Get your Kleen Kanteen water bottle when you sign up as a GRN Gulf Sustainer action.healthygulf.org/donateHelp save the Gulf with your online holiday shopping! Buy a stocking stuffer GRN gift membership and also get an "enGULFed" Kleen Kanteen water bottle. And get into Cyber Monday by shopping with these merchants that give a portion of proceeds to Gulf Restoration Network. See our full list of merchant partners to find great holiday gifts and specials for everyone on your list.
Pass on the pride of supporting a healthy Gulf this holiday season!
Apparel CrOp by David Peck Fall 2011 Line 10% of profits to GRN cropbydavidpeck.com
This is too outrageous to ignore! Last year, in the wake of the BP drilling disaster, President Obama made a promise to the people of the Gulf that his administration would hold BP accountable for the massive amounts of damage the company caused. Well, that promise has been broken.
Our frequent field monitoring trips, and the daily experiences of many residents along the Gulf coast, continue to show BP’s oil is still here. We find tarballs, tar mats, and gooey oil in our marshes, on our beaches, in our bays and estuaries, and we know it’s on the ocean floor. The Coast Guard must continue to make BP clean it up.
While we honor the heroism of the Coast Guard during the devastating aftermath of Katrina, we cannot ignore that they are letting BP off the hook.
Even worse, we fear that BP will hold early restoration dollars hostage until states agree the oil is gone, even if it is not. After putting up $1 billion for early restoration, BP has been showing its true colors in many instances since then, working to limit their liability and hide their true impacts.
Help us make the Coast Guard hold BP accountable. Take action today.
Two weeks ago GRN led a group of twelve Tulane service learners out to a beach restoration project put together by the folks at Bayou Lands, LSU Agricultural Center, City Park, and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Shovels in hand, we took off to the beaches of Elmer’s Island, one of Louisiana’s barrier islands that was greatly impacted by the BP disaster. As we drove by bare dunes and rows upon rows of potted marsh hay we knew that this would not be just another day at the beach.
In our six hours together we were able to sow 2026 individual native plants including bitter panicum, marsh hay, and gulf bluestem. We covered three different areas of the beach that were in desperate need. These new plants will help protect the island from erosion and ensure that it can remain a habitable place for many Gulf species for the future. Check out our photos from the project below!
Just as the Mississippi River contains the potential to restore the wetlands of the delta, the email list of the Gulf Restoration Network contains the potential to pass the RESTORE Act and invest as much as $16 billion in the restoration of our Gulf of Mexico coast and wetlands. If you are one of our more than 40,000 e-members (who receive our free e-alerts and e-newsletters), you make up an impressive voice representing every state and nearly every congressional district in the United States.
So here are two simple ways that your voice can join with thousands of others to make a difference:
Reverse the trend of the past 80 years during which we have lost over 2,000 square miles of important wetlands
If you sign up before the end of the year to convert your e-membership to a Gulf Sustainer membership, we will send you a Kleen Kanteen water bottle as a special holiday membership gift with any Gulf Sustainer membership of $15 per month or more. Be sure to use this link to receive the Kleen Kanteen offer. These water bottles are made of stainless steel, hold 27 oz., and have a special “enGULFed” logo.
You will be giving the gift of a healthy Gulf to future generations!
P.S. If you are already a Gulf Sustainer member, we encourage you to pass on the pride of supporting a healthy Gulf this holiday season. We will extend this special offer to in-honor Gulf Sustainer gifts and send a gift notice card and a Kleen Kanteen to your honoree.
Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of joining a group from the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans on a trip to Manchac, Louisiana, more specifically, the Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station. GRN has been partnering with the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development on a campaign to empower residents to effect policy decisions that will make their communities more resilient against man-made and natural disasters. We have been talking to residents in the Lower 9 about the Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy , a methodology to design flood control and wetland restoration in coastal Louisiana. The strategy works on the well-founded premise that coastal Louisiana and its communities must be protected from hurricane surge by both man-made features, such as levees, and by the natural coastal wetland buffer along the Louisiana coast. Levees alone will not work. Together, a healthy coastal estuary and appropriately designed levees system can sustain Louisiana’s ecology and economy of the coast.
Many residents in cities across the Gulf, especially New Orleans, have not had the chance to experience the surrounding natural environment such as wetlands, lakes, and rivers. Often times, flood walls obstruct residents’ connectivity with nature and close off the surrounding environment which can be both enriching and damaging if not managed properly by the powers that be. The CSED and GRN are working to change that for the Lower 9. In our second boat trip in as many months, we have had the privilege of taking residents outside the floodwalls and levees on tours of the surrounding environment so that they can be awed with the splendor and educated about the real threats that past and future policy decisions have and will have on their homes and communities. With important decisions pertaining to coastal protection and restoration coming down the pike, it is critical that all residents in south Louisiana become and stay engaged in the process. The first set of photos below is from our trip to Manchac and Turtle Cove. The second set is from a previous tour to view the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet and recent Army Corps of Engineers flood control projects.
Jonathan Henderson is the Coastal Resiliency Organizer for GRN.
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.
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!
