From the Louisiana Environmental Action Network
We believe that releases of information from the Unified Command are glossing over the environmental aspects of this oil spill and failing in their duty to provide the public with accurate and unbiased information. From our experience and the experience of all of our colleagues in dealing with oil spills, once the oil is in the water it is impossible to eliminate all environmental impact. We believe that the government agencies in charge must make a full and accurate assessment of the environmental impacts of this spill.
"The vast majority of this slick will be addressed through natural means." This sounds an awful lot like: The vast majority of the oil slick will be left in the environment. What impact will this have to the Gulf environment?
The chemical dispersants are essentially a soap like material that emulsifies the oil and causes it to sink into the water column and to the sea floor. What impact will this sub-surface oil have on marine life, on the oyster beds and benthic organisms?
Oil booms proved to be pretty ineffective during the fuel-oil barge spill in the Mississippi River in 2008. How effective will booms be in rough seas?
We do agree that burning the slick is preferable to the surface oil coming on to shore but we also ask that the Agencies involved make a full and accurate assessment of the environmental impacts of the burning of the surface oil.
We simply ask that an honest and accurate assessment of the full environmental impacts of this spill be conducted by the relevant government agencies and then released to the public.
To report affected wildlife, call 1-866-557-1401.
For more information regarding the Deepwater Horizon incident, contact the joint information center at (985) 902-5231 or (985) 902-5240.
You can contact us at 1-866-msriver.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Where are the booms?
Garland Robinette is talking to Billy Nungusser, president of Plaquemines Parish about preparations for the oil spill coming ashore on WWL radio right now. Billy said there are 6 hours left before the winds shift to the south. There are hundreds of fisher people willing to lay the boom out to protect Plaquemines. There are no booms in Plaquemines Parish. What gives?
This video said there's boom out there
Billy is close to tears out of frustration. It's unbelievable, just like Katrina. The Coast Guard and BP are "handling" this horrendous situation while our fragile wetlands and coastline sit unprotected.
Our president tells BP they're paying for the whole mess. You think this is gonna happen? Obama is stepping up the government's response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill by sending three Cabinet members to oversee the effort. Do they have booms?
Joining Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at the site will be Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and environmental protection administrator Lisa Jackson.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration also may send military ships and personnel to help control damage from the spill. Will they be here this afternoon??
Just give the booms to the fishermen in St. Bernard and Plaquemines, y'all. We can protect ourselves, as those in charge have their heads up their asses, as usual.
This video said there's boom out there
Billy is close to tears out of frustration. It's unbelievable, just like Katrina. The Coast Guard and BP are "handling" this horrendous situation while our fragile wetlands and coastline sit unprotected.
Our president tells BP they're paying for the whole mess. You think this is gonna happen? Obama is stepping up the government's response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill by sending three Cabinet members to oversee the effort. Do they have booms?
Joining Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at the site will be Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and environmental protection administrator Lisa Jackson.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration also may send military ships and personnel to help control damage from the spill. Will they be here this afternoon??
Just give the booms to the fishermen in St. Bernard and Plaquemines, y'all. We can protect ourselves, as those in charge have their heads up their asses, as usual.
BP
From the comments section of this article:
You know, as a former news reporter who covered South Louisiana and wrote stories on offshore oil rig blowouts, I am absolutely amazed over how British Petrolium has been able to spoon-feed their version of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Further, I am amazed over how the White House, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA have allowed British Petrolium to woefully minimize this catastrophe for so long a time. Case in point: we just "learned" late yesterday that there was "a second leak" from the floor of the Gulf, and that the outflow into the Gulf is 5,000 barrels instead of 1,000 barrels per day. This morning we read where apparently there is "a third leak" from the floor of the Gulf. Now how can this be? Simply because these types of platforms are used to drill multiple wellheads on the ocean floor--as many as a dozen or more for obvious reasons: to extract the oil more quickly and economically and increase profits. So, Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, etc. , please ask your reporters why they haven't "discovered" this fact, and demand that they get off their butts and begin doing some legwork instead of relying on British Petroleum's "spoon-fed news"!
