Comments GulfAaron has made

$30 billion or bust

Re-plumbing the water and sediment of the Mississippi to replenish and sustain our coastal marshes won't be cheap.  We need the feds to pony up right now, and we should be looking for strategies to bring the big oil & gas companies to the table as well - or is the concept of polluter pays outdated after 7 years of Bushco?

If you want to do more than read this story and say "tisk tisk" check out our site for an e-action to Flood Washington - not our coast and communities.On On moving to New Orleans, a city defined by water posted 2 years, 3 months ago 5 Responses

gulf dead zone demands action

Last month, my group and others attended a meeting of the Dead Zone Task Force (made up of state and federal agencies) and asked why more than six years after an action plan was released, little action has taken place to reduce the size of the dead zone.  

We also sounded off about this issue, as it's clear that current policy driving the ethanol boom  represents yet another instance of Louisiana and the Gulf paying the price for the nation's energy economy (oil and gas drilling and our wetlands anyone?  Murphy refinery's massive oil spill in the wake of Katrina ring a bell?  As Tom eloquently points out, subsidized corn production in the Midwest will lead to increased Dead Zone-causing fertilizer pollution in the Mississippi River.  At the same time, there has been no significant federal funding or action to reduce the Dead Zone.

There are solutions to this problem that we can begin to implement right away.  The first step is for the Environmental Protection Agency and states to set standards for how much nutrient pollution we allow in streams that eventually flow into the Gulf. We should also be installing technology on our sewage treatment plants to remove pollution and offering more incentives to farmers to reduce fertilizer runoff from fields.

Gulf Restoration Network United for a Healthy Gulf

greening bonnaroo

Sarah, great you're there to combat the waste and trash.  we're set up right down the way at Planet Roo - fighting Corporate Low-Down Depot Mart, who insist on selling mulch made from the Gulf Coast's best natural defenses from flooding and hurricanes - our cypress swamps.  Check out the home page for a fun flash animation we just launched.  You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll click (we hope)

Gulf Restoration Network United for a Healthy Gulf

overheard at the airport...

The morning after the Oscars, I was sitting in the Chicago airport and heard someone fuming about the awards - specifically about 'Gore and the gays.'

"Windmills!?!  They want to make us get our energy from f*&%ing windmills?!!?"

Besides hardcore birders, I didn't think anyone got really heated about windmills.  There are definitely two americas, and unfortnately, the more prominent the Al Gore/Hollywood collaboration supports action, the more attacked and embattled the second America will feel.

So go out, and tell our politicos to Step It Up! but make sure to ask any republicans you know to come along and find out the windmills aren't going to sap and impurify your precious bodily fluids, or whatever crazy theories inspire such vitriol.

Aaron Viles
Campaign Director

Gulf Restoration Network United for a Healthy Gulf

but they missed the fish thing

One other aspect of this announcement is that WalMart will only be stocking  wild caught fish certified by the Marine Stewardship Council - this is a big deal, and will help combat overfishing and illegal fishing throughout the world.

Gulf Restoration Network United for a Healthy Gulf

Mad as hell & flooding Washington in response

David, you do a great job of pulling in the disparate aspects of the story - but from a New Orleanian's perspective there are a couple omissions:
1)  This was the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers fault.  The local paper, the Times-Picayune has documented failure after failure by the congressionally authorized Corps of doing their job and ensuring cat 3 protection for 1/2 a million residents of this amazing city.
As such, it is the fed's responsibility to fix this mess.
2) Without an immediate federal commitment to honest and effective levees AND comprehensive coastal restoration to build functioning wetland buffers NOLA can't come back.  Period.  We can have an adult disneyland in the French Quarter, but we won't have a functioning city with multiple economic drivers.  Every day that passes w/out this commitment ensures more evacutated businesses stay put in Atlanta, Houston, Baton Rouge, etc.

We've launched an effort to Flood Washington demanding this commitment. Our goal is 300K e-mails - one for every displaced Louisianan.  We've got 18K so far, so take a second and help out.  It's easy and worth it.

Thnx

Aaron Viles
Campaign Director

Gulf Restoration Network United for a Healthy Gulf

conference of parties? New Orleans is in!

Here in NOLA, advocates are working to increase attention to global warming impacts as the city plans its rebirth.  To draw attention to Montreal, we're planning a "Save New Orleans - Stop Global Warming" bar crawl on Dec. 3rd.

This deadly, destructive, hurricane season MUST be a teachable moment for global warming - and if New Orleans can't figure it out heaven help us all.

The groups that are back on the ground in New Orleans making the bar crawl happen are:
The Alliance for Affordable Energy
and
 the Sierra Club

On What to expect from the U.N. climate-change negotiations in Montreal posted 4 years ago 5 Responses

Spend the 'excess profits' in the Gulf of Mexico

One element that needs to be considered as Louisiana's Gulf Coast and New Orleans are rebuilt, and has not been discussed in any of the coverage I've seen - is what needs to be done to secure the oil and gas infrastructure for future catastrophes. The Gulf of Mexico is moving into a 25 year period of increased hurricane activity. Global warming is increasing the water temperature of the Gulf and making these storms more and more powerful; Katrina, Rita and Wilma were three of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Cumulatively the impacts of the two hurricanes on Louisiana's oil & gas industry are staggering - over 8 million gallons of oil spilled - some from refineries, some from tank farms, some from oil rigs. The Exxon Valdez spilled about 11 million gallons. While the spills were spread out for miles along the Louisiana coast, a more far flung area than Prince William Sound, it's still a huge ecological catastrophe. Not counted in that 8 million gallon total is a spill that occurred earlier during tropical storm Arlene when an off-shore spill oiled a brown pelican rookerylocated on the Breton National Wildlife Refuge.

While no one can say when the next hurricane will strike a populated area of coastal Louisiana, it's a pretty safe bet that next year's hurricane season will see a storm or two churn through the oil & gas rigs and platforms that blanket the OCS. Is the price of our nation's dependence on oil and gas going to continue to be paid by the wetlands and wildlife of the Western Gulf? The oil & gas industry simply must do better in securing their production resources off shore and ensuring minimized impacts. Of course that's going to take increased investment on the part of the industry which can either come by the direction of our policy makers or their CEO's. Neither camp has shown much interest in improving off-shore security, relying instead on platitude-filled PR and the public's apprehension of increased gas prices to keep from making significant improvements.

Check out the full post at the Gulf Restoration Network's blog

Gulf Restoration Network United for a Healthy Gulf

Simply worried

The groups we've run into are just more and more apprehensive about anything slightly aggresive or 'radical.'  This is of course, the radical right think tanks aim - winnow down the publically acceptable environmentalism to recycling.

Check this outrageous assault on NEPA and responsible environmentalism:

CEI blames Sierra Club for Katrina

And of course check out the club's GAO-backed
response

Gulf Restoration Network United for a Healthy Gulf

out with the chik file and in with the organics

I heard Alice Waters speak on this issue at the
a href="
Sierra Summit[/a] last month, and was quite inspired.  I was glad to hear that she's working to expand the program throughout the Berkley school district, as it seems like such a common-sense program.

With the help of the Nekkid Brit, I'm sure we should see some progress.On 'Naked Chef' dresses down U.S. school lunches, demands 'real food, posted 4 years, 1 month ago 4 Responses