Scandinavian Spill

February 28 update: new (and disturbing!) photos of clean-up now available from Greenpeace images

(photo courtesy of New York Times)

Just when you thought you might never see another photo of oil-absorbent boom, the Icelandic ship Godafass ran aground last week and began dumping oil into a Norwegian marine park.

Though not as disastrous as authorities originally feared, the oil is endangering habitats for sea birds, coral reef and other wildlife in the marine reserve. Attempts to contain the spill have been slowed and stifled by the Arctic ice, which is also preventing officials on scene from accurately estimating how much oil was spilled (up to 1,000 pounds, but likely less, according to reports). Perhaps this is a lesson to keep in mind as we consider drilling in our own Arctic waters?

The photos and video of the spill, courtesy of the Norwegian Coast Guard, are disturbingly familiar: clean-up workers scooping up crude, oiled boom floating through the water, and dirty brown coloring what should be blue waters. Even as the impacts of the BP Gulf oil spill continue, a quick look around the world shows the daily dangers of our oil reliance on display.

Beyond Recovery

(originally posted on RACblog)

(photo courtesy of United Press International)

Remember last summer, when you couldn’t open a newspaper or check your twitter feed without reading about the BP oil spill disaster unfolding in the Gulf? Ten months later, the story is out of sight for the media, but the continuing economic and environmental impacts of the oil are not out of the minds of activists, elected officials or people of faith across the Gulf Coast and across the country.

For these residents and advocates, the message is clear: government action is still needed to restore the environment and economy of the Gulf and to prevent a future disaster on a coast near you. Alabama Senator Shelby testified recently on the continued impacts of the spill for his home state, speaking of the hits to the Alabama economy from lost fishing, recreation and tourism dollars and the on-going impacts likely to result from the spill. Senator Shelby called for allocated resources for restoration efforts and spoke of the need to “put in place mechanisms to assist them with rebuilding and restoration efforts as the Gulf continues to recover from this disaster.” (more…)

Interfaith Update Call: Housing on the Gulf Coast

Years after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike and Gustav, the destruction remains visible in the lack of affordable housing and dire state of the general housing stock across the Gulf Coast. The economic toll of the oil spill further complicates this challenge, though rebuilding continues in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast.

Join us on February 23 at 3pm EST to hear from advocates in the field and government experts as they review the latest stories and statistics, and lead a conversation about what you can do to help.

• Dial-in Number: 1-213-289-0500
• Participant Access Code: 820086

The call will feature:

• Denise Graves, Organizer, the Micah Project, an affiliate of PICO National Network
• Fred Tombar, Senior Advisor to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan
• Joseph Gonzalez, Board Member and Chair of Loan Committee, the Isaiah Fund (interfaith investment for long-term Gulf Coast rebuilding) and Manager, Community Health and Investment Programs, CHRISTUS Health

Please let us know if you’ll be joining the conversation by RSVPing today.

The Truth About the BP Oil Spill

by Andrew Simpson
This blog post originally appeared on Sojourners God’s Politics blog

Beyond Recovery: Moving the Gulf Coast Toward a Sustainable Future

This Wednesday, February 9, Oxfam and the Center for American Progress will host a conversation with Gulf Coast community and business leaders, policy experts and top officials from the Obama Administration to discuss economic and environmental justice issues on the Gulf Coast. Oxfam and their coalition partners will also release a new report urging Congressional action to direct Clean Water Act fines from the Deepwater Horizon to coastal and marine restoration and detailing how Congress and the Administration could help use these funds to create local jobs and economic opportunity for disadvantaged and dislocated workers in coastal communities and provide a higher level of citizens advisory in restoration/recovery fund governance.

This event is an important call to action  for the U.S. Congress and we hope you will join us at the event (learn more here) or watch the live webcast to join the conversation. Full speaker line-up below the jump.

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They’re Doing More Than Fine on Their Own…

(originally posted on the RACblog)

It’s been a roller coaster of a year so far for Big Oil. The industry got called to the mat in President Obama’s State of the Union, which called for the repeal of fossil fuel subsidies and a specific recognition that oil companies are doing “just fine on their own” (even though the speech featured no mention of last year’s massive Gulf oil spill disaster). Yet, in the week since the speech, it seems that everything is coming up roses for BP and Big Oil, serving a powerful reminder that we won’t get to a clean energy economy through words alone.

Despite continued environmental cleanup and economic claims costs from the Deepwater Horizon spill, BP joined other big oil companies in reporting strong profits in the fourth quarter of 2010 – greater profits than this time last year, in fact. And as profits rise, costs seem to be dropping for BP, with recent rumors that the company is pushing the EPA to cut back, by as much as half, their estimates of the oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon well last year. The amount of oil spilled dictates the penalties for which BP is liable – cutting the spill estimate could mean billions of dollars in avoided penalties for BP, and billions of dollars not available for restoring the environments ravaged by the spill.

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