You know, as a former news reporter who covered South Louisiana and wrote stories on offshore oil rig blowouts, I am absolutely amazed over how British Petrolium has been able to spoon-feed their version of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Further, I am amazed over how the White House, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA have allowed British Petrolium to woefully minimize this catastrophe for so long a time. Case in point: we just "learned" late yesterday that there was "a second leak" from the floor of the Gulf, and that the outflow into the Gulf is 5,000 barrels instead of 1,000 barrels per day. This morning we read where apparently there is "a third leak" from the floor of the Gulf. Now how can this be? Simply because these types of platforms are used to drill multiple wellheads on the ocean floor--as many as a dozen or more for obvious reasons: to extract the oil more quickly and economically and increase profits. So, Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, etc. , please ask your reporters why they haven't "discovered" this fact, and demand that they get off their butts and begin doing some legwork instead of relying on British Petroleum's "spoon-fed news"!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Mr. Hayward? Screw You
From the New York Times today
Earlier on Wednesday, Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, described the spilled oil as very light, like “iced tea,” and only one-tenth of a millimeter thick, as thin as a human hair.
“We will be judged primarily on the strength of our response,” said Mr. Hayward, who is in southwest Louisiana.
Sorry, Tony. We don't buy the description of the size. As of tonite it's being described as the size of Jamaica What you saw was from space. What WE ARE GOING TO SEE is going to be on our coastline. It is going to DEVASTATE our seafood industry. It is going to RUIN our wildlife refuges when the "iced tea" oil slick washes ashore. Louisiana already has an extremely strong dislike for you and your company, Mr. Hayward based on your slow-as-a-tortoise response to this tragedy. But we DO appreciate that you had your people add the "iced tea" reference for us 'ignorant' Southerners. You have no idea of the possibilities of how deep we can go in our anger towards fuckmooks like you.
The explosion happened on April 20th. You tried to plug the spewing well for a week when you realized that "oh shit! the winds are going to be shifting in the Gulf of Mexico". As if that doesn't happen every other day, you moron! Know your territory, Tony!
Tony, the 'strength of your response' ain't nothing if this monster comes ashore in the Gulf Coast.
Your response isn't going to help the more than four hundred species in harm's way because of your "mistake".
From the above link The area under threat produces the largest total seafood landings in the lower 48 states, is a vital wintering or resting spot for more than 70 percent of the nation's waterfowl, is used by all 110 neo-tropical migratory songbirds, and produces 50 percent of the nation's wild shrimp crop, 35 percent of its blue claw crabs and 40 percent of its oysters. Ressearchers say 90 percent of all the marine species in the Gulf of Mexico depend on coastal estuaries at some point in their lives, and most of those estuaries are in Louisiana -- endangered by an oil spill that could last months.
Just when we where coming out of the darkness of Katrina's wrath.
Update 9PM CST 4/28/10:
Mr Hayward is passing the buck, saying the rig's owner is at fault for the explosion ! At this point in time I think what's more important is WHAT IS GOING TO BE DONE AS A RESULT OF THIS EXPLOSION. We can sort the rest out later, idiots.
Earlier on Wednesday, Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, described the spilled oil as very light, like “iced tea,” and only one-tenth of a millimeter thick, as thin as a human hair.
“We will be judged primarily on the strength of our response,” said Mr. Hayward, who is in southwest Louisiana.
Sorry, Tony. We don't buy the description of the size. As of tonite it's being described as the size of Jamaica What you saw was from space. What WE ARE GOING TO SEE is going to be on our coastline. It is going to DEVASTATE our seafood industry. It is going to RUIN our wildlife refuges when the "iced tea" oil slick washes ashore. Louisiana already has an extremely strong dislike for you and your company, Mr. Hayward based on your slow-as-a-tortoise response to this tragedy. But we DO appreciate that you had your people add the "iced tea" reference for us 'ignorant' Southerners. You have no idea of the possibilities of how deep we can go in our anger towards fuckmooks like you.
The explosion happened on April 20th. You tried to plug the spewing well for a week when you realized that "oh shit! the winds are going to be shifting in the Gulf of Mexico". As if that doesn't happen every other day, you moron! Know your territory, Tony!
Tony, the 'strength of your response' ain't nothing if this monster comes ashore in the Gulf Coast.
Your response isn't going to help the more than four hundred species in harm's way because of your "mistake".
