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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org
Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org
Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org

Conservation Groups React to Coastal Restoration Cuts in President’s Budget
Proposed budget jeopardizes critical wetlands restoration

(NEW ORLEANS – February 4, 2015) On Monday, President Obama unveiled a $4 trillion proposed budget that would tap more than $3 billion in future oil and gas revenues from Gulf Coast states to pay for other national conservation priorities. This shift would divert monies from coastal restoration projects in Louisiana.

National and local conservation organizations committed to coastal Louisiana restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society and Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation – issued the following statement in response:

“We are encouraged by and committed to the elements of the President’s budget that take on climate change, support the development of clean energy, and fully fund the woefully underfunded Land and Water Conservation Fund and other crucial conservation initiatives. But we are disappointed by the budget’s proposed diversion of critically needed and currently dedicated funding for coastal Louisiana and the Mississippi River Delta.

“This proposed budget undercuts the Administration’s previous commitments to restore critical economic infrastructure and ecosystems in the Mississippi River Delta, where we are losing 16 square miles of critical wetlands every year – a preventable coastal erosion crisis. Those wetlands, and the culture and economic infrastructure they protect from hurricanes, will be lost without complete and ongoing intervention. And that intervention – currently underway through implementation of the 2012 Coastal Master Plan – cannot be successful without sufficient funding.

“We urge Congress to fund the President’s commitments to coastal restoration and conservation by maintaining GOMESA funding that is vital to the Gulf Coast and by identifying additional funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and other priorities. The Mississippi River Delta is a national treasure that is home to millions of Americans, provides vital wildlife habitat, and supports billions of dollars in seafood production, navigation interests and energy production. This landscape deserves our full attention – and comprehensive restoration.”

The budget proposal would shift hundreds of millions of dollars of offshore oil and gas GOMESA revenue from Louisiana to other spending needs. Louisiana already constitutionally dedicated these future monies to the critical efforts now underway to restore coastal Louisiana and the Mississippi River Delta.

Additionally, the groups expressed strong disappointment that the Administration’s proposal walks away from an essential longstanding commitment to Army Corps of Engineers funding for construction of critical restoration projects. For four years, the Administration has proposed investing in the Corps budget to restore the delta through the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) program. In fiscal year 2013, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Jo Ellen Darcy explained the investment to Congress that restoring coastal Louisiana is “a nationally significant and urgent effort to both restore habitat and protect the important Louisiana Gulf region from the destructive forces of storm driven waves and tides.”

“The LCA program is far too important to abandon or delay,” said EDF, NWF, NAS and LPBF. “The Administration and Congress should do all they can to fund it as soon and as fully as possible.”

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February 4, 2015

By: Marcelo Norsworthy and the EDF Family

Kaiba White of Public Citizen contributed to this post.

Hillary Corgey, a strong clean air advocate with our friends at Public Citizen, worked hard to become the person she wanted to be. She was smart, wanted to make a difference, and set out to make herself a policy expert. Hillary passed away earlier this month at the tender age of 27. She will be sorely missed by her friends, family, and colleagues.

Hillary earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government from the University of Houston in 2010. During college, she worked at the Houston SPCA, volunteered for Armando Walle’s campaign, and then served as an intern in his Houston office. She then went on to earn a Master of Arts degree, also in Political Science and Government, from Texas State University in San Marcos in 2012.

Hillary started as an intern in Public Citizen’s Texas office in the summer of 2012 and quickly proved to be an asset to the team. Her personal experience growing up with asthma and struggling to breathe the polluted Houston air made the work personal to her. She gradually became more confident in her work, speaking publicly and working with coalition partners, in addition to doing research. Research was where she excelled most -she was able to dig up more interesting and useful facts in a shorter time than anyone else in the office.

Hillary’s dedication to her job and to improving conditions for those on the front lines of environmental injustice made her an inspiring colleague.

Hillary was also an interesting person to be around. She had unique ideas and very definite opinions about many things. She was a true independent. And Hillary was funny, but she had a very dry sense of humor, so you might have missed it if you weren’t expecting a joke. Her personal interests included heavy metal music, fantasy role-playing games, zombies, and comics. And she loved chicken, especially fried chicken.

Hillary was loyal to those who made it into her inner circle and kind to people in general. She especially loved her grandparents, who raised her. She often seemed to be thinking of the needs of those she was close with more than her own.

From everyone in the EDF Texas office, our thoughts and prayers are with Hillary’s family as we remember her as a clean air advocate and dedicated friend.

