Aaron Viles

In big news for the Gulf, the Department of Justice announced a plea agreement with Transocean, the owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, for their role in the 2010 BP drilling disaster. It’s a doozy, with the company pleading guilty to criminal environmental behavior, and agreeing to pay $1.4 billion in fines, […]

Ask our leaders to use RESTORE Act dollars to effectively restore the Gulf environment.You might have heard recently that BP agreed to pay a historic criminal fine for their deepwater drilling disaster, $4.5 billion, of which $2.4 billion will be spent on Gulf restoration. This is big news, and will likely jumpstart long-needed environmental restoration.

Helen Rose shows off our new Defend the Gulf tee shirts at Voodoo. Now available at the Defend New Orleans store and website. I just wrapped up one of GRN’s longest and most productive weekends of the year: the Voodoo Experience music & art festival in NOLA’s City Park. We were honored to be the

BP’s tarballs coat Elmer’s Island, LA -a non-amenity beachGRN and our partners in the environmental community have pointed out BP’s offshore sheen time and again for over a year. It’s ridiculous that yesterday’s announcements from government and BP continue to lack a good answer as to where the oil is coming from, and why it

Menhaden reduction fishery in the Gulf. Photo courtesy Craig HuchinsonRecently, headlines loudly proclaimed great news in the fish harvest totals released by NOAA for 2011. “Gulf seafood catch reaches 12-year high”, “Louisiana seafood catch rebounds in 2011” & “U.S. seafood landings reach 17-year high in 2011”. Wow, sounds great. Unfortunately, digging beneath the headlines reveals

Nearly a year and a half after BP proudly and loudly announced they would spend $1 billion to begin the process of restoring the Gulf in the wake of their disaster, do you want to guess how much they’ve committed to the projects needed to implement that ‘early restoration’?Less than 10%.That’s right in 15 months,

Hurricane Isaac showed that much of BP’s oil remains in the soils and just below the waters of the Gulf, even in many areas the Coast Guard has begun to let BP off the hook for cleanup. BP should be cleaning up their mess, and the Coast Guard should be holding them responsible for it.The

While most of our recent conversation about BP’s deepwater drilling disaster has been focused on the RESTORE Act, and successful efforts to legislatively direct the eventual Clean Water Act fines to Gulf ecosystem and economic restoration, new scientific studies are an important reminder that BP’s crude and corexit continue to have untold impacts on our

Send us your best shot of your pet enjoying the Gulf: in the bayou, on the beach or in the marsh!Gulf Restoration Network and Marsh Dog will share the 10 best photo submissions, and let our facebook followers pick the top 3!Top 3 submissions will recieve a free bag of Marsh Dog treats as well

We just got big news from Congress and it’s thanks to you! The RESTORE Act, which will dedicate BP’s Clean Water Act fines to Gulf restoration, has been included in the larger Transportation Bill that just passed the House and Senate, and is now on it’s way to the President’s desk!! Thank you for all