and communities. However, the link of these presentations to the Governor’s Action Plan was unclear, because most of the topics on the agenda are not covered by the Governor’s Action Plan.

In fact, the Action Plan contemplates very little other than research, monitoring, public education and state cooperation and coordination. The only real actions called for by the plan are improving “beach water quality management, charterizing Gulf coastal, estuarine and nearshore habitats, implementing nutrient reduction activities during Gulf recovery and rebuilding” and asserting “an aligned five Gulf State position on the need to address Gulf of Mexico hypoxia” --- all no-brainer issues.

The Action Plan does not, however, address the more difficult but critical issues, like identifying and reducing the sources of nutrients in Gulf states, restricting development in wetland and other dwindling coastal habitats, and reducing the risk to human communities by restricting development that places people in harms way. Issues that are critical to the survival of the Gulf’s natural resources and Gulf communities.

Cyn Sarthou is the GRN's Executive Director