A memorial in Hillary’s honor will be held at 1 P.M. at the Rothko Chapel at 1409 Sul Ross Street in Houston on Thursday, February 5th.

Proposed 2015-16 coastal restoration and protection plan swells to $773 million
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times Picayune. Feb. 02, 2015
“The 223-page "annual plan" by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which must be approved by the Louisiana Legislature, serves as a blueprint for the state's $50 billion, 50-year coastal protection and restoration Master Plan.” (Read More)

BP oil spill trial wraps up nearly 2 years after historic litigation began
By Jennifer Larino, The Times-Picayune. Feb. 02, 2015
“The final phase of the main BP oil spill litigation ended Monday, nearly two years since dozens of attorneys for the federal government and BP converged on a New Orleans courtroom to begin what has become one of the most complex civil cases in the nation's history.” (Read More)

Obama budget would reallocate offshore royalty payments for Louisiana and other Gulf state to ‘entire nation’
By Bruce Alpert, The Times Picayune. Feb. 02, 2015
“The president's budget plan to funnel the Gulf states' offshore energy revenue out of those states is incredibly insulting to Louisianians," Vitter said. "In Louisiana, federal revenue from offshore energy activity goes directly to coastal restoration. Our coasts are the first line of defense to hurricane or tropical storm; plus, they represent a critical part of our ecosystem.” (Read More)

Anadarko official says company didn’t pay for oil spill cleanup
By Margaret Cronin Fisk, Bloomberg. Feb. 02, 2015
“Under the Oil Pollution Act, a responsible party, which you were named as, has a duty, an obligation to pay response costs and cleanup costs,” U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said during testimony in New Orleans Monday by Darrell Hollek, an Anadarko executive.” (Read More)

BP partner Anadarko responsible for oil spill fines, federal judge says
By Jennifer Larino, The Times Picayune. Feb. 02, 2015
“You seem to be making more of a policy argument as to why a non-operator should be subject to penalties under the Clean Water Act," Barbier said. "If that's the case, I think you're in the wrong venue. You need to go to Congress.” (Read More)

Reports establish tens of millions of gallons of BP oil still in the Gulf
By Charles Digges, Bellona.org. Feb. 02, 2015
“Millions of gallons of oil from BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout have been discovered in the sediments on the Gulf of Mexico’s floor says a new report, giving lie to the petroleum giant’s continue claims that it eradicated the worst consequences of the biggest maritime oil spill in US history.” (Read More)

Proposed 2015-16 coastal restoration and protection plan swells to $773 million
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times Picayune. Feb. 02, 2015
“The 223-page "annual plan" by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which must be approved by the Louisiana Legislature, serves as a blueprint for the state's $50 billion, 50-year coastal protection and restoration Master Plan.” (Read More)

BP oil spill trial wraps up nearly 2 years after historic litigation began
By Jennifer Larino, The Times-Picayune. Feb. 02, 2015
“The final phase of the main BP oil spill litigation ended Monday, nearly two years since dozens of attorneys for the federal government and BP converged on a New Orleans courtroom to begin what has become one of the most complex civil cases in the nation's history.” (Read More)

Obama budget would reallocate offshore royalty payments for Louisiana and other Gulf state to ‘entire nation’
By Bruce Alpert, The Times Picayune. Feb. 02, 2015
“The president's budget plan to funnel the Gulf states' offshore energy revenue out of those states is incredibly insulting to Louisianians," Vitter said. "In Louisiana, federal revenue from offshore energy activity goes directly to coastal restoration. Our coasts are the first line of defense to hurricane or tropical storm; plus, they represent a critical part of our ecosystem.” (Read More)

Anadarko official says company didn’t pay for oil spill cleanup
By Margaret Cronin Fisk, Bloomberg. Feb. 02, 2015
“Under the Oil Pollution Act, a responsible party, which you were named as, has a duty, an obligation to pay response costs and cleanup costs,” U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said during testimony in New Orleans Monday by Darrell Hollek, an Anadarko executive.” (Read More)

BP partner Anadarko responsible for oil spill fines, federal judge says
By Jennifer Larino, The Times Picayune. Feb. 02, 2015
“You seem to be making more of a policy argument as to why a non-operator should be subject to penalties under the Clean Water Act," Barbier said. "If that's the case, I think you're in the wrong venue. You need to go to Congress.” (Read More)

