The Senate may vote as early as this week on legislation that would make it impossible to protect many important streams, wetlands, and other waters under the Clean Water Act. Please take a moment today to tell your Senators to vote NO on this dirty water legislation.
The "Barrasso-Heller Dirty Water Amendment" to the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill would block the Environmental Protection Agency and US Army Corps of Engineers from working to clarify exactly what waters of the United States are protected under the Clean Water Act. After recent Supreme Court decisions, there is some legal uncertainty over how to apply the Clean Water Act. With encouragement from the court, both EPA and the Corps are already in the process of drafting more specific rules to help restore critical protections.
In the Gulf, the Clean Water Act is crucial to protecting the wetlands that protect our communities from flooding and storm surge. Defining "waters of the United States" also determines whether the Clean Water Act can be used to limit the amount of pollution that can be discharged into local rivers and streams, which often serve as the source of our drinking water. The Corps and EPA need to be allowed to clarify the coverage of the CWA to ensure that wetlands and waterbodies receive the full protections of the law.
Included in this blog are two sets of photos of Elmer’s Island. The first set is from the summer of 2010 and includes aerial shots of the island and heavy oil impacts. The second set includes surface level shots that were taken this past weekend on November 12th, 2011. As you will see from the second set, the oil was buried under the sand on the island.
Elmer's Island Wildlife Refuge, a barrier Island on the Louisiana coast, was heavily impacted by BP’s oil. The island, a 230-acre tract of barrier beachfront located on the southwestern tip of Jefferson Parish, is owned and maintained by the state of Louisiana. It is located directly across Caminada Pass from Grand Isle, LA.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) announced the reopening of the six-mile long section of beach on Friday, May 27, 2011. The island is a popular local and tourist destination that is known as a surf fishing and birding haven. CNN ran a story about the island in April of 2011, before it was reopened to the public.
I had the occasion more than once to fly over Elmer’s in 2010 during the height of the BP drilling disaster. Thanks to a donation of a great camera and lens by the Wallace Global Fund and the support of generous sponsors, especially Jo Billups, I was able to document impacts all throughout the Gulf. Take a look at these aerial photos from Elmer’s Island last year.
Fast forward to November, 2011 and you will find that the oil is still on the island. Despite the fact that the island has been declared “clean†by BP and the State, and was reopened to the public in May of this year, major problems still persist. Check out the photos below to see that oil is buried beneath the surface sand. In September of this year, Tropical storm Lee exposed oil along the Gulf coast which had been buried by sand washing in with the tide on a daily basis and during other tropical events.
Fox8 New Orleans interviewed me after this trip and I sent them photos and video. You can check out their report here which aired Sunday night. Now that you have seen the photos, you might be asking yourself, “What can I do?†It’s simple: Take action by sending a letter to your member of Congress today. We have made it easy for you in a way that you can simply click on a link and have a letter sent. We have an unprecedented opportunity to fund the recovery of the Gulf coast using BP’s Clean Water Act fines - the RESTORE Act aims to direct 80% of these fines towards ecosystem restoration. There are currently two versions of the bill, in the House and Senate, which aim to bring BP’s money down to the Gulf. Urge your lawmakers to support this legislation.
Jonathan Henderson is the Coastal Resiliency Organizer for GRN.
This week, the United States Coast Guard concluded that BP can wind down its efforts to clean oil still marring the shores of the Gulf coast, unless officials can prove that the oil is BP’s. For more on this decision and what it means for cleanup efforts, take a look at this AP article published in the Times Picayune. You can also read GRN’s official response on this troubling decision on our website here.
One of those areas heavily impacted by BP’s oil is the Pass-a-Loutre Wildlife Management Area located in southern Plaquemines Parish at the mouth of the Mississippi River south of Venice, and is accessible only by boat or seaplane. I took reporters and scientists to this area on numerous occasions in 2010 and documented oil as it first began to make land fall there. You can see a blog that I posted on one of those visits here. With me on that trip were author Naomi Klein and a news crew.
