oil spill data

"We will get the coast that we are willing to pay for"

The Lens, with sponsorship from the Mississippi River Delta Coalition, hosted a panel discussion on the financing of the $50 billion coastal master plan at Loyola University, Wednesday, Aug. 20 from 6 to 8 p.m.

While much of the discussion about the master plan lately has revolved around implementation — in particular the pros and cons of river diversions — without funding, it’s all academic. The panel discussion expanded the conversation.

Panelists:
1) Mark Davis, Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy
2) John Driscoll, Corporate Planning Resources
3) Kyle Graham, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
4) Douglas J. Meffert, Audubon Louisiana/National Audubon Society
5) Steve Murchie, Gulf Restoration Network: United for a healthy Gulf of Mexico
6) John Snell, WVUE/Fox 8 Moderator



I went, was impressed by the spread of good food (someone asked who made that crawfish cheesecakey thing?) and the full room but chagrined by the number of white guys in suits taking much of the air and space up front. I comforted myself with the thought that valiant men do live and work among and sometimes even resemble the scoundrels (so must remember to not be overly judgy by appearance or the number of law degrees...)

The upshot of tonight's talk was about what funding is here, what is possible and what is still needed to deal with the restoration and protection of our coast. The evening focused on the 50 year, 50 billion Master Plan Louisiana created in 2012, this number reduced from the larger 2007 200-300 million "wishlist" that had no plan attached to it.
The funding for this is meant to (mostly) come from energy companies through GOMESA and from the penalties and damages from the BP spill through RESTORE; however, the payouts for these are not decided yet and any estimates as to the final levels are wildly speculative (a phrase used by multiple panelists this evening); in other words, just to fix what has been done already by these folks, we need the money that is not in hand and may not be ever or at least not for years. These energy companies have successfully used the "tobacco companies approach" and fought every bit of science that they could in order to delay their payout to these states. Inflation is not figured into these estimates by the way and will drive the costs up significantly.

Here are some interesting points (in no particular order) brought up tonight:

• 85% of the coast is in private hands. However, alliances have been formed with landowners and NGOs to address the issues of coastal restoration, which allows for more comprehensive plans and landowners matching federal funds on some projects.
• In post-Katrina meetings held throughout the state on the question of elevation requirements for homes rebuilt, citizens chose coastal wetland restoration as a significant need for the state to address with any funds they had. This was clearly a tipping point in the level of awareness among citizens.
• The master plan does not include hurricane protection construction or any maintenance of hurricane protection so more money is necessary to be able to remain in place.
• If we acknowledge that the large payment we are hoping to receive from oil and gas through RESTORE will not be enough (Mark Davis estimates 100 million is really necessary), then we must also acknowledge that we cannot wait for another inexcusable event like the BP spill to raise whatever else is needed. So the question is how can federal, state and local concerns all be involved in funding search for the coast?
• "we are embarking on a civics adventure like no other" to figure out how to engage oil/gas, navigation and citizens to understand everyone must pay their share of the system we need. Levees and drainage were originally paid for by tax-paying citizens, not by Army Corps- we need to remember that and follow it in some cases.
•Let's not always be our own worst enemy: Steve Murchie pointed out the mid-Barataria sediment diversion project now has a coal export terminal right next to it. Hard to show Congress that we take these projects seriously, when we allow an 80 foot tall pile of coal as a neighbor to a diversion project.
•RESTORE will most likely be funded, but 5 states will share the money- politics will play a part in what is funded and where.
• BP and its 2010 spill are emblematic of the industry and NOT an outlier. That means that more spills and more delaying tactics will continue unless we change the cozy relationship that oil/gas has with its regulators. Requiring those operators to re-vegetate and clean their abandoned oil rigs is certainly a small step in the right direction.
• Oil/Gas owe the people of Louisiana something around 400 square miles of land as of now.
• Louisiana actually does fairly well in federal investment levels, both on the appropriations side and on the crisis recovery side: the Congressional delegation are strong advocates and yet, we must acknowledge that there is "Katrina fatigue" in DC. We have a reputation for "always having our hand out, but not spending wisely" which is largely inaccurate but we need to be better at documenting and demonstrating our success in DC.
• Terrebonne Parish is taxing itself to pay their share; we must ask all Louisiana citizens: are you willing to pay for this? Mark Davis again: "if candidates for office promise to not tax you, then they are also promising to not serve you."
• How can private entrepreneurial activity help? Investing in local engineering firms, selling carbon offsets, mitigation banking, building better homes and communities, encouraging social entrepreneurial competitions like Idea Village/GNOF/Propeller's annual water Challenge. We need to change the architecture of public projects which are in the hands of a few agencies and don't leave room for entrepreneurial activity: John Driscoll offered an idea around the design of diversion projects: Instead of asking bidders to bid on an already designed Army Corps project, to instead set forth the goals of each project and allow bidders to come up with their own designs.

Mark Davis: "The crisis we face in the future will be met by the quality of ideas we have laying around then; we already have better ideas than we did in 2005."

The last note to remember: Moderator Snell rightly pointed out "Why didn't we build better after Katrina?" Mark Davis using gallows humor answered: "well, we'll have another chance next time."

BBC interview 1 year after

Fishers and their supporters talk about the disaster's aftermath, a year into it.

BBC

PHRIMSERS and BLACK GOLD by Corbin Evans

I love this limerick by my friend Corbin Evans, award-winning chef and laid back shorts-wearin' guy:

PHRIMSERS and BLACK GOLD

Phrimsers are bundles of brawn & guts,
Hardened by storms and painted coconuts;
‘The weather,’ many say,
‘May end their long days,’
Who knew it would be nothing of the such.