Reports establish tens of millions of gallons of BP oil still in the Gulf
By Charles Digges, Bellona.org. Feb. 02, 2015
“Millions of gallons of oil from BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout have been discovered in the sediments on the Gulf of Mexico’s floor says a new report, giving lie to the petroleum giant’s continue claims that it eradicated the worst consequences of the biggest maritime oil spill in US history.” (Read More)

By Christina Wolfe

Big Bend National Park Source: flikr/MarcusCalderon

The vistas at some of Texas’ natural treasures, like Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park, aren’t the same as they used to be. Right now seven coal-fired power plants in Texas are emitting such large amounts of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and other pollutants that they are obstructing visibility, causing what’s known as “regional haze.” That’s why the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently held a public hearing in Austin to take comments on its plan to restore visibility in these parks, as well as the Wichita Falls National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, since Texas’ dirty power plant emissions also affect our neighbor to the north. EPA is focusing its attention on Texas, in particular, after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) proposed an unreasonable plan to restore “natural visibility” in the parks by 2155 (140 years from now!). Frankly put, waiting until 2155 to restore natural visibility in our national parks is not an acceptable course of action from the TCEQ, as Texas is required to show “reasonable progress” toward a national goal of restoring visibility by 2064. Texas should step up as a leader to keep our state a great place to live by prioritizing public and environmental health, while building out our robust renewable energy sector and supporting clean technologies that don’t obstruct our health or views.

Fortunately, EPA proposes to ensure that Texas meets the regional haze requirements through an alternative plan that will provide improved visibility in these areas, as well as health benefits:

New Blog Post: Planning a Trip to Big Bend National Park? Thank @EPAregion6 for the Better View!...
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Installing scrubbers

A supporter of EPA’s Clean Air Plan Proposal for Oklahoma and Texas Regional Haze attended the EPA’s public hearing in Austin, TX on January 13, 2015.

The heart of EPA’s proposal requires the seven Texas coal power plants to meet new, lower emission limits. To meet these limits, the power plants would install (or upgrade) a “scrubber” on each of the coal-burning units. Scrubbers are a well-established and cost-effective emissions reductions technology, and they have been required for new power plants since 1979. They work by creating a chemical reaction in the smokestacks so that fewer harmful emissions escape into the atmosphere. Because SO2 is a hazardous pollutant associated with asthma and bronchitis, scrubbers provide both improved visibility and health benefits. By installing this commonsense technology, EPA estimates that up to 94-98 percent of the SO2 emissions could be reduced. This is equivalent to nearly 230,000 tons of dirty SO2 emissions (the average car weighs one ton, so you can think about those emissions as a pile of 230,000 cars).

Setting a timeline and moving forward

EPA proposes allowing the Texas power plants three to five years to install (or upgrade) scrubbers and demonstrate that they are complying with the emissions requirements. The power plants will also need to show that the coal-burning units have cleaner emissions through on-going monitoring and reporting.

Leading the country on natural beauty

The U.S. has a goal to return natural visibility conditions in our national treasures in our lifetime, by 2064. EPA’s proposal helps put Texas back on track to making reasonable progress toward meeting this goal. Even better, Texas can harness more clean energy, where we have become real leaders, to transition away from the burning of fossil fuels, like coal. But until this transition occurs, we need protections to preserve the vistas in our national parks for future generations.

Support for the proposal needed

As part of the proposal, EPA is taking comments from the public on its proposal to improve the regional haze plan for Texas (and Oklahoma). Don’t miss out on your chance to let your voice be heard for clean air. All comments should be submitted by April 20, 2015.

And thanks to EPA for helping to restore views of our national treasures!

February 2, 2015

Written by Judith A. Ross

New England is a veritable hotbed of activity when it comes to responding to the challenges posed by a warming planet.

So much so that at the end of last year, the White House named the City of Boston a Climate Change Champion, recognizing Beantown along with 15 other communities, for “… stepping up to cut carbon pollution, deploy more clean energy, boost energy efficiency, and build resilience in their communities to climate impacts.”

The White House also commended Boston for its climate change plan. Entitled “Greenovate Boston,”  the plan lays out steps to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals of 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 for municipal operations, and requires the City to plan and prepare for the impacts of climate change, such as rising tides.

In his introduction to the plan, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, refers to Boston’s coastal vulnerability, recalling hurricane Sandy’s devastation of the New York and New Jersey shorelines.

“Had the storm hit just five hours earlier, Boston could have experienced similar losses. We were not better prepared than New Jersey or New York — we were lucky, and luck is not a policy we can count on. The climate continues to change, resulting in rising sea levels and more extreme weather. Boston must focus its collective will on making sure we do everything possible to be ready, and we need to take the lead on reducing the well-documented human contribution to climate change.”