From the above link The area under threat produces the largest total seafood landings in the lower 48 states, is a vital wintering or resting spot for more than 70 percent of the nation's waterfowl, is used by all 110 neo-tropical migratory songbirds, and produces 50 percent of the nation's wild shrimp crop, 35 percent of its blue claw crabs and 40 percent of its oysters. Ressearchers say 90 percent of all the marine species in the Gulf of Mexico depend on coastal estuaries at some point in their lives, and most of those estuaries are in Louisiana -- endangered by an oil spill that could last months.
Just when we where coming out of the darkness of Katrina's wrath.
Update 9PM CST 4/28/10:
Mr Hayward is passing the buck, saying the rig's owner is at fault for the explosion ! At this point in time I think what's more important is WHAT IS GOING TO BE DONE AS A RESULT OF THIS EXPLOSION. We can sort the rest out later, idiots.
That dang oil spill
Let all the wacko's come out of the woodwork and proclaim that we shouldn't be dependent on oil.
What sickens me is what's going to happen to our coastline. And our seafood industry. God help us all.
What REALLY gets my ire up is knowing the fact that BP fought off new safety rules before this explosion.
Granted this incident happened for a reason. I'm just extremely sorry and disgusted that it had to happen to the Gulf Coast. Dammit.
From Rachel Maddow
What sickens me is what's going to happen to our coastline. And our seafood industry. God help us all.
What REALLY gets my ire up is knowing the fact that BP fought off new safety rules before this explosion.
Granted this incident happened for a reason. I'm just extremely sorry and disgusted that it had to happen to the Gulf Coast. Dammit.
From Rachel Maddow
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tragedy
Nearly five years after Hurricane Katrina, when many places are
finally showing signs of healing, we are faced with a tragedy that
we cannot stop. All we can do is prepare for it.
My condolences go out to the families and friends of the eleven workers
who are presumed dead as a result of the explosion of the oil rig
Deepwater Horizon on April 20th. I can't imagine the pain they are experiencing.
One week after the blast, the sunken rig is still spewing oil at the rate of
42 thousand gallons a day from 5,000 feet under water.
If crews cannot stop the leak quickly, they might need to drill another well to redirect the oil, a process that could take about two months while oil washes up along a broad stretch of shore, from the white-sand beaches of Florida's Panhandle to the swamps of Louisiana.
You can track the oil spill at this website.
It's predicted that - even though conditions are in our favor today - the oil could be close to
landfall by the end of this week.
We could use a meteorlogical miracle.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Homecoming
HomecomingThe space shuttle Discovery is seen as it lands at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Tuesday, April 20, 2010. Discovery and the STS-131 mission crew--Commander Alan G. Poindexter, pilot James P. Dutton Jr. and mission specialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Rick Mastracchio, Stephanie Wilson, Clayton Anderson and Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki--returned from their mission to the International Space Station.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Friday, April 16, 2010
Treme Life (Documentary) Coming Soon
A documentary on Treme life will be out soon.
From his facebook page
...I am James Demaria. I made a movie about the Treme starring Kermit Ruffins and it's called "Treme Life." Hope you stay tuned. Here's the trailer:
From his facebook page
...I am James Demaria. I made a movie about the Treme starring Kermit Ruffins and it's called "Treme Life." Hope you stay tuned. Here's the trailer:
Thursday, April 15, 2010
The Music of Treme
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very cool: International Space Station
What a piece of engineering!! Click the link below to watch how the ISS was built through the years:
http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm
http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
NYT Article on Treme
New Orleans Journal
Gathering to Watch Their City’s Star Turn
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Published: April 12, 2010
NEW ORLEANS — In the family center of the Charbonnet-Labat-Glapion Funeral Home on St. Philip Street, the local historic neighborhood association came together for a meeting on Sunday night. After a few mentions of “beautification issues,” they got down to the matter at hand: in a few minutes’ time, the city’s Tremé neighborhood, unknown to most and mispronounced by many, was about to become very, very famous.
The Ernie K-Doe Mother-in-Law Lounge was just one spot where people met on Sunday to watch the first episode of “Treme.”
“Uncle” Lionel Batiste, a musician and Tremé resident, on the set last month in Central City with the actor Wendell Pierce.
The viewing party at the funeral home — red carpet attire requested — was one of countless all over town on Sunday night for the first episode of the HBO series “Treme,” a narrative of the city that starts in the months after Hurricane Katrina and one of the mostly widely anticipated shows here in years. (The show’s name, unlike the neighborhood’s, is unaccented; both are pronounced treh-MAY.)
