Louisiana Environmental Action Network

This latest video by Jason Berry shows John Sullivan of the The University of Texas and Bryan Parras of Texas Environmental Justices Advocacy Services hard at work gathering samples of shrimp and oysters with the help of Louisiana fisherman George Barisich for the GCHARMS study.

It has been well over a year since the oil disaster of 2010 began in the Gulf of Mexico; it's end however is no where in sight. As time goes on and problems are left unresolved their impacts increase with each passing day. This past week the Alliance for Justice released a report describing the many problems with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility process. As perhaps the only viable option for fishermen, and local business owners to be "made whole," it is a tragedy that so many are left irrevocably damaged and inadequately compensated.

On the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Journey OnEarth explores how much damage the disaster has caused

In the debut episode of Journey OnEarth, we look at the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster through the eyes of the people looking for answers.

Our never ending work on the health issues affecting people since the BP spill continues to gain the attention of the public and the media a like. The recent report released by our chemist Wilma Subra caught the attention of KLFY reporter Chuck Hubner.

In response to the BP Oil Disaster, the Lower Mississippi River Keeper (LMRK), Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), and Subra Company have performed monitoring, sampling and analysis of the environment and seafood in the coastal estuaries and wetlands of Louisiana. Monitoring of the environmental and human health impacts were initiated immediately following the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting crude oil spill on April 20, 2010.  Physical and chemical field sampling and analysis of the wetlands and ecosystems, along the coast of Louisiana, were initiated on August 2, 2010. The field sampling has been performed and continues to be performed on an ongoing basis since August 2, 2010, from Atchafalaya Bay eastward to the Louisiana/Mississippi state line.

Results of sampling performed by the Lower Mississippi River Keeper in St. Bernard Parish on October 26, 2010

Tissue samples were collected from a cove, 1.4 miles from the southern end of a “spoil canal” south of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO). The sample of oysters contained 84 mg/kg of Petroleum Hydrocarbons and 2 Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) (3.6 ug/kg). The redfish sample contained 84 mg/kg Petroleum Hydrocarbons.

We have all had frustrations with the response to the recent Gulf oil disaster. One such frustration that we at Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper felt early on was the lack of solid data about the impacts from the disaster. This frustration prompted us to begin an environmental sampling project.

LEAN/LMRK technical advisor, award winning chemist Wilma Subra, put together the sampling protocols. We coordinated with world-class commercial laboratories who would process the samples. We prepared Julia the LMRK patrol boat and were ready to go.

Marylee Orr, Executive Director of LEAN was recently interview by Jon Bowermaster on the status of gulf seafood and its safety.

11/23/10 - http://www.LMRK.org continues thier samples project, this time out and around the area West of Venice, LA

Nature sightings included:
A pod of dolphins, blue herons, ibis, osprey and white pelicans, mullet, small fish, gnats.

Unatural Sightings included:
A leaking and abandonded natural gas well, more industry air pollution from flaring, invasive water hyacinth, dying marsh grass that looked to have been oiled.

The LMRK crew, and Deputy Director of Waterkeeper Alliance Marc Yaggi, traveled from Venice, LA down the MS River through South Pass, East Bay, and Southwest Pass. LMRK continues tissue sampling to better understand the state of the health of the organisms, especially those typically fished and consumed in the Mississippi river basin post oil spill disaster. Our trip today included passing through what can only be considered and oil and gas graveyard consisting of long neglected wells and infrastructure. Along the way we saw BP Cleanup workers in on a beach in East Bay with birds in direct proximity to contaminated area (photos after the break).

Once again the Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER (Paul Orr) and his crew, Operations Coordinator - Michael Orr and Photographer - Jeffrey Dubinsky set out for another day of collecting seafood in the gulf. Today's haul included shrimp, blue crab, menhaden (small fish) and oysters. The samples will be sent off to a certified lab.

The shore of the Gulf of Mexico east of Oyster Bayou, where the Atchafalaya Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico, contained visible oil on the vegetation along the shore line.  Soil in this location contained Carbon Disulfide, 378 mg/kg Hydrocarbons and six Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) (0.222 mg/kg). The oiled vegetation contained 2.3% Hydrocarbons and 31 PAHs (0.554 mg/kg) that  corresponded strongly to the PAHs in the Deepwater Horizon Crude Oil spill.  Samples of Blue Crab and Fiddler Crab contained 2,230 mg/kg hydrocarbons.

The Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER (Paul Orr) along wtih Chemist Wilma Subra and Michael Orr, operations Coordinator for LEAN/LMRK spent two days taking various soil and water samples in the area affected by the BP Oil Spill.

The question, 'where has all the oil gone?' has been answered in the media in recent days by scientists providing much speculation about how the oil may go away but little hard data about what is actually happening in the Gulf. We cannot let the future of the Gulf rest on speculation.

The danger of this conjecture is that people are already beginning to tune out and assume that everything is fine, even within the spill response.