This week on Behind The Lens, an avalanche on the Gulf floor 14 years ago has led to a massive pollution crisis off the coast. The Taylor Energy oil spill began in 2004 and continues today. The federal government now believes one and a half million barrels of oil, and possibly much more, has spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.

Host and producer Tom Wright speaks with Jonathan Henderson, founder of Vanishing Earth and a longtime observer of the spill.

Also, Michael Isaac Stein has the latest on Entergy New Orleans’ troubles with the New Orleans City Council. The company is facing a $5 million fine over the use of paid actors who appeared at public meetings in support of its eastern New Orleans power plant proposal. Now, the company is leveraging its charitable giving, asking its beneficiaries to write to the council on its behalf.

And Eve Abrams talks about a new phenomenon in New Orleans criminal justice. For years, Orleans Parish DA Leon Cannizzaro’s office led the state in the use of the habitual offender statute, which added decades to prison sentences for multiple offenders, including nonviolent offenders. But over the past year, habitual offender prosecutions have gone way down in New Orleans, lagging nearby parishes. But according to defense attorneys, parish prosecutors still use the law all the time to obtain plea deals.

Behind The Lens is available on Apple Podcasts.

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