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Time to strike while the Bullock and wetlands are hot

In addition to The Times-Picayune’s story on FEMA’s massive lump sum compensation to battered New Orleans Schools, Bayou Buzz shared this good news: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu will join Oscar-winning actress, Sandra Bullock, to announce the opening of the Warren Easton High School health clinic on Sunday, August 29. … The Warren Easton school-based health [...]

August 26 2010 | Posted in Asphalt, Air and Water, Money and Politics, Opinion | Read More »

City posts contracts for Joe Brown, riverfront park work

Less than a week after announcing his administration’s plans for more than 100 projects, Mayor Mitch Landrieu on Monday signed a contract for another recreation effort. The $1.7 million contract to renovate the Joe Brown Park was posted to the city’s website today. Also posted was the $23 million contract for a new riverfront park [...]

August 24 2010 | Posted in Asphalt, Air and Water, Land Use, Over the Transom | Read More »

Don’t waste a good disaster: Spill could help The Hoff

Saints fans carefully appraised my suggestion to play “Glee” songs on game days, and they decided the idea had less merit than an unflushed toilet. After such a blogging debacle, you’d think I’d be disinclined to use my platform at The Lens to make additional pop culture proposals. But when I get into a hole, [...]

August 16 2010 | Posted in Asphalt, Air and Water | Read More »

The nation’s sacrifice zone, part II

The New York Times article I referred to in my previous post did more than contrast the crisis of wetlands loss to the oil disaster. It also discussed the longtime degradation of the Gulf Coast, and touched on several “radioactive” issues: According to data from the Minerals Management Service compiled and analyzed by Toxics Targeting, [...]

August 6 2010 | Posted in Asphalt, Air and Water, Money and Politics | Read More »

Successful post-Katrina programs in jeopardy of losing federal backing

Without a continuation of post-Katrina grants for education, health care and improving the criminal justice system, New Orleans risks losing gains made since the storm, says a report released Wednesday on the state of New Orleans five years after Hurricane Katrina. The New Orleans Index at Five, a project of the Brookings Institution and the [...]

August 6 2010 | Posted in Asphalt, Air and Water, Crime and Punishment, Money and Politics, Schools | Read More »

Incoming Spill Claims Czar Will Drop BP’s Contractor

Kenneth Feinberg, the independent paymaster chosen by President Barack Obama to administer damage claims from the Gulf oil spill, will drop the contractor that BP has been using to manage the claims process and hire two new companies to replace it. Feinberg is expected to take over the claims system from BP In mid-August. He [...]

August 6 2010 | Posted in Asphalt, Air and Water | Read More »

The nation’s sacrifice zone, part I

Gulf Coast wetlands loss received a burst of exposure in national media stories last week. Hip Hip, Hooray! While each story had a different angle, each discussed the tragic disappearance of Louisiana’s coast. Then, predictably, they all compared the issue to the BP/Macondo oil disaster. Coastal loss was declared to be a decades-long problem of [...]

August 3 2010 | Posted in Asphalt, Air and Water | Read More »

Have you filed a claim with BP? If the answer is yes, please help us illuminate the process.

The Lens wants to hear from people who have filed a claim for damages related to BP’s oil spill in Gulf of Mexico.

August 1 2010 | Posted in Asphalt, Air and Water | Read More »

Simple answers to simple questions

On May 16, during the biggest oil “spill” in American history, Fox News anchor Britt Hume was troubled by a nagging thought: “Where is the oil?” The nation spent the next eight weeks watching the Macondo oil gusher spew into the Gulf. But now that it’s been capped, many have returned to Hume’s query, echoing [...]

July 31 2010 | Posted in Asphalt, Air and Water | Read More »

Older or abandoned land-based oil and gas wells across Louisiana have given rise to a new wave of litigation. Photo by Paul Heinrich

As offshore oil war continues, quieter pollution battles being fought on land

As the offshore spill cleanup progresses, Louisiana regulators and residents are engaged in another fight against oil pollution on land.

July 27 2010 | Posted in Asphalt, Air and Water, Slider | Read More »