December 2010

In the Bayou, Husband and Wife Battle Oil Disaster and Fish for Survival

Darla Rooks is a bayou fisherman to the core. When she married Todd 20 years ago, she wore her white plastic fishing boots under her wedding dress. Todd and Darla love shrimping in the coastal waters of Louisiana the way cowboys love riding the west Texas range.  It's in their blood—a  calling passed down through the generations—a  lifestyle they hope to pass on to their grandkids. [...Read more]

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Rocky Kistner

Kay Bailey Hutchinson Orders Department of Homeland Security To Deny Dreamers and Supporters Access Into Federal Building


If not now when? – Oil Spill Response Bill may not survive incoming 112th Congress

As the 111th Congress of the United States of America draws to a close there is a unique opportunity for assisting the ongoing struggle for full recovery of the Gulf Coast.  The region, battered by the 2005 hurricane season, which was led by Hurricane Katrina, the largest and most expensive disaster in the history of country and followed by several [...Read more]

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Stephen Bradberry

Environmental Protection Agency?

By Dahr Jamail, crossposted from Al Jazeera

Michelle Nix, from Pensacola, Florida, founded the group Gulf Coast Oil Spill Volunteers in an effort to be pro-active and do what she could to help when the BP oil disaster began on April 20. [...Read more]

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Bridge The Gulf

A Holiday Season of Hope and Fear in the Oily Gulf

A cold northerly wind blew through the bayous of Louisiana last night, bringing near-frost like conditions and hastening the end of the worst shrimp season in memory. Only the small fry are left, and they too are on the move with their larger brethren, swimming out to sea to feed over the winter. They will wait for warmer temperatures of spring before they return to their spawning grounds of the marsh. [...Read more]

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Rocky Kistner

More than 100,000 BP oil disaster claims denied since Thanksgiving

feinberg_hopeSince Thanksgiving, more than 100,000 emergency claims from Gulf Coast residents and business have been denied by Ken Feinberg’s Gulf Coast Claims Facility. [...Read more]

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Ada McMahon

Angels of Mercy in the Oil Damaged Gulf

For many here at ground zero of the BP oil disaster, news has fluctuated between the absurd and the insane. On the national front, testimony from the on-going presidential oil spill commission shows a seemingly never-ending cascade of mistakes and dismal safety measures, including a rig technician who missed key signals the well was going to blow up while he was on a smoking break. [...Read more]

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Rocky Kistner

Gulf Coast R.E.A.C.H.'s Turkey Donation success!

Bridge the Gulf contributor Mickey Sou recounts his experience distributing pies and turkeys over Thanksgiving to people who are hurting because of the BP oil disaster.

Fishermen, seafood factory workers, shrimpers, truck drivers, even the man who sits there at the corner and sells those delicious Gulf Shrimp; All came for a free turkey and pie! Free? Yes, you heard me, FREE turkeys and pies for people affected by the oil disaster. [...Read more]

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Mickey Sou

North Gulfport Community Reacts to Port Connector Road

Bridge The Gulf's picture
Bridge The Gulf

Report exposes major problems in maintenance, storm preparedness of Louisiana refineries

After Hurricane Gustav in 2008, north Baton Rouge residents were left without electricity for nearly two weeks. Across the street at ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge refinery, the second largest refinery in the country, workers were dealing with their own mess. [...Read more]

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Benjamin Leger

Is Gulf seafood really safe to eat?

lmrk_seafood_sampling.pngBy Sue Sturgis, Crossposted from Facing South. [...Read more]

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Bridge The Gulf

Community center now home to one of Alabama’s largest solar power systems

Coden, Alabama – On Saturday, this small coastal community became home to one of the largest solar power systems in the state of Alabama. [...Read more]

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Ada McMahon

In Wake of Glover Verdicts, What’s Next for New Orleans’ Troubled Police Force?

William Tanner's burned car, in which the remains of Henry Glover were found, on the banks of the Mississippi River. Photo by ProPublica [...Read more]

Bridge The Gulf's picture
Bridge The Gulf

Gulf Coast leaders attend historic White House forum on Environmental Justice

Originally published as an email to the Gulf Coast Fund's network of grantees, December 15th 2010.

I am currently en route via Amtrak to today's White House Summit on Environmental Justice - an historic, all-day gathering of federal cabinet secretaries and environmental leaders from across the United States (see details in Press Release below). [...Read more]

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Derrick Evans

Vietnamese-American fishers fight for oil spill claim approval

fisheries.jpgBy Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune [...Read more]

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Bridge The Gulf

Will Alabama beaches never be the same?

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Bridge The Gulf

New Vietnamese-language job training at Mississippi community college

Finding himself working as both a teacher and translator in a Heating, Ventilating and Air-conditioning Installation and Repair (HVAC) program was a surprise for Duc Nguyen.  An experienced HVAC professional, he said,  “I have always been a very hands-on type, and I never really liked the classroom. I have learned to appreciate the importance of the time spent there since teaching this class.”
  [...Read more]

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Bridge The Gulf

Associated Press video: Christmas in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana

[...Read more]

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Bridge The Gulf

Vietnamese American youth act, reflect on the DREAM Act

With the DREAM Act now stopped by the Senate, the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans (VAYLA-NO) continues to hope that undocumented young people across the nation will get the opportunity to become American citizens. [...Read more]

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Sean Nguyen

There is no Plan B: The cost of the Port of Gulfport expansion for neighboring communities

Hello all, my name is Stephanie Thomas and I am a lifelong resident of the North Gulfport Community in Gulfport, Mississippi.  This neighborhood consists of primarily low income African Americans who have generations of family here, and are being threatened by the proposed port of Gulfport expansion project.  The expansion is being billed as an economic boon to our area, but a closer look reveals that it is unlikely to significantly benefit our community [...Read more]

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Stephanie Thomas