Hurricanes & Oil Spills

New Orleans Restoration Project Will Increase Resiliency, Create Jobs

New Orleans Restoration Project Will Increase Resiliency, Create Jobs

By Elizabeth Skree, Environmental Defense Fund On Nov. 10, the City of New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish broke ground on the important and innovative $10 million Central Wetlands Assimilation Project. On hand for the ceremony were New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro, members of the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board and approximately 75 others representing community organizations, environmental non-profits and other interested parties. All agree the project is a critical first step towards …

Gulf Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment Provides Restoration Opportunities

By Whit Remer, Environmental Defense Fund Policymakers, scientists, and environmental advocates gathered earlier this month in Baltimore, Md. to explore the long-term impacts that oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon may have on natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico. The symposium titled, “NRDA for the Gulf: Improving Our Ability to Quantify Chronic Damages,” highlighted both the challenges and opportunities of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA). NRDA is the scientific and legal process used by the government to restore natural …

Study Analyzes Damaging Impacts of Hurricanes on Louisiana’s Coastal Wetlands

By Alisha Renfro, Ph.D., National Wildlife Federation Hurricanes are powerful storms that have the ability to alter coastal landscapes in a few hours. The wetlands of coastal Louisiana are similar to wetlands elsewhere, but they are often more susceptible to storm impacts due to their low elevation and the thick, organic-rich soil (and the lack of mineral sediment) that dominates much of the region. In a new study, “Hurricane Impacts on Coastal Wetlands: A Half-Century Record of Storm-Generated Features from …

Task Force Restoration Strategy Important to Coastal Louisiana

By Maura Wood, National Wildlife Federation The preliminary version of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Ecosystem Restoration Strategy document was a key agenda item before the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) at its Oct. 19th meeting. The Task Force, established by a presidential Executive Order over a year ago, was charged with drafting a restoration and recovery strategy for the Gulf that addressed impacts from the oil spill as well as the pre-oil …

Nickelodeon Video Highlights Chalmette Students' Coastal Restoration Efforts

By Amanda Moore, National Wildlife Federation Nickelodeon’s “The Big Help” teamed up with National Wildlife Federation (NWF) for Earth Day 2011 to spotlight outstanding students making a difference in their communities through environmental stewardship. Sure enough, the search for awesome kids ended in St. Bernard Parish, where students in Chalmette High School’s Leadership Initiative have planted over 50,000 cypress trees since Hurricane Katrina. The students, who experienced first-hand the massive destruction of Katrina and the BP oil disaster, are very much …

Eyewitness Account: Oil Still Soaking Gulf Coast

This piece was originally posted on National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise blog. By Maura Wood, National Wildlife Federation It seemed odd to be heading out of the Myrtle Grove Marina on a beautiful day looking for oil. The Deepwater Horizon well was capped over a year ago. BP is trying to wrap up their clean-up operations, tell us it’s all clear, and hightail it out of here. So it’s over, right? No, it’s not over. What we saw in Louisiana’s …

Gulf editorials endorse RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act

By Elizabeth Skree, Environmental Defense Fund Newspaper editorial boards and columnists from all five Gulf Coast states have endorsed legislation that would dedicate 80 percent of fines from BP and others responsible for last summer’s gulf oil disaster to restore Gulf Coast communities, economies and ecosystems. The RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act is a gulf-wide, bipartisan bill co-sponsored by nine out of the 10 gulf senators. Here are some of the highlights: Alabama The Montgomery Advertiser: “It is crucial that …

White House Receives Blueprint For Bringing Gulf of Mexico Back to Health

As Senators consider bill on oil spill penalties, conservationists urge lawmakers to invest fines in Gulf’s natural systems and communities that need them. (Washington, DC—August 1, 2011) Leading conservation groups working across the Gulf of Mexico have submitted to the White House a blueprint for action that federal, state and local governments can take to restore the region’s threatened natural systems and to help communities that rely on the Gulf for survival. The groups delivered their recommendations to the Presidential Task …