Fast forward to November 4th, 2011 and the oil is still there. Check out the photos below that I took while on a marsh planting tour with the group Restore The Earth. The video in the slideshow is from May, 2010 but all of the photos are from last week. Scott Eustis in our office will be blogging more about the planting soon. You can also check out an interview I did with Fox8 Live where I show my findings from that November 4th, 2011 trip. I’m not sure that I like being referred to as an oil magnet, but what John Snell says is true in the interview. In the over 80 trips that I have taken by plane and sea to the Gulf since April, 2010 I have found oil on the vast majority of them.
The oil is still here, and so are we. I will be heading down again this weekend to some different areas of our coast to monitor the situation. Stay tuned. In the meantime, get involved and take action. We have an unprecedented opportunity to fund the recovery of the Gulf coast using BP’s Clean Water Act fines - the RESTORE Act aims to direct 80% of these fines towards ecosystem restoration. There are currently two versions of the bill, in the House and Senate, which aim to bring BP’s money down to the Gulf. Urge your lawmakers to support this legislation.
Jonathan Henderson is the Coastal Resiliency Organizer for GRN.
Eighteen months ago, BP's Macondo well erupted, spewing over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. We continue to experience impacts from the disaster today. The oil is still washing on shore and the environmental impacts are still being revealed - the BP oil disaster is not over.
We've seen record numbers of dolphin mortality - nearly 500 since the disaster, low numbers of whale sharks returning to the Gulf, and deformities on the gills of the Gulf killifish – an abundant bait fish and an important food source for many marine species.
Fortunately, we have an unprecedented opportunity to fund the recovery of the Gulf coast using BP’s Clean Water Act fines - the RESTORE Act aims to direct 80% of these fines towards ecosystem restoration. There are currently two versions of the bill, in the House and Senate, which aim to bring BP’s money down to the Gulf. Urge your lawmakers to support this legislation.
If Congress does not act now, these fines (between 5-20 billion dollars) will end up in the black hole of the Federal Treasury. It’s only fair that BP's money be used to clean up the mess they created. Tell Congress to support the RESTORE Act today.
Aaron Viles is GRN's Deputy Director. Follow him on twitter here@GulfAaron
As I write you this, vital conservation programs that reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from our nation's farms are in jeopardy of being cut from the Farm Bill by the secret, closed-door Super Committee. Although the programs are inadequate to deal with the scope of the Gulf Dead Zone, they are some of the only tools we currently have to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that causes the Dead Zone every summer. These programs should be strengthened, not cut!
The Super Committee was given a single task -- to reduce the federal deficit. But somehow their duties have expanded to include passing the Farm Bill as well – just the Farm Bill. No other committee is attempting to pass their legislation via this secretive process. If the Super Committee incorporates the Farm Bill into their proposal, the public won't know what is in it until Thanksgiving, the House and Senate will not be able to amend it, and they must vote it up or down before Christmas.
But it is not too late for you to speak up! This secretive process is designed to shut out input from legislators, conservationists, hunters, anglers, and anyone interested in improving our nation's food system. Instead of hearing from the public, lawmakers are working with a select elite from industrial agriculture with huge checkbooks and DC lobbyists that are pushing for increased subsidies that benefit a couple dozen enormous corporations and a tiny percent of farms. All while working to cut the few programs and policies that protect our environment.
I'll admit it, I'm excited. But don't tell my boss. For the 5th year, GRN is the official, non-profit partner of the Voodoo Experience, a huge music festival taking place Friday-Sunday in NOLA's City Park. 5 stages, over 100 bands, and thanks to the hard work of GRN staff and volunteers:
A wetlands installation demonstrating the plants and principles of our "Coastal Lines of Defense." Barrier islands, marshes and cypress swamps.
An army of canvassers working hard to sign up new sustaining GRN members from the legion of music fans, helping amplify our unified voice to protect and restore the Gulf.
A movie tent, showing GRN's Defend the Gulf video series of short films detailing the impacts of the BP drilling disaster
A photobooth that will let you take a picture with an aligator, a nutria or a sign showing your support for the Gulf (and then upload your pictures to Facebook).
James Hurtt speaking on the bus after the hearing. On Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of joining a bus load of fired-up Mississippi Power ratepayers from the coast on a trip to Kemper County, Mississippi – the proposed site for a massive new dirty lignite coal mine. If this huge mine, and Mississippi Power’s associated coal plant, is allowed to move forward, the project will destroy thousands of acres of wetlands, miles of streams, and release toxic chemicals into nearby waters, all at a cost of over $2.8 billion that regular ratepayers will have to shoulder!
