The Sierra Club hosted a "Rally for the Gulf Coast" today in downtown New Orleans at Lafayette Square.
The Texas Sierra Club has joined up with our neighbors from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to mobilize our supporters to join the relief efforts and also call for a moratorium to oil drilling. This BP oil disaster has wrecked havoc on the entire Gulf Coast community, and we need to join together to make sure this never happens again. The local fishing and tourism economy is already suffering, and it will take years for the environment to recover. Please sign up and join the Sierra Club's efforts.
Thank you to the hundreds of people who turned out for today's rally. It's important to show grassroots support, and we appreciate everyone for standing up for for a clean energy future. Over 300 people showed up today!
Here's a few photos from this afternoon's rally:
For more perspective, below is a brief summary of new stories about the BP oil disaster:
NOAA expands fishing closure area because of Gulf of Mexico oil spill
New Orleans Times-Picayune
NOAA has modified and expanded the boundaries of the area closed to commercial and recreational fishing based upon the current location of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a statement from the agency states.
Gulf of Mexico oil spill's environmental impact expected to be profound, long-lasting
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Schweiger traced the clumping phenomenon to a decision by BP, which was leasing the rig and is in charge of clean-up efforts, to use dispersants both on the water's surface and below the surface to break up the oil before it can wash ashore.
"Using dispersants minimizes the damage to the coastline, but the oil is spread throughout the water column and probably does more damage to the fisheries," he said. "The dispersants just shift the risk. It's a trade off."
He applauded the decision to halt the use of underwater dispersants on the Deepwater Horizon leak, which is nearly a mile below the water's surface, deeper than chemical dispersants had ever been used before.
About two miles west of the Chandeleur Islands, schools of rain minnows could be seen darting beneath the floating oil. Schweiger said the fish are likely doomed.
"Dispersants will make oil and water mix, but there's no way to make oil and fish mix," he said.
Breton National Wildlife Refuge closed while crews attempt to clean up oil
New Orleans Times-Picayune
During a news conference late Thursday, they said the current projected path of oil indicates it could be in St. Bernard marshes within the next 48 hours. Parish President Craig Taffaro said he is currently working with the Coast Guard and BP to get assurances they will put assets in St. Bernard to protect its marsh.
Taffaro and several other parish officials, including Councilman Wayne Landry, participated in flyovers of the area to observe the sheen Thursday.
"What we saw was that there was no activity to protect St. Bernard," Taffaro said. "We need to prompt BP to put in place the assets to protect our marsh, our fishing industry and our way of life in St. Bernard.... They have assets deployed from here to Florida but none in St. Bernard Parish."
Significant oil from Gulf of Mexico spill on North Island, Freemason Island of Chandeleur chain
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Orange-colored oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has washed up on the western side of North Island, the northenmost sliver of the Chandeleur and Breton Island chain.
"On a small section of the northernmost island, we could see a pretty significant buildup of oil," said Times-Picayune photographer John McCusker, after an aerial tour of the spill this morning. "It's not inundated, but oil has definitely reached the island."
St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro confirmed there was oil on Freemason Island, which is about a mile west from the middle of the crescent of the Chandeleur chain. He also said there are reports of birds covered with oil.
2 dead birds found near islands off Plaquemines Parish
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Two Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents found two dead birds Wednesday covered in oil near Grand Gosier Islands, according to a press release from the agency.
It can not yet be determined if oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill is the cause of death of the two gannets, but they were covered with oil when found.
Anger at the Capitol over boom shortage to battle Gulf of Mexico oil spill
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Frustrations over a lack of containment equipment to combat the Gulf of Mexico oil spill began to boil to the surface among lawmakers and state officials at the Capitol Thursday as more evidence was presented that adequate boom supplies are unavailable or not being delivered as promised.
While BP is attempting to stop the leak from its source on the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico, a 1,200-square-mile oil spill is expanding toward a large stretch of Louisiana's sensitive coastal shores where local authorities and fleets of private boats are prepared to assist with the deployment of boom lines to curtain off or scoop up the slick.
Sen. Mary Landrieu takes heat for BP campaign cash
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., was on the airwaves this week, pressing the needs of the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but also defending offshore drilling, and, along the way, fending off questions about whether oil money was influencing her judgment.
"I'm not trying to be a watchdog for BP," Landrieu told CNN's John King on Tuesday. And, "I am not a hand maiden to the oil industry," Landrieu declared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" the same day.
The tone for those questions was set Monday by an item on the OpenSecrets blog, a creation of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group that tracks the flow and influence of money in politics.
Noting that Landrieu took in nearly $17,000 in PAC money and individual contributions from people professionally affiliated with BP, the blog described Landrieu as "the top congressional recipient of BP-related campaign cash during the last election cycle."
Gulf of Mexico oil spill brings charitable response for fishing families
New Orleans Times-Picayune
A lawyer and former chief sheriff's deputy in St. Bernard, Fernandez founded Santa on the Bayou before Hurricane Katrina, at first just to distribute toys to needy kids up and down the parish's docks.
But this is the first time his organization has stepped into an economic crisis, which is the term he prefers to describe it.
"These are people who live paycheck to paycheck, week to week," he said. "They get paid on Fridays, and for two weeks now, there's been no Friday.
"BP should be here -- right here, with us, right now. There should be someone from BP sitting right here writing checks to help these people.
"The problem is they don't understand the human crisis here. They understand the crisis in the marsh, but not the one here -- and the one here is just as real."