The plan lays out five priorities. In addition to aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals and preparing for the impacts of climate change, it also calls for promoting healthy and equitable communities, measuring progress, and increasing community engagement.

Indeed, that final priority and Mayor Walsh’s comment about focusing Boston’s “collective will” make clear that success in reaching those climate change goals goes beyond what leaders say and do, it also requires everyone’s participation.

Recently, Walsh himself was convinced to take action when residents from Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood got together and raised safety concerns about a Houston energy company’s proposal to place a natural gas pipeline gas line near an active blasting quarry.

According to a recent Boston Globe article, “US Representative Stephen F. Lynch has written letters to the chairwoman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, citing ‘grave concerns’ about the project. Walsh and Boston councilors have joined the opposition chorus.”

Community engagement is also the goal of a group of residents living on islands off the Maine coast, as they work to switch their communities’ power sources from expensive fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Several of these Mainers traveled to Samso, Denmark, a small Danish Island about four hours from Copenhagen that achieved green energy independence in 2005. In addition to getting a feel for what its like to have a windmill nearby, for example, the Maine residents also wanted to learn engagement strategies from Samso.

Suzanne MacDonald, the community energy director at the Island Institute in Rockland, Maine, which is helping oversee the Mainers’ Denmark program, told the New York Times that while switching small island environments to renewables are useful test cases, they won’t work without community participation and buy-in.

“We can’t just put steel in the ground and technology on the grid unless people are a part of the process.”

According to the article, the engagement strategies learned from Samso seem to be having an effect: When their Danish advisors went to Monhegan Island for a discussion, most residents joined in and were still talking about it the next day. As Marion Chioffi, the bookkeeper at Monhegan’s electric company told the Times, “… it got people talking about renewable energy again.”

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February 2, 2015

Written by Wendy Bredhold


TELL EPA TO PROTECT LITTLE LUNGS FROM SMOG





 

The Environmental Protection Agency is holding hearings on a stronger ozone standard in Washington, D.C., Arlington, Texas and Sacramento, California. I spoke in Texas; here is my testimony.

My name is Wendy Bredhold and I am the Indiana field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. I have a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Beatrice Rose, and we live in Evansville, Indiana, in the southwest corner of the state, within 62 miles of 17 coal-fired power plants, including some of the biggest and dirtiest in North America. The smokestacks of one coal plant are actually visible from Beatrice’s daycare center and the campus where I work.

Based on the current ozone standard of 75 ppb, my county’s ozone “report card” from the American Lung Association actually worsened from 2013 to 2014, from a D to an F. But I know that the current standard isn’t as protective as it should be, so even on days we’re told the air is only “moderately” polluted — most days — I don’t feel confident in the Air Quality Index. I urge you to set the revised ozone standard at 60 ppb and protect children who live in my community.

My daughter doesn’t have asthma and I hope she won’t develop it. But the poor air quality in our area is affecting her health. As she approaches her fourth birthday, how many days has she played outside, breathing air that puts her health at risk because current rules aren’t strong enough?

I am here on my daughter’s behalf, and also on behalf of families in my community who cannot be here. My friend Lori, a teacher, and her son Max, 12, both have asthma. Lori can tell when the air quality is poor because she feels a tightness in her lungs. She said, “When this happens, I increase our maintenance meds to double strength to help decrease inflammation and avoid asthma attacks. The cost of these inhalers is $300 per inhaler, monthly, and our insurance doesn’t pay for it. Luckily, I can get samples from the doctor sometimes. In addition, the rescue inhalers cost $60 per inhaler.” On smoggy days, Lori says she and Max avoid going outside except to walk to the car to go to school and work.

It’s worth adding, that the AQI is not well-communicated. Lori said, “Many times we do not receive alerts until after the air quality has become hazardous, and these come to my email only because I’ve signed up for the alerts. Most people in the community are not aware when there’s an alert, because it is not widely announced. In the past, I have had to inform the children’s schools and daycares about keeping them inside during air quality alerts. As a teacher, it has saddened me to have to keep our students inside during air quality alerts, on otherwise beautiful days.”

I can sympathize with Lori’s concern – I worry that Beatrice’s daycare center is not aware of the AQI and in the past I have seen children outside on days when it is “unhealthy for sensitive groups” to breathe the air.

