Gulf Restoration Network

The Environmental Trial of the Century BPs Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Monday, 25 February 2013 14:16

#MakeBPpay! Citizens gather outside the federal courthouse in New Orleans before the trial against BP begins. $16 billion? Peanuts
$31 billion? Closer
$50 billion? Now we're talking.

Today, before opening remarks began in the "Environmental Trial of the Century" that will determine just how much BP and their partners must pay for the destruction they have wrought in the Gulf, I joined colleagues and activists to greet lawyers and media with a simple message: #MakeBPpay.

Of course, the BP disaster is ultimately not something that can be 'fixed' with any amount of money. The oil, the dispersant and the taint of this historically horrific event can not be scrubbed away.  The bell cannot be unrung and the ecosystem can not proceed as if it was never exposed to BP's crude and corexit.

Share your ideas on restoring the Gulf BPs Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Monday, 18 February 2013 14:11

Citizens wait at the microphone to speak up on restoration at the First meeting of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council in DecemberSo much has happened in the last twelve months that is finally moving us closer to making ecosystem restoration a reality. Last year, the RESTORE Act passed, ensuring 80% of the Clean Water Act fines from the BP Drilling Disaster will come to the Gulf states for ecosystem restoration and economic recovery. Then in January, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council released The Path Forward to Restoring the Gulf Coast, which is the early stage of plan development and the Council will release a draft plan for public comment this Spring. 

This week, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council is holding public meetings in across the Gulf to hear ideas about restoration. I hope you can attend one of these meetings to make your voice heard!

The meeting times are locations are:

Science to serve Coastal Communities BPs Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday, 05 February 2013 15:01

This blog has been cross-posted from Public Laboratory. To see the original article, click here 

by eustatic on February 1, 2013 - 10:59

Billion Dollar Blank Check for Kemper Coal Healthy Waters / Dead Zone Tuesday, 05 February 2013 12:36

This week, the Mississippi state legislature is planning to vote on a $1 billion bond, paid for by Mississippi Power’s ratepayers, to fund the dirty, expensive, and unnecessary Kemper coal plant. This is on top of $2.8 billion already approved by the Public Service Commission to be paid by ratepayers! If you are a Mississippi resident, follow the link below to tell your legislators not to give Mississippi Power a blank check for Kemper coal:  

http://grn.convio.net/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=510

According to a report by the energy consulting firm Brubaker & Associates, the average residential customer will see an additional $76 a month on their electric bills to pay for Kemper coal, and that’s before you even factor in the $1 billion bond.

Mississippi Releases Blueprint for RESTORE Funds BPs Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday, 31 January 2013 11:08

On Monday, January 28, Governor Bryant released the Go Coast 2020 Final Report, a blueprint for how Mississippi will spend its share of RESTORE Act fines from the BP disaster. Over the last few months, GRN has been working with our partners in Mississippi to make sure that this report truly benefits Mississippi’s coast and communities. We worked to ensure it reflects the needs of the low-income and minority communities most impacted by the BP disaster, and prioritizes ecosystem restoration over pork-barrel projects that only line the pockets of well-connected individuals and companies.

The Go Coast 2020 report isn’t perfect, but there are some things to praise in it. The report is largely lacking in specific proposals, instead focusing on big-picture concepts, principles, and criteria for choosing future projects to be funded under RESTORE. It’s broken down into eight sections that cover a variety of topics, including Eco-Restoration, Economic Development, Seafood, and Workforce. 

The Eco-restoration portion of the report does a good initial job of surveying restoration needs on the Coast, and existing programs, like the Mississippi Coastal Improvement Program, that could help drive restoration. It also identifies the following four priority issues: healthy water resources; habitat conservation, restoration, and enhancement; sustainable living coastal and marine resources; and resilient coastal communities. However, we believe ecosystem restoration must be central to all the Go Coast 2020 goals, and many sections of the report fail in that respect.

Pelicans Invade the NBA! BPs Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday, 29 January 2013 16:47

With the news that the NBA was backing Tom Benson's decision to change his team's name from the Hornets to the Pelicans, Louisiana's state bird was back in the news. It had faded from the nation's attention for a while, after images of the majestic bird drenched in oil seared themselves into our retinas during the aftermath of the 2010 BP drilling disaster.

Some say the name isn't sufficiently menacing (unlike "the Miami Heat" or "New York Knickerbockers"?!?), but I think it's perfect.

Trip to Myrtle Grove with Aveda Staff Healthy Waters / Dead Zone Friday, 25 January 2013 12:12

Last Saturday, Scott, Jonathan and I led a caravan down to Myrtle Grove, LA.  In the car behind us were seven women; the top Aveda fundraising team in the Gulf region, from Houston, TX.  Through Aveda's Earth month partnership with GRN, salons across the Gulf ramp up to a fundraising frenzy to support our work for clean, flowing waters in the Gulf.  These ladies raised the most money out of the whole region during April 2012.  Coming to New Orleans for a conference, they were excited to get out on the water with GRN to see both restoration projects and Louisiana's eroding coastline.

On the way down to Myrtle Grove, we drove by the Kinder Morgan coal terminals that GRN has been monitoring, seeing coal piles huge enough to make the loader machinery look like toy trucks.  To read more about our fight against these piles of pollution, check out Jonathan Henderson's blog here.

Plan Needed to Save the Imperiled Mississippi Gopher Frog Endangered and Threatened Species Tuesday, 22 January 2013 14:58

The dusky gopher frog, also known as the Mississippi gopher frog. Photo courtesy of USFWS.The dusky gopher frog, also known as the Mississippi gopher frog, is a highly imperiled species currently known to existing in only four sites in coastal Mississippi. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that less than 100 adult dusky gopher frogs remain.

The GRN recently joined the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) in a notice of intent to sue the Interior Department for failing to develop a recovery plan for the dusky gopher frog. This is only the latest effort of GRN and CBD to get the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to take action needed to save this species from extinction.

Save Mardi Gras Pass Healthy Waters / Dead Zone Tuesday, 22 January 2013 12:50

Will the Corps and the state of Louisiana starve the Delta at the whim of oil and gas?

In 2011, a swollen Mississippi River re-connected itself with the marshes of Bohemia, without any help from the Corps--but it forgot to ask Shaw for a permit to restore our coast.
 
After 2 years, the oil company that operates in this Wildlife Management Area, Sundown Energy LP, wants to fill in this new reach of the Mississippi with limestone and pipe culverts. Perhaps it would increase their margin, but it would destroy a new branch of the Mississippi River. 

Can we afford to allow our public officials to squander another opportunity to restore the river’s nourishing floodwaters into our delta?   Tell our public officials to let the river free, to let it work for us, to let Sundown Energy consider alternatives to its fill road, and to let the public speak to this issue at a public hearing.