Treatment Pond at Temple-Inland's Bogalusa, LA Paper Mill. Photo courtesy of Southwings and GRN.This summer, GRN’s Healthy Waters team has been busy keeping up the fight to protect the Gulf’s rivers, bayous and streams for future generations. From working to hold Temple-Inland corporation accountable for their massive fish kill in the Pearl River to pushing to make sure that the state of Florida acts to reduce harmful algal blooms in their waters, GRN is committed to preserving and enhancing our healthy waters and communities.
Hundreds of Thousands of Fish Killed in the Pearl River In August, Temple-Inland corporation’s Bogalusa, Louisiana paper mill released toxic black liquor into the Pearl River, triggering a massive fish kill. Since then, GRN has been working to monitor the situation and make sure that Louisiana and Mississippi hold Temple-Inland accountable and take action to prevent future fish kills.
The Story of Water in Florida Clean, healthy water plays a central role in the lives and livelihoods of those who call Florida home, but some local politicians seem to be doing everything they can to prevent commonsense measures to reduce harmful algal blooms.
A Chance to RESTORE the Gulf As Congress considers legislation that would send Clean Water Act fines from the BP drilling disaster back to the Gulf for environmental and economic restoration, GRN and our partners are working hard to make sure that the best possible bill passes and passes soon.
EPA Fails to Take Decisive Action on Huge Dead Zone Despite another huge Dead Zone in the Gulf this summer, EPA continues to refuse to take decisive action to reduce Dead Zone-causing pollution. Sewage Threat to Mississippi’s Leaf and Bowie Rivers Check out this update to learn more about our efforts to make sure Hattiesburg, Mississippi cleans up its stinky and polluting sewage treatment, and see some pictures from our recent monitoring canoe trips on the Leaf and Bowie rivers.
Matt Rota is GRN's Director of Science and Water Policy.
The US Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation & Enforcement (BOEMRE, say "Bummer") released what may be the final report in the long line of investigations into what went wrong and why offshore in the days and moments leading up to the deadly explosion which set in motion the BP deepwater drilling disaster.
Warning, this is not the most thrilling reading, but you can find links to it all here: http://www.deepwaterinvestigation.com/go/site/3043/ The new material is the Coast Guard's final action memo, its enclosure, and volume II. BP recieves the brunt of the blame, wholy owning 6 of the 8 conclusions focused on the practices of the corporations involved, and sharing responsibility in the other two conclusions. BP can spin this however they like, but this investigations conclusions remind everyone still paying attention ("hello, is this thing on?") that the buck stops with BP.
I expect this report will bolster the efforts of the Department of Justice to hit BP with criminal charges, and ultimate win that case. I hope we see some action in those efforts soon (say before a new Attorney General is at the helm).
So, we know BP caused it, but how are they doing on paying for it? According to a recent TP article quoting my friend Clint Guidry with the Louisiana Shrimp Association, not so hot. Despite the claims of Ken Feinberg, head of BP's Gulf Coast Claims Facility, that he's paid over $357 million to Louisiana fishermen, many remain under compensated. As Clint puts it:
"The reason you're seeing a lot of $5,000 and $25,000 (quick) payments is they're telling us our problem in Louisiana is a lack of documentation. Well, that is total horse----. We went to Wildlife and Fisheries and got trip tickets going back 10 years. People spent thousands of dollars on accountants putting their claims together and they have been turned down flat. But they'll tell you they're happy to give you the $25,000 quick pay."
Another pool of BP money ($100 million) was set up to pay out of work off-shore oil workers, due to the BP disaster prompted moratorium on deepwater drilling. Last week it was announced that BP was rolling over 75% of that fund, held by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, to go to non-profits focused on helping the environment or communites affected by BP's disaster. So, despite all the cries of Louisiana and Gulf politicos that the moratorium/permitorium is killing the oil business, relatively few folks were actually hitting up that fund for its initial purpose. In fact, fewer than 800 people were ever paid by that fund. Instead, the money will go initially to Catholic Charities, Audubon Nature Institute and two other non-profits. It will be interesting to see if BRAF's Future of the Gulf fund will recognize the important work of non-profits such as the Gulf Coast Fund (full-disclosure, I'm on their Board of Advisors), Waterkeepers' Save Our Gulf collaboration, LEAN or the Louisiana Bucket Brigade or some of the other groups doing important work while being more critical of state/federal/corporate response to the disaster.