Another friend, Nicole, has a six-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Roxi, who has suffered with asthma since she was six months old. Nicole said, “Like many kids with chronic asthma, Roxi cannot go outside with the other kids at school on many days due to air pollution. She’s been in and out of the hospital almost every year. The medical bills run an average of $2,500 to $3,000 out-of-pocket for medication, extended hospitalization, doctor and ER visits. It breaks my heart that my child’s well-being depends on a combination cocktail of Singulair and Zyrtec, breathing treatments and an inhaler just to feel normal.”

In the five minutes I have, I can only relate the stories of two families within my circle of friends, but I ask you to keep these children in mind when reviewing the ozone standard. Reducing levels of smog to 60 ppb would prevent roughly 1.8 million asthma attacks, 1.9 million missed school days, and 6,400  premature deaths each year, and would have a major positive impact on the health of my community — and children like Roxi, Max and Beatrice in a heavily polluted corner of Indiana.


TELL EPA TO PROTECT LITTLE LUNGS FROM SMOG





Their votes were disappointing and reckless. Now make them explain them. Regional. C4.

Their votes were disappointing and reckless. Now make them explain them. Regional. C4.

Their votes were disappointing and reckless. Now make them explain them. Regional. C4.

Wacky weather isn’t just a fluke. According to the National Climate Assessment (NCA), extreme weather events are becoming more common and are likely to increase in the future, which poses challenges for farmers and communities. Traditional ways of responding to weather crises, such as building higher flood walls and digging deeper wells are expensive and […]

The post How nature can protect farmers against droughts and floods first appeared on Growing Returns.

By Eileen McLellan

Wacky weather isn’t just a fluke. According to the National Climate Assessment (NCA), extreme weather events are becoming more common and are likely to increase in the future, which poses challenges for farmers and communities.

Traditional ways of responding to weather crises, such as building higher flood walls and digging deeper wells are expensive and often fail.

The good news is that farmers are increasingly turning to more natural solutions and practices, often referred to as “green infrastructure,” that use nature to reduce the impacts of both floods and droughts.

Green infrastructure is also needed to reduce fertilizer pollution and restore the Gulf of Mexico dead zone to safe levels, as a new study published today in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) reports.

Benefits of green infrastructure

Green infrastructure helps keep water on the landscape, both preventing it from rushing downstream to create a flood and keeping it available on the farm (or in underground reservoirs known as aquifers) to support agricultural production and downstream drinking water supplies in case of drought.

Practices at the field-level include:

• Conservation tillage, which prevents soil erosion and helps keep water on the farm to reduce floods and cope with drought. Estimates are that reduced tillage increases water infiltration by 30-45% – a huge saving for farmers with irrigated cropland.
• Cover crops, whose deep root systems help expand the soil’s capacity to store water, and their leaves help move water from the soil to the atmosphere, so they can reduce the impacts of floods and droughts.

Storage wetlands

At the landscape scale, structural practices improve water management not only for individual farmers but also for downstream communities. These practices include wetlands and stream channel restoration, drainage ditch enhancements, and floodplain reconnection.

• Wetlands are especially important as they both recharge groundwater supplies and store excess rainfall. In Indiana, a team of researchers has quantified the value of storage wetlands, and found that creating wetlands on 1.5% of the landscape can reduce flood peaks by 29%.

Economic incentives

There is also increasing interest in paying farmers to invest in these kinds of practices. For example, the government of Alberta province in Canada has established a Watershed Resiliency and Restoration Program to pay farmers to implement green infrastructure practices.

Wacky weather isn’t going away, but by embracing natural solutions, farmers can protect themselves against a changing climate.

By Tim O'Connor

Much has been written about the causes of the recent downturn in world oil prices. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to hear that many places which derive a significant share of their economic activity from oil production have begun to feel the effects of this downturn.

As less money is taken from the sale of each barrel of oil produced, both major and local economies alike – from Alberta, to Texas, the Middle East, and Kern County – have seen a rapid decline in their tax base and overall economic output. In some cases, the drop in oil money has been so rapid and significant that some jurisdictions have declared fiscal emergencies.

Whether from layoffs at oil and gas operators, or government program cuts due to reduced tax collection, the downturn associated with reduced oil and gas profits shows just how fragile, and damaging, the fossil fuel-based economy can be. Just as families are hit in the pocketbook when prices at the pump shoot up, so too are many family livelihoods hurt when prices plummet. With this lose-lose proposition, we need to know now: are other options available?