As Black Gold lurked deep down below,
Deeper even than the fish aglow,
Close to the core
Faceless men did bore,
Ashore no one dreamt the Gold could flow.

Faux Pols stutter, flubber and all quack
‘The Gold, we most certainly, must not let lack;
‘So what!... if some birds and bait
Expire before their use by date,
Dependence on the Gold must not slack.’

Yet mills of wind and panels del sol,
Could be the bright future from North to South Pole,
If only from plastic bottles and bags we could ween,
And happily sustain ourselves on a planet green,
Instead of warming globally and selling our soul.

Our food is unsafe and our bellies heartache,
As BP destroys the earth for profits sake;
The wetlands are on the brink,
Our culture nearly extinct,
Lucky if ever again sweet, brown Phrims we taste from the lake.

BP oil spill as seen from your front porch

Spill in your town

"I get worse every day"

Those were the words written on the dry wipe board that my mother brought out of her husband's hospital room this evening. Tears in her eyes, she pointed to them and looked at the ceiling gathering herself.
He is only a few days from radical mouth surgery, and has ahead of him and her more diagnosis, therapy and the rest of his life (hopefully without cigarettes) to master. So those words are completely understandable for his case right now.
After she calmly went back in his room (my mother can face anything, I can assure you) I sat in the waiting room thinking about them and then of course after a while, my mind switched to the other great unknown in my life-the health of my region.
Are we getting worse every day? Is the black sludge creeping closer, inevitably to fight up the Mississippi while coming in with the tide to Lake Pontchartrain, then to the beautiful Tchefuncte and to those quiet waters of Abita that I kayak in?
Will I walk to the bayou one morning with Maddie and see death? Will it happen quickly while it sends me away to live its last without me?
Well, quick answer: I don't think so. Or, most days I don't.

Just as I think he will beat it as he did 10 years ago. Just as I think he will tell us jokes again as he serves his breakfast burritos. I do. He oddly oozes Irish health (fueled by alcohol and a small vegetable diet) and the rage of the unreconstructed Marine that he is, but together those things keep him moving quickly. I know he will never be the same person that he was 10 years ago, but I also know that he has done more than survived in these 10 years; he has actually lived well. Now, he must live a little less well but also do more than survive. A hard lesson.

I sit in that odd waiting area with certainty. My certainty comes from the way that life has shown itself to me over the last 45 years as small truths wrapped in confusing, competing messages. I notice that decisions come often from lack of clarity, rather than from a grand moment. Clarity is rare and what is to be does not show itself all at once for us. Only in movies. So the dynamic duo of hope and action are the ways we manage until that moment comes. That is why I think that his moment will not come during this dramatic surgery, but how he handles the aftermath. His decision. Her decision.

So, I think this is true for all of us. I know our region will never be the same as it was before this, but we gotta accept (love) what we get. While that is so, we need to keep the rage and love and respect of natural places in the front of our hearts so we can keep hope and action ready.. We need to be prepared at every moment for meandering decision-less moments that will lead us to more tragedy. We cannot expect this to end. We can only hope it will.
And then, knowing that, walk back in there with resolve and grit trying to keep it alive.

Hey world, New Orleans here.

Hello world,
It's New Orleans calling. How've you been? We...were doing better recently, now, maybe not.
So let me catch you up.
2010 seemed like a good year. Good Mardi Gras, incredible Saints year and even the snow and floods of winter 2009/2010 were manageable. Because we felt better around here.
We were feeling the love from the city again and with old Nagin getting gone, we were hopeful.

Then right before Jazz Fest this happened. Ironic, as it is now sponsored by Shell. No, not New Orleans; the festival. The oil came gushing and it still comes. Day 34 today.
I can tell you that we knew something was up right away. Unlike the rest of America, and the media and the government, we figured those folks down there weren't telling us the truth.
No, we're not clairvoyant, just battle tested let's say.
We knew because we see how the government handled their shit after levees broke and people were left to die with school buses sitting empty. And then 5 more years of it. Governments not knowing how to tell the truth and corporations sitting around waiting for the least cost answer to show up. Still going on by the way.

So now, April 20,2010 is another date we are destined to remember. Interestingly, now we have a bunch of new people living here who thought they were moving to a place that bad things HAD happened to; we feel a little guilty that we didn't tell them-lightning does strike twice in one place.

By the way, that oil down there? hey- it's not just for US. it's for YOU TOO. It's for all of us that ask them to stick the needle in our veins that are responsible. We just have to live with the daily aftermath of the loss of our bioregion. A bioregion that we respect. I can prove that by asking you to look at a Google Map of our coast-unlike most of the rest of the US, you will see refuges and wild places along Louisiana. Fishing boats and camps to live in it, among it. Not on top of it.

sorry- I'm getting a bit angry. deep breath.

Listen, we take responsibility; we do. We just aren't going to take it all.
and when you ask when are WE going to get mad, realize that we have been mad for a long time. But, we're just a small part of this. YOU need to get mad too.

So, we're not doing so well. We just wanted to let you know that and one other thing:

We want you to help this time. Change your intake of oil, especially gasoline. Write to your representatives and ask them to save what they can. Tell them to fine BP in the millions to allow any idea to be tested-I don't give a shit which Hollywood actor comes up with it, let's fucking try it-And stop telling us "you are thinking about us down here" and realize this is happening to all of us.

Talk again soon. Let us know what you're doing, wouldja?

This Friday, bike.

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