Temple-Inland’s release of black liquor has killed much life in the Pearl River. [We've writtenabout itbefore, and we're sure to write about it again.] The turpentine (organic solvents), the lye, and the demand for oxygen have rendered the river acutely toxic for a short period; and it remains to be seen what long-term chemicals impacts may emerge.The non-functional sludge pond remains a liability; a storage facility for fine sediments and toxics from long ago, waiting to be flooded by high river water.
We already know that this acute kill has taken 26 Gulf Sturgeon from the Pearl; 26 individuals from a population of 100-200.So, 10-20% of Gulf Sturgeon in the Pearl have been killed by Temple-Inland. And we haven’t heard what ages of fish were killed.We ask that LDWF release the sexes and sizes of Sturgeon killed.
We expect that fines levied against T-I or International Paper could be used to study the Pearl River population of this threatened fish.We expect that fined levied could restore a Pearl River where this fish can thrive.But here are some things we already know, from studies of Gulf Sturgeon in healthier populations, and why that matters.
I took the photos below on a flyover late last week with On Wings of Care pilot Bonny Schumaker. The original plan was to get out on the water and beaches today and sample the area, and then post a blog including both aerial and ground level photos. Well, as luck would have it, the conditions were not ideal today for that to happen. And that trip has been postponed until later this week.
Nevertheless, the flyover produced some compelling images and I have chosen to highlight a few herein. This particular flight took us over Breton Sound, the Macondo Prospect, and over East Bay along the Louisiana coast just to the west of Southpass.
We discovered what is becoming a regular sighting, a slick in Breton Sound. A report was filed with the National Response Center and we hope that the offending party is held accountable. The report number number can be found below and photos can be seen in the slideshow.
Second, we visited the Macondo Prospect to document whether, post-Tropical Storm Irene, the oil slick or globules that we documented on several prior trips were still there. The answer to that question is, yes. There is still a slick emanating from below the surface in the Macondo Prospect. While crisscrossing the prospect on this day, we approached the slick from several angles at least three different times. The slick remained positioned at the same GPS coordinates so we know that it cannot be blamed on a boat, ocean-liner or some other maritime vessel as had been suggested by some in comments on previous blog posts from recent flyovers. What is the source of this slick. That is the question we continue to pose to the Coast Guard but have yet to have answered.
Finally, the photos taken above East Bay are the most disturbing to me personally. Some of you may recall that I made several trips to East Bay starting just after the disaster began and posted blogs and photos from those trips. You can check out some of those earliest updates here and here. Now, check out these photos and you will see that East Bay is still in great peril. If you zoom in on some of the photos you can see birds swimming in and out of oiled areas. You can also see a man attending to one of those propane powered cannons that shoot blanks to scare away the birds. Clearly, the cannons are not working. Again, these photos were taken this past Thursday, not last year.
Stay tuned for a more in depth analysis of East Bay and the surf washing project that is also taking place on the island. I hope to have more photos to share form the ground later this week.
Our complete flight track for this flight can be downloaded here.
The NRC report numbers are #988781 for Breton Sound and #988782 for the Macondo Prospect.
Visit. Learn. Tell Congress what’s up. The newly redesigned website for the 1 Mississippi campaign urges visitors to get involved in a great variety of ways to protect America’s greatest River. The site--www.1mississippi.org--is designed to reach a broad array of Mississippi River residents: River rats, advocates and members of the general public who are interested in learning about nature and the world around them.
The new website has exciting new features like testimonials from River Citizens—people who take small actions to make a big difference, video clips about wildlife and even a direct link for River Citizens to tell Congress what they think.
NEW ORLEANS — While the Pearl River is still recovering from the discharge of “black liquor” and resulting massive fish kill, LDEQ has recently authorized Temple-Inland paper—the industry that has admitted to causing the fish kill—to resume operations and once again discharge pollutants into the Pearl.
In response to this premature plant reopening, Gulf Restoration Network has submitted a formal letter of objection to LDEQ. “We strongly object to the start-up plan that LDEQ recently approved,” said Matt Rota, Science and Water Policy Director of GRN. “Despite the massive damage caused by Temple-Inland’s fish kill, the LDEQ and Senate Environmental Quality Committee have failed to live up to their assurances that a preventable accident at Temple-Inland’s plant will never happen again.”
Among the issues raised in GRN’s letter are the that LDEQ failed to consult the public for comment before authorizing this inadequate start-up plan and that the plan fails to meet requirements put forward by LDEQ in their initial Compliance Order. In addition, LDEQ’s increased monitoring plans would be phased out in less than three months.
