Gulf Restoration Network

Any Tips on Recorking Champagne? BPs Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Friday, 30 March 2012 15:35

liquid oil in the Pass a Loutre Wildlife Management Area, at the mouth of the Mississippi River. March 27, 2012. Photo courtesy CPRA.Three weeks ago GRN was busting out the bubbly over a significant step forward in efforts to bring BP's sure-to-be-historic Clean Water Act fines back to the Gulf to fund ecoystem restoration initatives.

Perhaps our celebration was a BIT premature. While I warned there were many steps remaining, I really didn't anticipate the major side step that we just encountered, courtesy the House of Representatives.

Wave Maker's News: Fake Lake Threatens Pascagoula River Healthy Waters / Dead Zone Wednesday, 28 March 2012 00:00

This article is excerpted from Wave Maker's News, our quarterly update on all things water in the Gulf of Mexico, check out the full newsletter here.

Across the country, at a rate of about 40 a year, communities are tearing down old dams because of safety and environmental concerns and enormously expensive maintenance costs. Yet, this trend hasn’t reached George County, Mississippi, where the Board of Supervisors and others have been actively promoting the creation of a new 3,500 acre reservoir. Although the details are still hazy, it is clear that building this fake lake would involve damming one of three tributaries to the Pascagoula River. The Pascagoula is the last free flowing river of its size in the lower 48 contiguous states and its status has been widely celebrated. A 3,500 acre lake and dam on a tributary in George County would alter water flows for the Pascagoula, inundate significant quantities of wetlands, and would reduce habitat for the threatened Gopher tortoise.

To add insult to injury, supporters of this fake lake idea are clearly misleading the public and local business leaders about the rationale behind the project. They are pushing the idea under the banner of future water supply for industry and economic development for southeast Mississippi. Yet, coast business leaders already have a contract with the existing Okatibbee Reservoir upstream to provide water in times of drought! Building an expensive reservoir won’t make a difference for industry on the coast, so what’s the real rationale? Nowhere in their promotional materials do they mention real estate development in conjunction with the lake, but everyone knows that such a lake would also play that role. This lake is a Trojan horse – with the apparent outward practical purpose of augmenting water supply, but carrying real estate brokers inside.

Drilling and the Price of Oil Energy / Global Warming Tuesday, 27 March 2012 08:52

Given that the Gulf has been the nation's energy sacrifice zone for decades, GRN has a more-than-passing interest in the ongoing debate about expanding drilling, especially as currently framed by the GOP contenders, as a method of decreasing the price you pay at the pump.

Because of that interest, I'm going to be representing GRN on the "Think Tank" this afternoon on NOLA's WWL radio.  Tune in around noon for the beginning of the discussion, I show up around 12:35.  I think if I can convey the information from the handy Washington Post animation below, I'll do alright.

Come meet GRN Festivals and Events Monday, 26 March 2012 14:14

YLC Wednesday at the Square
Wednesday, March 28, 5 to 8 p.m.

Twist Cocktails
628 St. Charles Avenue
Wednesday, March 28, 8 to 9 p.m.

Hey New Orleanians and visitors!

Stop by GRN’s tent at the YLC Wednesday at the Square this week, March 28 from 5 to 8 p.m., in Lafayette Square on St. Charles Avenue in the CBD across from Gallier Hall.  The free concert will feature Big Sam’s Funky Nation plus Wise Guys.  Come visit GRN’s tent to catch up on the latest with the RESTORE Act, renew your Gulf Sustainer membership and get 2 free drink tickets to our after party at Twist, and make a statement about Gulf restoration in our photo booth.

Following the concert, we’ll continue the festivities at Twist at Mike's from 8 to 9 p.m.  Buy a raffle ticket to win an Experience New Orleans package and get a free drink ticket.

A Victory in the Battle over Kemper Coal Healthy Waters / Dead Zone Friday, 23 March 2012 16:05

For several years, I’ve been working with our allies in Mississippi, including the Sierra Club, to stop construction of Mississippi Power’s dirty, expensive and unnecessary coal plant and strip mine in Kemper County, Mississippi. This power plant and strip mine would destroy hundreds of acres of wetlands, pollute nearby waters, and disturb thousands of feet of streams. Plus, in an astounding example of corporate welfare, the Mississippi Public Service Commission agreed to let Mississippi Power pass up to $2.88 billion dollars in construction costs on to their ratepayers before the plant is even built. This would raise energy bills in the average household by up to 45%!

