Environment: Blog of New Orleans, Gambit

Y@ Speak: Suspicious packages

Lauren LaBorde — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:51:00 -0500

Krewe DuVieux 2014: "Suspicious Packages" #YouAreWelcome
— skooks (@skooks) April 19, 2013

The horrible Boston Marathon bombings happened this week, and terror and panic followed in the form of lockdowns, bomb threats, suspicious packages and Diner en Blanc. Also this week: Earth Day celebrations, a dumb Katrina/other bad thing comparison, wine ice cream?

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Transocean to pay $1.4 billion in fines for 2010 oil disaster

Alex Woodward — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:15:00 -0600

Transocean Deepwater Inc. has agreed to pay $400 million in criminal fines and penalties and, within the terms of a proposed partial consent decree, $1 billion for Clean Water Act violations for its role in the 2010 Gulf oil disaster.

The order mandates $150 million of the $400 million will be dedicated to "acquiring, restoring, preserving and conserving" marine and coastal environments and wildlife habitat along the Gulf of Mexico, and a portion will also benefit barrier island restoration and wetland restoration along Louisiana.…

Updates: fire on Gulf oil platform

Alex Woodward — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:40:57 -0600

Updated 12:05 p.m., following Coast Guard press conference.

Here's a quick summary of some of the updates from this morning's news of an oil platform (not a rig) that caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico at about 9:15 a.m.:

The U.S. Coast Guard announced that an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico was on fire — Facebook photos shared with KLFY-TV confirmed.

Houston station KHOU-TV reported ~~two deaths on the platform~~, with two missing (presumed dead) and four with serious injuries, who were airlifted from the platform.…

Video and summary: Attorney General Eric Holder's press conference on BP criminal plea

Charles Maldonado — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:31:00 -0600

BP has agreed to plead guilty to 14 federal criminal counts related to the 2010 Gulf Oil Disaster — including 11 counts of felony manslaughter for the workers killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced at a New Orleans press conference today.

"BP has agreed to plead guilty to all 14 criminal charges including responsibility for the deaths of 11 people and the events that led to an environmental catastrophe," Holder said.…

New report outlines 30 recommendations for rebuilding the Gulf Coast

Alex Woodward — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:12:17 -0500

The America’s WETLAND Foundation's latest report urges lawmakers to pledge billions of dollars to Gulf Coast restoration.

Released today, “Beyond Unintended Consequences: Adaptation for Gulf Coast Resiliency and Sustainability" is the result of forums held in 11 Gulf Coast communities (including Lake Charles, Avery Island, Houma, Plaquemines Parish and New Orleans) in the last year.…

Local farmers contend with flooding

Ian McNulty — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 17:08:00 -0500

Hurricane Isaac may well have put Braithwaite on the map for many people around the country watching the harrowing news reports of flooding there. But regular shoppers at the Crescent City Farmers Market likely already have a strong association between the tiny Plaquemines Parish town and fresh citrus.…

Dump the Pump and ride transit on Thursday, June 21

Megan Braden-Perry — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 09:01:00 -0500

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA), in partnership with The Sierra Club and The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), hosts its seventh annual National Dump the Pump Day Thursday, June 21.

The goal of National Dump the Pump Day is to make citizens aware of the benefits of using public transportation as opposed to driving: reducing the carbon footprint, decreasing fuel dependency, minimizing congestion and saving money on gas, maintenance, insurance and parking.…

Hazardous waste disposal drop-off Saturday

Kandace Graves — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:30:00 -0500

New Orleans resident can drop off household hazardous wastes at 2829 Elysian Fields Ave. from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 9.…

Greenpeace releases photos of BP oil spill damage

Will Coviello — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:57:00 -0500

Greenpeace filed many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for information, including photos, related to the 2010 BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Today, it published photos related to an endangered species of turtle.…

Report: Louisiana dolphins "severely ill"

Alex Woodward — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:20:00 -0500

In Barataria Bay, scientists and researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association have been studying bottlenose dolphins in the wake of the BP oil disaster.

