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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 inEnvironment

Q&A with Landrieu staffers

Landrieu The Lens contacted Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office recently to discuss her role in the oil spill response. In an interview with Tom Michaels, the senator’s legislative director, and Aaron Saunders, her communications director, we discussed campaign contributions from BP and from the maker of the dispersants and whether drilling for oil continues to be […]

Posted inEnvironment

Scenes from the spill: Grand Isle

As Louisiana experiences week eight of the Deepwater Horizon oil catastrophe, globs of crude continue to wash into Grand Isle.  Instead of fishers and sunbathers, workers hired by the oil giant raked contaminated sand occupy the shore, raking the toxic sand and removing it in plastic bags.  Wetlands scientist Michael Massimi  of The Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary […]

Posted inEnvironment

Alternative for dispersants to break up oil hampered by politics and bureaucracy

Fewer controversial oil-spill issues exist right now than the use of dispersants. Specifically, environmentalists, residents and clean-up workers are concerned about BP’s  use of petroleum-based Corexit brand, which is more toxic than many of the alternatives approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is only 55 percent effective on the type of oil gushing […]

Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics

Defend Plaquemines

Diane Sawyer’s person of the week wants to show the world just how hospitable Plaquemines Parish can be. At a town hall meeting this week Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, who is to be anointed by Sawyer during a Friday night appearance on the ABC newscaster’s show, implored residents in attendance to be “hospitable.” “The […]

Posted inEnvironment

Shaking a fist at Monkeyfister

The end is near, or at least that’s what the blogger Monkeyfister would have you believe, based on his marathon live blogging of the oil spill as seen through the video feed from the ocean floor. Witness these updates from Sunday: UPDATE 1:20pm CDT: While watching, ANOTHER major “explosion” occurred. ROV Cam now covered in […]

Posted inEnvironment

Scenes of frustration

Though St. Bernard Parish officials organized a community meeting Monday night, parish President Craig Taffaro quickly stepped out of the way and told the 100 or so audience members “this is your meeting.” They went head-to-head with representatives of BP, the Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, covering an array of topics. […]