Gulf Senators Praised for Cosponsoring Bill to Restore Gulf

­ ­  Contacts: Sean Crowley, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.572.3331, scrowley@edf.org David J. Ringer, National Audubon Society, 601.642.7058, dringer@audubon.org Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, guidrye@nwf.org Sandra Rodriguez, The Nature Conservancy, 703.841.4227, srodriguez@tnc.org David Willett, Ocean Conservancy, 202.351.0465, dwillett@oceanconservancy.org Patrick Scully, Oxfam America, 617.728.2402, pscully@oxfamamerica.org Gulf Senators Praised for Cosponsoring Bill to Restore Gulf Bill dedicates oil spill fines to restore Gulf communities, economies & ecosystems (Washington, D.C.—July 21, 2011) A coalition of organizations supporting Gulf restoration celebrated news …

Audubon Honors 50 Influential "Women of the Gulf"

By Margo Ludmer, National Audubon Society On May 23, Audubon’s Women in Conservation program recognized 50 women for their outstanding efforts in the wake of the last summer’s BP oil disaster.  Confronted with the worst spill in U.S. history, this distinguished group of women conservationists took immediate action to relieve and restore important ecosystems along the Gulf Coast.  The veritable army of women leaders worked tirelessly along the front lines, making invaluable contributions to the recovery process through volunteering, grassroots outreach, …

Tripp to Task Force: Mississippi River Delta Restoration Must Be a Top Priority

By Jim Wyerman, Environmental Defense Fund Environmental Defense Fund’s Senior Counsel Jim Tripp yesterday delivered an impassioned plea at the Galveston, Texas public meeting of the President’s Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, calling on the multi-agency group to prioritize restoration of the Mississippi River Delta as key to ecological and economic recovery of the region.  After working more than 35 years on Louisiana coastal issues, Tripp brought a seasoned vantage point to the big question of what the task …

Sportsmen Tell Congress: Restore the Mississippi River Delta

This piece was originally posted on the National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise blog. Outdoor industry leaders from across the country are in D.C. this week, asking Congress to dedicate BP’s Clean Water Act fines from the oil spill to Gulf restoration. The oil spill hit the Mississippi River Delta particularly hard. The Delta hosts as many as 10 million ducks and geese during the winter and is famed for its diverse fishing opportunities. But this region was in trouble even before …

House Gulf Caucus Moves to Secure BP Oil Spill Money for Restoration

By Brian Moore, National Audubon Society A bipartisan group of legislators has come together to form the new House Gulf Coast Caucus.  The group of eleven lawmakers from the Gulf Coast region is co-chaired by Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Kathy Castor (D-FL).  The group met for the first time during the last week of May to discuss how best to secure Clean Water Act penalty money for the Gulf of Mexico region.  Currently in the House of Representatives, there …

Hurricane Season Starts Today: A Renewed Call for Restoration

By Elizabeth Skree, Environmental Defense Fund The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) is predicting an above-average hurricane season, which starts today, so communities along Louisiana’s coast are bracing for yet another possible disaster.  The historic Mississippi River floodwaters have barely begun to recede.  Additionally, the Gulf is still recovering from last summer’s devastating BP oil disaster.  These tragic events, in addition to the ongoing rapid land loss along Louisiana’s coast during the last eight decades, continue making the state’s …

Gulf Coast Task Force Sets Restoration Goals, Creates Citizens Advisory Committee

By Derek Brockbank, Environmental Defense Fund/National Audubon Society/National Wildlife Federation On Friday May 6, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force held a public meeting in Mobile, Al.  President Obama assigned the task force to come up with a strategy for restoring the Gulf to make it better than it was to before the BP oil spill.  It was the third public meeting in the Gulf for the task force, which previously had been held in Pensacola, Fl. and New Orleans, La. …