However, the Mississippi Supreme Court struck a major blow against this corporate welfare program a week and a half ago when they ruled unanimously, in response to a Sierra Club lawsuit, that the Public Service Commission had failed to provide substantial evidence for their decision to let Mississippi Power go forward with the Kemper plant and put the construction costs on the backs of ratepayers.

Gulf Marine Mammals Still Suffering BPs Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Friday, 23 March 2012 13:09

Dead bottlenose dolphin from GRN trip to coastal Louisiana, May 17, 2011. (cc) GRNThe BP oil spill appears to have profoundly impacted the 28 species of dolphins, whales and porpoises that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico. Since April 30, 2010, ten days after the disaster at the Macondo rig, 558 of these mammals have been found stranded along the Gulf coast, almost all of them dead.   In 2011, strandings quintupled the annual average from 2002 to 2009.

The spill has impacted the health of bottlenose dolphins. A recent study by NOAA examined 32 dolphins in Barataria Bay and found them to be in incredibly poor health. They were underweight and anemic, had low blood sugar and possessed signs of liver and lung disease.

Wave Maker's News: Fighting the Dead Zone and Drilling in Mississippi Healthy Waters / Dead Zone Friday, 23 March 2012 12:14

Examining water samples from Four Mile Marsh. You can read more about our trip to the marsh in this edition of Wave Maker's.Here in the Gulf south, it seems like winter passed by in a flash, and I have my doubts how long spring weather will be with us.  Amidst the rapid change of seasons, there has been one constant: GRN’s Healthy Waters team has been keeping up the fight to protect and restore the Gulf of Mexico, and the region’s rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands.

Check out the March edition of Wave Maker’s News, our quarterly update on all things water in the Gulf, to learn more about our efforts, including a fight to protect Mississippi’s coast from oil and gas drilling, and ongoing work to clean up the Gulf’s Dead Zone:

http://healthygulf.org/images/our_work/healthy_waters/Wave%20Makers/March%202012%20Wave%20Makers.pdf

In this edition:

Why Litigation is a Tool in Our Tool Box General Tuesday, 20 March 2012 13:49

To protect the wetlands of the Gulf, GRN uses every tool in our tool box. (c) Julie Dermansky for GRN.You may have noticed recent mention in your local newspaper, GRN’s Gulf Waves, Gulf Tides or GRN blogs of GRN suits against state and federal agencies, municipal sewage treatment plants or industries.  Our willingness to sue should be no surprise to anyone who knows the organization. The GRN began as a project of Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in response to a need identified by groups from across the Gulf – the need for an organization advocating for the health of the Gulf.  As a project of a nonprofit law firm and an advocate for the Gulf it was logical that one weapon in our advocacy tool box was, and continues to be litigation.

Protect Our National Parks from Drilling Healthy Waters / Dead Zone Thursday, 15 March 2012 13:55

Drawing a line in the sand at the Biloxi rally. Photo Courtesy of Jordan Macha/Sierra Club. On Monday, I joined concerned citizens and members of the 12 Miles South Coalition at a press conference and rally across the street from the Gulf Coast Energy Summit in Biloxi, Mississippi. This summit was a half-day dog and pony show put on by oil and gas industry front groups to promote drilling and energy development anywhere and everywhere. Oddly, most of the speakers at the conference, including presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, seemed to have amnesia when it comes to the BP disaster and the tar balls and dolphins still washing up on our shores, the continued health problems of coastal residents, and the Gulf fishermen who are struggling to make a living.

According to a recent article from the Institute for Southern Studies, the BP disaster only came up twice in the first 19 Republican presidential debates, and President Obama mentioned the BP disaster in his State of the Union address “only briefly…and he softened that mention with a joke.” It seems like both sides of the political aisle are suffering from significant memory problems when it comes to the real environmental and economic consequences of unbridled and poorly regulated offshore drilling.