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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: […]

Many of you have seen the dramatic, disturbing photos of sea birds completely covered in oil on Grand Terre Island. Last night, the Unified Command reported that the nearby Queen Bess Island Rookery has also seen severe impacts from BP’s oil drilling disaster. Queen Bess Island is known locally as “Bird Island” and is a

A Brown Pelican on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on June 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)Louisiana has sacrificed 40-60% of our coastal wetlands and natural storm protection to the oil industry, we are fifth in the nation in water pollution due in part to petrochemical industries, and now we

Dispersants, like Corexit 9500/9527, are a mixture of solvents, surfactants and other unknowns that are designed to make oil more soluble in water. Most of what is known about the toxicity of dispersants and dispersed oil is based on acute toxicity tests.[1] The scientific literature suggests that acute (short-term) toxicity tests with death as the

Click on the photo below to view a heartrending collection of photos of oiled seabirds courtesy of AP photographer Charlie Riedel. A bird is mired in oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on June 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

We’re now three days into storm season and our coastal lines of defense are under attack like they never have been before. Not only is Louisiana still losing a football field of coastal wetlands every 45 minutes, but now the Gulf’s valuable natural storm defenses are being slimed. As Gulf Restoration Network independently monitors BP

On Tuesday the first reports came in of oil (not just tar balls) directly reaching Mississippi’s Petit Bois, a barrier island, and communities throughout the eastern Gulf are now bracing for the oil to reach their shores. The Press-Register is reporting an oil sheen “riding an incoming tide and south wind almost due north toward

Yesterday, thanks to the generous support of GRN member and Gulf coast environmental activist, Jo Billups of the environmental music duo Sassafrass, I took another flight over the gulf coast to assess oil impacts and containment and clean-up efforts, if you can call it that. With me on board was Sig from Rehage entertainment, the

One of the most fascinating and unique features of the Gulf of Mexico is a string of thriving deepwater coral reefs which ring the Gulf. In recent years, NOAA and others, including GRN, have been interested in designating many of these deepwater reefs as Marine Protected Areas, but most of these areas still lack such

For Immediate Release: For More:June 1, 2010 Cynthia Sarthou, GRN, (504) 525-1528 Mary Lee Orr, LEAN, (225) 588-5059 Heather Emmert, Environment America, (504) 861-4427 Joel Waltzer, Esq., (504) 340-6300Gulf Restoration Network, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, and Environment America Intend to Use Federal Clean Water Act to Force BP to Full Disclosure and Deployment of All