People crowded in to watch at bars, like the Ernie K-Doe Mother-in-Law Lounge and Buffa’s. Others horse-traded with friends who have HBO: I’ll cook dinner if I can watch at your place.
When the premiere ended and the lights went up at the funeral home, the floor was open for reactions.
“The Mardi Gras Indian,” a woman said, hesitating, “didn’t quite cut it.”
David Simon, the creator of “Treme” and, previously, HBO’s “The Wire,” realizes he is playing for a tough crowd. The show is packed with references tailor-made for the locals, from Brocato’s lemon ices to the bread pudding at Lil Dizzy’s, from the difficulty of staffing a restaurant in the months after the hurricane to the abomination of imported crawfish.
In an open letter to the people of New Orleans in The Times-Picayune on Sunday, Mr. Simon offered a preliminary defense of the parts of the show that deviate from fact. He began by offering an explanation as to why a Hubig’s pie shows up in the first episode when Hubig’s bakery did not reopen until months after the incidents in the episode took place.
The city’s obsession with getting it exactly right may seem a little defensive at times, but it is hard to second-guess a city that knows so well what happens when outsiders like, say, the government get it wrong.
This was at the root of much of the elation last fall when a judge held the Army Corps of Engineers liable for the flooding in certain areas after Hurricane Katrina. “Finally,” many people here said. “We’ve been saying it over and over, and they’re starting to get it right.”
Local television critics have heaped praise on “Treme” for doing just that, for being “the screen depiction that New Orleans deserves” and managing “to capture something of the undefinable essence of New Orleans.”
Mark Folse, a native of the city who is one of several bloggers at a Web site called Back of Town that was created to dissect the show, likewise gave it a rave.
“People here have spent their lives watching bad film and television about New Orleans,” he said in an interview, referring to Dennis Quaid’s attempt at a Cajun accent in the 1987 movie “The Big Easy.” “For people from New Orleans, it was a tremendous opening show.”
Mr. Folse, who subscribed to HBO just for the series, acknowledged the city’s “intrinsic Gallic chauvinism,” but said it was protective, the way a parent brags about a child.
Mr. Folse did worry, however, that the show was so authentically New Orleanian that the rest of the country would not be able to follow the plot from episode to episode.
Nonetheless, there is no question that “Treme” is a big deal down here, the biggest thing since, well, the Saints won the Super Bowl a couple of months ago. A “Treme” billboard towers over Canal Street; magazine advertisements for the show are tacked up in bar restrooms.
It is a chance for New Orleanians to watch themselves, often literally. The central characters are based, in varying degrees of looseness, on local D.J.’s and lawyers and Mardi Gras Indians. Then there are those, like the trumpet player Kermit Ruffins, who simply play themselves. And many more who show up as extras, like Olivia Greene, a jazz singer who was at the funeral home on Sunday night.
A 10-year Tremé resident, Ms. Greene said she had been filmed in six scenes herself. She had a blast. And like many, she wondered what the future may hold after the neighborhood has its turn in the spotlight.
“Am I going to be able to afford the rent anymore?” Ms. Greene asked.
The response to the show among many here was rather cool, but they are more invested than most in the authenticity of “Treme”: though it takes place all around the city, their neighborhood’s reputation is on the line.
“Who was the big guy?” asked Norman Smith, 56, whose roots in Tremé go back seven generations. “I thought he had it right.”
The anger of that character, a Tulane University professor named Creighton Bernette and played by John Goodman, was true to that time period, Mr. Smith said. On the other hand, Mr. Smith did not care for the foul language.
“Over all, I give it an eight,” he said.
Eight. Eight is pretty good.
“That’s because I know a lot of the people in it,” he said.
A version of this article appeared in print on April 13, 2010, on page A15 of the New York edition.
Gathering to Watch Their City’s Star Turn
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Published: April 12, 2010
NEW ORLEANS — In the family center of the Charbonnet-Labat-Glapion Funeral Home on St. Philip Street, the local historic neighborhood association came together for a meeting on Sunday night. After a few mentions of “beautification issues,” they got down to the matter at hand: in a few minutes’ time, the city’s Tremé neighborhood, unknown to most and mispronounced by many, was about to become very, very famous.
