Matt Rota

On the 23rd, BP once again asked the Corps of Engineers for an Emergency Permit to “surf wash” the beaches of Louisiana–this time on Grand Isle. The concept behind this surf washing is to push the sand, “stained” by oil, back into the Gulf, and let the waves “clean” it. BP already proposed this once […]

As our readers know, we have had significant concerns regarding Louisiana’s oil protection sand berms which have been constructed under the auspices of protecting the coast from oil(see posts from May 14, July 12, and July 14). In drafting comments responding to Louisiana’s request to continue with and expand the project, we discovered thatin a

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Tuesday August 2, 2010CONTACT:Matt Rota, Gulf Restoration Network: (504) 377-7840, matt@healthygulf.orgNEAR RECORD-SETTING GULF OF MEXICO DEAD ZONE SHOWS MORE NEEDED TO CLEAN UP MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND GULFOn August 1, researchers from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) and Louisiana State University (LSU) completed their annual cruise along the Louisiana and north Texas coasts

On July 19, BP requested that the Corps give them the go-ahead to, instead of clean up and dispose of the oil, just push the contaminated sand on Grand Terre Island back into the Gulf! They call this process “Surf Washing,” the idea being that the waves will “clean” the polluted sand. To add insult

Recently, Len Bahr has been sharing some of his thoughts about the state of Louisiana’s sand berms project on his blog LACoastPost.com. A recent post included aerial photographs of the building and subsequent eroding of the sand berm that the state of Louisiana is attempting to construct, with the stated purpose of defending the wetlands

Lately, the State of Louisiana, Jefferson Parish, and the Terrebonne Levee District have been proposing massive construction projects to stop the oil from reaching the shores of Louisiana. Let it first be said that GRN shares their concerns regarding the oil that is already impacting and will continue to impact the Gulf shores. However, we

It just seems that the Gulf can’t catch a break. Coastal Louisiana is at the epicenter of three human-caused environmental disasters: the BP deepwater drilling disaster, coastal wetland destruction, and the annual Dead Zone. The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) just released their prediction of the third part of the Gulf destruction trifecta, and the

Assessing the damage caused to the Gulf by the BP deepwater drilling disaster is a monumental task, but is necessary to ensure that BP pays for the restoration of the coast and ocean that they have destroyed. The formal mechanism to assess these damages comes from the 1990 Oil Pollution Act (OPA), which states that

As we all know, the BP Oil Drilling Disaster has happened at a particularly destructive time: Blue-fin Tuna are spawning in the area, dolphins are giving birth to their pup, Sperm Whales feed in the area, shore birds are nesting, etc., etc. Well, let’s add another man-made ecological disaster to layer upon the BP disaster:

Click on the images to enlarge.