Thankfully, there is another way. A new report released today from the fuels and energy consulting firm Promotum, (commissioned by Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Union of Concerned Scientists) shows that an abundance of locally-based, alternative fuels is on the horizon. According to Promotum, the state is on track to achieve significant fuel diversification by 2020 and cut carbon emissions associated with fuel production and use. This positive forecast also means we can expect prolonged domestic economic growth from emergent alternative fuel companies up and down the state.

Just last week, a report by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) showed that alternative low-carbon fuel volumes were becoming readily available throughout the western United States – lending further credence and support for Promotum’s work. At the same time, ICCT and Promotum show that policies like California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) are a major reason for this fuel diversification movement – policies that support emergent industries and create sustainable jobs here in California.

Unfortunately, many in the fossil fuel community stress that the LCFS and other similar policies in California, Washington, and Oregon aren’t attainable. Promotum’s work turns those arguments on their head, showing that even under modest implementation scenarios, the policies are achievable and helpful for developing home-grown opportunities.

More states and jurisdictions are adopting similar policies to the ones California has – and as this spread continues, we’ll undoubtedly see greater market penetration of alternative fuels, more robust economic development, and fuel diversification. Ultimately, that will lead to a myriad of benefits for the environment, for the economy, and for the people.

Millions of gallons of oil settled at the bottom of the gulf after BP oil spill
By Katie Valentine, ThinkProgress. Jan. 30, 2015
“Millions of gallons of oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill didn’t get cleaned up, and instead settled in the sediment of the Gulf of Mexico’s floor, a new study has found.” (Read More)

America’s WETLAND Foundation calls coastal restoration budget cuts ‘No Go’ zone
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune. Jan. 30, 2015
“In such dire budget situations, across the board cuts may be politically plausible, but the case we make for saving our coast has been one of utmost urgency. We cannot afford to send a contradictory signal to those who are deciding on billions of dollars in restoration funding and continuing attention to our most critical needs.” (Read More)

BP oil spill trial shifts focus to Anadarko, witnesses to testify against pollution fines
By Jennifer Larino, The Times-Picayune. Feb. 02, 2015
“Anadarko Petroleum Corp. will call three witnesses Monday (Feb. 2) in the BP oil spill trial, to bolster its case that it should not face pollution fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, even though it was a co-owner in the failed Macondo well.” (Read More)

New head of state’s coastal protection, restoration not well-known, but has experience in coastal issues
By Amy Wold, The Advocate. Feb. 02, 2015
“Chip Kline has been named chairman of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board as well as director of the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities, replacing Jerome Zeringue, who has served in those positions for about a year.” (Read More)

BP oil spill at issue in two federal court cases next week
By Kevin McGill, Associated Press. Feb. 02, 2015
“Legal battles arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill play out in two federal courtrooms in New Orleans next week.” (Read More)

Millions of gallons of oil settled at the bottom of the gulf after BP oil spill
By Katie Valentine, ThinkProgress. Jan. 30, 2015
“Millions of gallons of oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill didn’t get cleaned up, and instead settled in the sediment of the Gulf of Mexico’s floor, a new study has found.” (Read More)

America’s WETLAND Foundation calls coastal restoration budget cuts ‘No Go’ zone
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune. Jan. 30, 2015
“In such dire budget situations, across the board cuts may be politically plausible, but the case we make for saving our coast has been one of utmost urgency. We cannot afford to send a contradictory signal to those who are deciding on billions of dollars in restoration funding and continuing attention to our most critical needs.” (Read More)

BP oil spill trial shifts focus to Anadarko, witnesses to testify against pollution fines
By Jennifer Larino, The Times-Picayune. Feb. 02, 2015
“Anadarko Petroleum Corp. will call three witnesses Monday (Feb. 2) in the BP oil spill trial, to bolster its case that it should not face pollution fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, even though it was a co-owner in the failed Macondo well.” (Read More)

New head of state’s coastal protection, restoration not well-known, but has experience in coastal issues
By Amy Wold, The Advocate. Feb. 02, 2015
“Chip Kline has been named chairman of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board as well as director of the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities, replacing Jerome Zeringue, who has served in those positions for about a year.” (Read More)

BP oil spill at issue in two federal court cases next week
By Kevin McGill, Associated Press. Feb. 02, 2015
“Legal battles arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill play out in two federal courtrooms in New Orleans next week.” (Read More)

Our current chemical safety law is 40 years old and woefully ineffective, but Sen. Merkley has a chance to change that. Regional.

Our current chemical safety law is 40 years old and woefully ineffective, but Sen. Merkley has a chance to change that. Regional.