{"id":176435436,"date":"2014-04-21T01:21:28","date_gmt":"2014-04-21T06:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/?p=176435436"},"modified":"2014-04-21T01:21:29","modified_gmt":"2014-04-21T06:21:29","slug":"environment-wanna-know-whats-happened-to-the-gulf-coast-since-the-bp-spill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/2014\/04\/21\/environment-wanna-know-whats-happened-to-the-gulf-coast-since-the-bp-spill\/","title":{"rendered":"ENVIRONMENT: Wanna know what\u2019s happened to the Gulf Coast since the BP spill?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"grist\"<\/a><\/p>\n

20 Apr 2014<\/p>\n

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Wanna know what\u2019s happened <\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

to the Gulf Coast since the BP spill? <\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Read this blog, now<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

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\"brentin-mock-240\"<\/a>\u00a0By\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Brentin Mock<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>

The oil-spattered Gulf Coast in 2010. How\u2019s it faring now?<\/strong><\/span>
Danny E Hooks<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong>On the fourth anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, the big question is whether the oil spill recovery is finally over. According to BP,\u00a0<\/span>yes it is<\/span><\/a>. Or at least BP is wrapping up \u201c<\/span>active cleanup<\/span><\/a>\u201d and headed home to get its life back, only further available if the Coast Guard calls it.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

But to many of the people living along the Gulf Coast, who still have to endure the aftereffects of BP\u2019s blunder, hell naw it ain\u2019t over. Given the tarballs and the oil that\u2019s still drawing a ring of eyeliner along the coast, not to mention all the devastated\u00a0dolphins<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0oysters<\/span><\/a>, it\u2019s an insult to even suggest it.<\/span>\u201cToday should not have to be about reminding the nation that thousands of Gulf Coast residents continue to be impacted by the environmental and economic damage created by the BP oil disaster,\u201d said Colette Pichon Battle, executive director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy. \u201cThe request by coastal residents four years later is the same as in 2010. Clean up the oil. Pay for the damage. And ensure that this never happens again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There are hundreds of unresolved issues on the Gulf Coast, many of them predating the oil spill. With stories spilling in from all over the place, it\u2019s going to be tough sussing out the true grit from the bullshit. Fortunately the good folks over at the\u00a0Bridge the Gulf blog<\/span><\/a>\u00a0got you covered.<\/span><\/p>\n

The blog was created in response to the BP oil spill by Gulf Coast residents and activists who have a direct stake in their communities\u2019 recovery. Many of them have struggled under prior Gulf disasters, like hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike, Gustav, and the most recent, Isaac. It\u2019s where you can read about\u00a0Turkey Creek, Miss.<\/span><\/a>, the historically troubled black community that\u2019s the subject of the new documentaryCome Hell or High Water<\/i><\/span><\/a>. It\u2019s also where you can read about a bunch of\u00a0other places<\/span><\/a>\u00a0across the Gulf that have been pricked by storms of both the political and ecological variety.<\/span><\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I served as an editor of the blog in 2012, so I\u2019m biased. But as someone who\u2019s a relentless consumer of news from media sources across the Gulf \u2014 and who\u2019s written for many of them \u2014 I can assure you that you won\u2019t find a grander assembly of authentic voices and primary sources from the Gulf anywhere else on the web. Among the Bridge the Gulf writer corps are people like\u00a0Kindra Arnesen<\/span><\/a>, who was a first responder when the BP rig initially broke, and also voices from the Gulf\u2019s top community organizations like\u00a0Gulf Restoration Network<\/span><\/a>,t.e.j.a.s.<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Women With a Vision<\/span><\/a>, and the New Orleans-based\u00a0Advocates for Environmental Human Rights<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bridge the Gulf just relaunched with a new website design, but with the same strong repertoire of Gulf renewal narratives. Below are a few examples of blog\u2019s best content over the years:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn the Road With Cherri Foytlin<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/strong>: You may have read about Foytlin in\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/i>, where she was named as one of \u201cThe New Green Heroes\u201d of the fossil fuel resistance \u2014 she\u2019s the \u201cAngry Mom<\/span><\/a>.\u201d She walked from New Orleans to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about health problems along the Gulf believed to be the result of the BP oil spill. She\u2019s been a contributor to Bridge the Gulf since the beginning, as a writer, photographer, and videographer, but here is arare glimpse of her in front of the camera<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGulf Coast Residents Appalled by Lack of Concern for Safety After EPA Drops BP\u2019s Ban on Federal Contracts<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/strong>: The whole BP Deepwater Horizon saga is summarized in this nugget from long-time Bridge the Gulf contributor Karen Savage: \u201cThe EPA banned BP from obtaining new federal contracts and oil leases from November 2012 until the ban was lifted on March 16th. Last year, the oil giant pled guilty to illegal conduct leading to and following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, including 11 counts of felony manslaughter, one count of felony obstruction of US Congress and violations of both the Clean Water Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Acts. Through their guilty plea, BP admitted to obstructing an inquiry by the US Congress, providing \u2018false and misleading\u2019 information regarding flow rate and manipulating internal flow-rate estimates.\u201d On Friday, the Public Citizen, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and dozens of other environmental groups\u00a0demanded<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that EPA against suspend BP from receiving for federal leases and contracts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you missed last week at the BOEM \u2026<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/strong>: People want to know what the federal government has been doing since the BP oil spill to tighten safety regulations around offshore drilling \u2014 especially since it has allowed BP back out to drill in the Gulf. Those safety questions have been handled by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management mainly through a series of nauseatingly boring public meetings. Fortunately, Bridge the Gulf editor Ada McMahon made it unboring for us by attending one and then reporting back in the form of a comic strip:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"comic\"<\/span>
Ada McMahon<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Brentin Mock<\/strong> is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist who writes regularly for Grist about environmental justice issues and the connections between environmental policy, race, and politics. Follow him on Twitter at @brentinmock<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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20 Apr 2014       Wanna know what\u2019s happened to the Gulf Coast since the BP spill? Read this blog, now     \u00a0By\u00a0Brentin Mock   On the fourth anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, the big question is whether the oil spill recovery is finally over. According to BP,\u00a0yes it is. Or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[6],"tags":[4,12,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176435436"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176435436"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176435436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176435484,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176435436\/revisions\/176435484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176435436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176435436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176435436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}