The NOAA performed physicals on 32 dolphins in 2011, and today, the early results are dramatic: many are "underweight, anemic, have low blood sugar and/or some symptoms of liver and lung disease," and "nearly half also have abnormally low levels of the hormones that help with stress response, metabolism and immune function."…

"Jungleland": This Sunday's New York Times Magazine cover story

Kevin Allman — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:36:00 -0500

This Sunday's New York Times Magazine has a cover story by Nathaniel Rich on the progress, or lack thereof, in cleaning up New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward. It's titled "Jungleland" (insert your own cringe here).…

The Washington Post: "As climate changes, Louisiana seeks to lift a highway"

Kevin Allman — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:09:38 -0500

The Washington Post has a report on the dilemma facing the state and the feds regarding the elevation of Highway 1, which connects Port Fourchon with a country that hasn't lost its appetite for oil and gas:

Ten miles of the highway is now standing 22 feet above sea level on cement piles. But another seven miles is not, and if less than half a mile of this highway succumbs to the 14-foot storm surges expected in the future, the highway will need to be shut down, cutting off the port.…
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Marsh fire: one down, two to go

Alex Woodward — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:15:51 -0600

The New Orleans Fire Department announced this afternoon it extinguished a chunk of the marsh fire that has smoldered in eastern New Orleans since last August. The now-extinguished 4.27 square mile plot leaves two other still-smoldering hotspots of undetermined sizes that the NOFD will continue to battle, and they're not likely to go anywhere any time soon.…

Buddy Roemer to appear on Real Time With Bill Maher

Kevin Allman — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:07:24 -0600

For someone who can't get in any of the GOP debates (though there's certainly room on the stage these days), Buddy Roemer sure knows how to get TV time. He's appeared on The Colbert Report several times with Stephen Colbert and once on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.…

Louisiana gets 16 young whooping cranes

Kandace Graves — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:39:59 -0600

Southwest Louisiana’s colony of endangered whooping cranes grew to 19 Tuesday, when wildlife officials released 16 young birds into the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area in Gueydan to join the three adult cranes placed there in March. The releases are part of a 15-year experimental program to establish a nonmigratory population of whooping cranes in Louisiana.

Similar programs to build whooping crane populations in the wild are under way in two other locations, and captive-breeding projects are being conducted at a dozen locations across the U.S. and Canada.…

Sec. of Interior gives greenlight to Lafitte Corridor greenway

Alex Woodward — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:25:00 -0600

Ken Salazar, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, met with Friends of the Lafitte Corridor today on the banks of Bayou St. John, flanked by a post office and Parkway Bakery & Tavern. Salazar announced the Obama Administration's prioritized commitment to the to the Lafitte Corridor project via the Urban Waters Federal Partnership, led by the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, and coordinated by the White House Domestic Policy Council.…

A Norwegian music video celebrating the joys of oil drilling

Kevin Allman — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:10:25 -0500

Workers from the Norwegian oil giant Statoil seem to have produced this paean to their chosen profession, a song titled "Black Gold Hunters." In it, a man wearing a petrochemically-inspired jacket performs a duet with what looks like Norway's answer to Rhonda Shear. Later in the video, the guys back at the office get their turn.…

First impressions: oil disaster doc The Big Fix

Alex Woodward — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:22:07 -0500

The Big Fix's cold open starts years before the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion on April 20, 2010. Archive footage illustrates how the company then-named British Petroleum, aided by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the CIA and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, wrangled control of Iran's government and retained rights to its plentiful oil fields.…

Hairy crazy ants come to Louisiana

Kandace Graves — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:26:02 -0500

They’re almost cute, the tiny reddish-brown ants sparsely covered with spiky hairs and with a tendency to run around in circles. But as people who live in Texas, Mississippi and Florida will attest, the 2 milimeter-long pests are destructive and very difficult to control.…