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 wide […]
Author Archives: Mark Moseley
Mark Moseley blogs at Your Right Hand Thief. Until mid 2014, Mark Moseley was The Lens' opinion writer, engagement specialist and coordinator for the Charter Schools Reporting Corps. After Katrina and the Federal Flood he helped create the Rising Tide conference, which grew into an annual social media event dedicated to the future of New Orleans.
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
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 […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Vitter candidacy scarred by PTSD, among other disorders.
At this moment in American history, about a third of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and military suicidesare on the rise. Knowing all that, I was hoping this election year would include a frank discussion of military mental health care. Though that, apparently, was asking too much, […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Obama moratorium may be result of being twice bitten
Despite howls from South Louisiana, President Obama hasn’t budged on his deepwater oil drilling moratorium, which will cost thousands of jobs. Many people can’t understand why he is so steadfast on this particular policy response to the BP oil disaster, while being somewhat flexible on other issues, such as sand berms and skimmers. Many conservative pundits imply […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
“We don’t ground all planes” analogy crashes and burns
On March 31, President Barack Obama surprised many when he announced plans to lift oil drilling moratoriums along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts – a move described at the time as potentially the “biggest expansion of offshore energy exploration in half a century.” Three weeks later, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and a catastrophic oil […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Imagineering an oil disaster
I drove my wife and daughters to Florida to see relatives and have a little holiday in the sun. Tomorrow we’ll visit Disney World, where we’ll delight in sterile fantasies and admire the Magic Kingdom’s “Imagineering”. Don’t worry. We’ll take a lot of pictures, just in case. In the meantime, I wanted to recommend this […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Twilight for Gulf Coast
Ten weeks into the oil gusher, Coast Guard officials claim more oil response assets are “urgently” required, and their need for more skimmers approaches “critical mass.” What a timely assessment! Can Professor Prompt award them all honorary degrees for foresight? And then the Obama administration informs us that the screening process to assess offers of […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
BP bankruptcy is a real fear
After meeting with BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg on June 16, President Obama said he was “absolutely confident BP will be able to meet its obligation to the Gulf Coast and to the American people. BP is a strong and viable company and it is in all of our interests that it remain so.” The stock […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Can Mabus save us?
Though President Obama’s highly anticipated oil-gusher speech was widely panned, he made an important commitment to restoring Louisiana’s coastal wetlands. If kept, this expensive, long-term promise – made before a national prime-time audience – might be the most significant commitment a president ever made to the Pelican state. Here’s the relevant excerpt from Obama’s Oval […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Jindal needs to engage in more than a war of words
Weeks ago, Gov. Bobby Jindal joined Sen. David Vitter’s call for the government to treat the response to the Gulf Coast oil gusher as it would a war. Here’s a representative quote: “[W]e need the federal government and BP to intensify their efforts and treat this oil spill like a war. We need to be […]