Time to RESTORE the Gulf

(originally posted on the RACblog)
by Rachel Cohen

I’ve heard the axiom around Washington that when disaster strikes, Congress responds. But in the case of the BP Gulf oil spill, the worst environmental disaster of our time, this axiom has failed – until now. Still, advocates and activists have not given up, and momentum is building behind legislation crucial for the Gulf and our national energy and environmental future. This week is the time to speak out and urge Congress to invest in restoring the Gulf, empower citizens and community leaders to work effectively with oil and gas companies to protect their communities, and enhance health and safety across the offshore drilling industry.

Today you can join advocates from across the Gulf and people of diverse faiths from across the country by making a call for the future of the Gulf. This nationwide call-in day urges the Senate to pass the RESTORE Act, a bill supported by nine Gulf Coast Senators and designed to ensure that the Clean Water Act penalties collected from BP as a result of the spill are invested in Gulf restoration. This legislation would provide a desperately needed infusion of funds for restoring the ecosystems and economy hit hardest by the spill, many of which feed and fuel our nation. Nearly 500 miles of Gulf coastline in four states remains oiled, and the need for restoration is immediate. (more…)

Failing to Move Forward on Energy

by Rachel Cohen
(originally posted on RACblog)

Seder Table Talk: The BP Oil Spill Anniversary

by Eric Harris, Press Secretary, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
originally  posted on the RACblog

As we celebrated Passover this year, we also celebrated the 41st anniversary of Earth Day, the global day of environmental advocacy. Talk around my seder table centered on preparing for the 50th anniversary of the Religious Action Center and the upcoming Consultation on Conscience. But then things took a darker turn as we began talking about the one-year anniversary of the BP oil spill disaster.

We all agreed that there were many elements to this dialogue that were baffling and frustrating. For example, despite the devastating impact the oil spill had on our ecosystem, our economy and the residents and communities of the Gulf, our fight to end our country’s crippling addiction to oil continues to feel like a losing battle. It also angered us to learn that 11 new deep water and 49 shallow water-drilling permits were recently issued in the Gulf. (more…)

Gulf Care: interfaith work on human ecology

by Erik Schwarz, managing partner of Interfaith Works, a New Orleans-based nonprofit that is the incubator for Gulf Care, an interfaith recovery initiative formed in the wake of the oil spill

This entry is part of our interfaith series of reflections and calls to action around the one year memorial of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill disaster. Find resources to commemorate the memorial here.

Now that we are just on the other side of the one-year anniversary of the spill, this is a good time to survey the field and see who continues to stand with the impacted communities along the Gulf Coast. Among many responders, faith groups have distinguished themselves as the most persistent agents for recovery and restoration. After the media have left the scene and the politicians moved on to other talking points, faith groups remain. Since the early days of the spill, these groups reached out to care not only for their flocks but for the larger communities in which they are embedded.

Coastal Louisiana was hit particularly hard, but faith groups there had been prepared by their experiences with Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike to respond effectively and cooperatively. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Baha’is, Buddhists and others were already networked in a groundbreaking organization headquartered in Baton Rouge called the Louisiana Interfaith Disaster Recovery Network (LIDRN). Shortly after the spill, my organization – New Orleans-based nonprofit Interfaith Works – partnered with LIDRN to build a response initiative named Gulf Care. (more…)

A Rabbi’s Remarks on the One Year Anniversary of the BP Disaster

by Rabbi Edward Paul Cohn, Congregation Temple Sinai, New Orleans, LA
originally posted on the RACblog

This entry is part of our interfaith series of reflections and calls to action around the one year memorial of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill disaster. Find resources to commemorate the memorial in your own community here.

These reflections were delivered by Rabbi Cohn at a sunrise memorial held in New Orleans on April 20.

My dear friends,

One week ago I watched as our granddaughter, Ryann Eliza was brought into this world. Among my emotions and prayerful, urgent thoughts surrounding that unforgettably sweet and wonderful scene, was the fervent prayer:

And please God, may this child inherit a world of healthy air and sea and natural abundance.

On Ryann’s eighth day of life, we have gathered in this prominent place – our backs to the river and gulf but our faces toward the Citadel of faith, of government and commerce – to this day commemorate the first anniversary of the BP spill which was America’s greatest natural disaster in its 235 year history.

People quite rightly are asking: (more…)

The Oil Spill Disaster – One Year Later

by Rachel Cohen

This entry is part of our interfaith series of reflections and calls to action around the one year memorial of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill disaster. (photo © 2010 International Bird Rescue Research Center)

This week we mark one year since the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 men and beginning the dumping of five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. There are dozens of events taking place across the Gulf and across the country (more here) to commemorate the disaster and raise awareness about the on-going impacts of the spill for the environment, economy and health of communities on the Gulf Coast.

Their message: despite the TV ads and media messages, this crisis is not over for the most impacted communities and ecosystems across the region, and we must continue to pay attention and take action. That is why we as faith communities began the After the Spill campaign, and why we will work throughout this anniversary week – and in the weeks and months to come – to focus attention from across the nation on the lasting impacts of the BP oil spill disaster. (more…)

One Year Later – What Oil Spill?

Next week we will commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill, a disaster that killed 11 men and devastated the environment and economy of the Gulf Coast. We’ll feature daily blog posts from faith leaders across the Gulf Coast and across the country on After the Spill throughout the week, so check back often for reflections and calls to action.

However, today I’m struck by two recent New Orleans Times-Picayune articles, both of which express the enormous frustration of Gulf residents at the government, the oil industry and all Americans for our failed response to the spill. The staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune got it right in their recent piece: “A year after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, Congress has done virtually nothing to address the issues raised by the oil spill — from industry liability limits, to regulatory reform, to coastal restoration, to broader issues of energy policy.” (more…)

World Oil Roundup

originally posted on the RACblog

Update (March 8, 6 pm): it’s been a rough week for oil production. A rig explosion off the Louisiana coast on Tuesday forced two workers to escape on a life boat and the Coast Guard to scramble in response (luckily, with no fatalities), and just two days later an onlooker spotted an oil leak in Ventura, California.

From the streets of Libya to the halls of Capitol Hill, one word has been heard over and over in recent weeks: oil. As always, the price spikes caused by current global unrest are prompting a forceful debate about America’s energy policy (or lack thereof). Though the United States’ oil imports from Libya are a drop in the bucket of our overall consumption, the violence in North Africa will still become a rallying point for advocates of increasing domestic fossil fuel production. Yet, short-sighted responses in the name of energy security exacerbate our long-term energy crisis, threaten our health and environment, and undermine support for truly sustainable solutions. (more…)

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…)

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.

(more…)