We made the trip to Kemper County to urge the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to deny the permits for this dirty, expensive and unnecessary mine, and boy did they get an earful. By a margin of over three to one, concerned citizens from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Kemper County, and other areas throughout the state stood up and told MDEQ that the state shouldn’t let this destructive mine move forward.
One of the most passionate speakers was local resident James Hurtt, who told the MDEQ representatives at the hearing “that there are some questions that need to be answered to the people.†One of his biggest questions was how this massive coal mine will impact the groundwater he drinks, and the streams and lakes that he fishes in. James told MDEQ and the assembled crowd that “I love Okatibbee Lake†but worried that twenty years down the road that there might be “a sign out there saying you can’t eat this fish†because of the pollution from the coal mine right upstream.
As we got back on the bus after the hearing, James and a number of other locals residents jumped onboard to thank us for joining them in the fight to protect their homes and communities from the dirty, expensive, and unnecessary coal mine and plant. GRN, Sierra Club and our community partners will continue to fight this destructive boondoggle, and I am glad to be working with the fine people of Kemper County to make sure that Mississippi’s wetlands, streams, rivers and lakes are protected.
Ashley Guidry from Lafayette, LA is the raffle winner for the Rediscover New Orleans Aveda Earth Month Drawing 2011. Congratulations Ashley!
The Grand Prize includes:
Two nights at the Intercontinental New Orleans and brunch for two $500 gift card on the airline of your choice $200 gift certificate for dinner at Lilette $150 gift certificate for dinner at Gautreau's
Thanks to everyone who participated in the raffle.
Throughout the month of April, Aveda salons across the south raise funds and awareness for GRN's Healthy Waters and BP Drilling Campaigns. Aveda stands out as a shining example of an authentic 'green' company that makes protecting our environment central to the way they do business. Check out Aveda's Earth Month site for all the organizations they support.
Illegal roads are choking the bayous of the Atchafalaya Basin
Dean Wilson of Atchafalaya Basinkeeper invited us to take a low-water tour with Jody Meche of the Louisiana Crawfish Producer’s Association West, to see the challenges healthy wetlands face in their neck of the woods. Illegal access roads are damming up the bayous of the Atchafalaya. We do not want Bayou Brown to be roadblocked. Just as the natural tidal flow of water through marshes is essential for their health, the natural cycle of flooding and draining of swamps is necessary to keep them healthy and productive. By blocking the healthy flow of water, these permanent limestone roads do damage to swamps in a similar manner as the thousands of miles of spoil banks damage our marshes.
The shaded areas represent lignite coal reserves.Strip mining for lignite coal is a nasty process. Thankfully, few of us have had to directly bear witnesses to how it impacts communities, and nearby rivers, streams and wetlands, but that could change if a North Dakota mining company is allowed to move forward with its proposal for a massive coal strip mine in Kemper County, Mississippi.
Over the course of the proposed mine’s 40 year life span, thousands of acres of wetlands and miles of streams will be permanently damaged. And if this mine is allowed to move forward, it could serve as the poster child for future dirty lignite strip mines throughout much of the state.
Right now, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) wants to hear what you think about this dirty, expensive and unnecessary coal mine. If you're from Mississippi, please take action and tell MDEQ to reject the Kemper coal mine:
In areas where lignite strip mining has been underway on a large scale for decades, it has caused significant destruction and disrupted local communities. For example, in Germany lignite coal mining has displaced more than 300 communities and over 100,000 people! It’s time to say no to this boondoggle in Kemper County, Mississippi, and no to dirty, lignite coal mining in the hundreds of Mississippi communities potentially at risk. If you're from Mississippi, please send MDEQ your message now.
Eighteen months ago, BP's Macondo well erupted, spewing over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. We continue to experience impacts from the disaster today. The oil is still washing on shore and the environmental impacts are still being revealed - the BP oil disaster is not over.
As I write you this, vital conservation programs that reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from our nation's farms are in jeopardy of being cut from the Farm Bill by the secret, closed-door Super Committee. Although the programs are inadequate to deal with the scope of the Gulf Dead Zone, they are some of the only tools we currently have to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that causes the Dead Zone every summer. These programs should be strengthened, not cut!
Crawfishing is drying up: 