The Ernie K-Doe Mother-in-Law Lounge was just one spot where people met on Sunday to watch the first episode of “Treme.”
“Uncle” Lionel Batiste, a musician and Tremé resident, on the set last month in Central City with the actor Wendell Pierce.
The viewing party at the funeral home — red carpet attire requested — was one of countless all over town on Sunday night for the first episode of the HBO series “Treme,” a narrative of the city that starts in the months after Hurricane Katrina and one of the mostly widely anticipated shows here in years. (The show’s name, unlike the neighborhood’s, is unaccented; both are pronounced treh-MAY.)
People crowded in to watch at bars, like the Ernie K-Doe Mother-in-Law Lounge and Buffa’s. Others horse-traded with friends who have HBO: I’ll cook dinner if I can watch at your place.
When the premiere ended and the lights went up at the funeral home, the floor was open for reactions.
“The Mardi Gras Indian,” a woman said, hesitating, “didn’t quite cut it.”
David Simon, the creator of “Treme” and, previously, HBO’s “The Wire,” realizes he is playing for a tough crowd. The show is packed with references tailor-made for the locals, from Brocato’s lemon ices to the bread pudding at Lil Dizzy’s, from the difficulty of staffing a restaurant in the months after the hurricane to the abomination of imported crawfish.
In an open letter to the people of New Orleans in The Times-Picayune on Sunday, Mr. Simon offered a preliminary defense of the parts of the show that deviate from fact. He began by offering an explanation as to why a Hubig’s pie shows up in the first episode when Hubig’s bakery did not reopen until months after the incidents in the episode took place.
The city’s obsession with getting it exactly right may seem a little defensive at times, but it is hard to second-guess a city that knows so well what happens when outsiders like, say, the government get it wrong.
This was at the root of much of the elation last fall when a judge held the Army Corps of Engineers liable for the flooding in certain areas after Hurricane Katrina. “Finally,” many people here said. “We’ve been saying it over and over, and they’re starting to get it right.”
Local television critics have heaped praise on “Treme” for doing just that, for being “the screen depiction that New Orleans deserves” and managing “to capture something of the undefinable essence of New Orleans.”
Mark Folse, a native of the city who is one of several bloggers at a Web site called Back of Town that was created to dissect the show, likewise gave it a rave.
“People here have spent their lives watching bad film and television about New Orleans,” he said in an interview, referring to Dennis Quaid’s attempt at a Cajun accent in the 1987 movie “The Big Easy.” “For people from New Orleans, it was a tremendous opening show.”
Mr. Folse, who subscribed to HBO just for the series, acknowledged the city’s “intrinsic Gallic chauvinism,” but said it was protective, the way a parent brags about a child.
Mr. Folse did worry, however, that the show was so authentically New Orleanian that the rest of the country would not be able to follow the plot from episode to episode.
Nonetheless, there is no question that “Treme” is a big deal down here, the biggest thing since, well, the Saints won the Super Bowl a couple of months ago. A “Treme” billboard towers over Canal Street; magazine advertisements for the show are tacked up in bar restrooms.
It is a chance for New Orleanians to watch themselves, often literally. The central characters are based, in varying degrees of looseness, on local D.J.’s and lawyers and Mardi Gras Indians. Then there are those, like the trumpet player Kermit Ruffins, who simply play themselves. And many more who show up as extras, like Olivia Greene, a jazz singer who was at the funeral home on Sunday night.
A 10-year Tremé resident, Ms. Greene said she had been filmed in six scenes herself. She had a blast. And like many, she wondered what the future may hold after the neighborhood has its turn in the spotlight.
“Am I going to be able to afford the rent anymore?” Ms. Greene asked.
The response to the show among many here was rather cool, but they are more invested than most in the authenticity of “Treme”: though it takes place all around the city, their neighborhood’s reputation is on the line.
“Who was the big guy?” asked Norman Smith, 56, whose roots in Tremé go back seven generations. “I thought he had it right.”
The anger of that character, a Tulane University professor named Creighton Bernette and played by John Goodman, was true to that time period, Mr. Smith said. On the other hand, Mr. Smith did not care for the foul language.
“Over all, I give it an eight,” he said.
Eight. Eight is pretty good.
“That’s because I know a lot of the people in it,” he said.
A version of this article appeared in print on April 13, 2010, on page A15 of the New York edition.
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