“At the hearing in Bogalusa on August 22, both the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and LDEQ assured that everything would be done to make sure a catastrophe like the Pearl River fish kill would never happen again,” said Rota. “Allowing Temple-Inland to resume activities without state-of-the-art pollution reduction technology is unacceptable. Allowing pollution to once again flow into the Pearl at this stage is doing a disservice to the River and the folks that live and depend on this ecological treasure.”
The full letter sent to LDEQ by GRN can be found here .
Gulf Restoration Network has teamed up with two great supporters, and you can help support our work by voting for us and downloading some great music!
Microist, a brand new, fast-paced philanthropy site that uses the power of social media and micro-donations to raise awareness and money for non-profit organizations. Vote for GRN on their site today, www.microist.org, and we'll receive funding from donors to the site.
Patagonia Music Collective is raising funds for GRN through downloads of the track "Firetrucks on the Boardwalk" by the band DeVotchKa.
Warning: If you are offended by large amounts of oil fouling the Gulf of Mexico, do not click here. On a flyover yesterday by our friend Bonny Schumaker, lead pilot for On Wings of Care, she spotted yet more oil near the Macondo well. What she saw yesterday was much more oil on the surface than I had spotted and documented with her on two recent previous flights, one on August 19th and one on August 25th. Based on Bonny’s latest footage, it appears as if things are getting worse near the site of the ruined Deepwater Horizon. I’m sure that BP is not pleased that we are birdogging this situation so closely but we pledge to continue to keep groundtruthing what is really happening out there.
Others, in response to our reports, have taken boats out to the positions we recorded including reporter Ben Raines from the Mobile Press-Register. You can check out Ben’s report here. Independent scientists and activists have also collected samples. They all saw, smelled, and sampled the globulules that we spotted. Scientists at Louisiana State University analyzed and pronounced it to be Louisiana “sweet crude.”
Both BP and the US Coast Guard claim they have deployed surface vessels, submersibles, and aircraft since our report last week. They claim that they have seen nothing, and that there is no “scientific evidence" of any oil in the Macondo Prospect. If that is the case they are either not being truthful or incompetent. Or both?
Earlier this week, I spoke to a woman who has spent most of her life living near the Pearl River. One of her fond childhood memories involved sighting a threatened Gulf Sturgeon while on the river with her dad. Because of the Temple-Inland paper plant’s illegal discharge of “black liquor” into the Pearl earlier this month, her second encounter with Gulf Sturgeon involved finding two dead along the banks of the river. She has been moved by the destruction to
Sadly, the massive fish kill which killed at least 24 threatened Gulf Sturgeon and hundreds of thousands of other fish in the Pearl River was only the most recent and well-publicized example of Temple-Inland Corporation’s ongoing degradation of the Pearl. Over the course of their existence, they have dumped approximately a million pounds of pollution into the Pearl. Let's make sure that this is the last time Temple-Inland harms the health of the Pearl and the people who rely on it.
Before the plant is allowed to continue regular discharges into the Pearl, the public must have their say about reopening plans, and the plant should be retrofitted with the most advanced clean up technologies. Plus, the fines that Temple-Inland pays should go directly towards restoration of the Pearl. If you live in Louisiana, click here to tell the state to make sure the Pearl River is protected and restored. If you live in Mississippi, click here.
At a recent meeting in Bogalusa, LA, I heard elected leaders and state officials promise that they would do the right thing and “keep working as long as it takes” to clean up the mess and restore the Pearl River. That’s encouraging to hear, but if the BP drilling disaster is any example, we’re going to have to fight hard to make sure that they follow through on their promises. In fact, LDEQ was quoted today in the Times-Picayune saying that the plant may be allowed to resume operations as early as Monday!
Coastal Restoration PanelOn August 12th I attended a Coastal Restoration/Protection Forum in Davant, Louisiana called “Getting the Jobs & Water Right.” The Gulf Restoration Network was a sponsor of this event and I was there to learn about what the concerns and opportunities were for coastal communities as we envision restoration of these critical areas.
We all know the threat that Louisiana faces; the threat that communities, traditions, and livelihoods will be lost as Louisiana’s land slowly slides into the Gulf of Mexico. Naturally and historically the Mississippi river flooded, spilling rich sediments along the river, creating natural banks and land that could keep up with the natural land loss in the coastal region. Now that people and industries have intervened with the river we no longer see this natural land building, but rather significant land loss. Much of the land below New Orleans, as well as parts of the city could be gone in fifty to a hundred years if no action is taken to restore land.
