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The brown pelican is Louisiana's state bird, only recently removed from the endangered species list. Like much of the wildlife along the Louisana coast, these birds are now in danger.
A number of community foundations in the area have established relief funds to help the people, wildlife, and environment in the Gulf Coast.
I encourage all villagers to watch the live video feed of the BP oil spill — it’s streaming from the ocean floor, 5,000 feet below the surface. There’s been technical difficulties intermittently with this underwater video feed, so if the “SpillCam” isn’t streaming, wait a few minutes, then try again.
Rep. Edward Markey is providing updated news and information on the BP spill, including YouTube clips of underwater footage.
I think that we are at a time when prayer is needed as much as technology and engineering. This is a disaster that will have implications for decades to come. What are your thoughts as we enter Day #86 of the BP Oil Spill?
Speaking from Grand Isle, Louisiana, the President discusses the hardships local residents and small business owners are facing as a result of the BP oil spill. He pledges to make sure those responsible do not shortchange them.
We support the 'Am I Not Human?' blogging campaign that lights up the 27th of each month. I encourage all villagers to find a way to support this effort to shine a light on human rights abuses taking place all over the world.
The BP Oil Spill is the major human rights abuse on my mind this month. I watched the president's press conference today. The vast majority of the questions were about the oil spill. It has been more than five weeks since an oil rig leased by BP exploded and sank in the Gulf, and only now does there appear to be progress in plugging the massive leak. Speaking in a more than hour-long press conference in the East Room, President Obama defended his administration’s performance and said he was “angry and frustrated” by the spill.
“This notion that somehow the federal government is sitting on the sidelines and for the last three or four or five weeks we've just been letting BP make a whole bunch of decisions is simply not true,” Obama said.
President Obama doesn't usually get very personal when he speaks to the American people. However, this BP Oil Spill is personal for many villagers in the Gulf Coast ... and it was good to see that it got personal for President Obama as well:
"My job right now is just to make sure that everybody in the Gulf understands this is what I wake up to in the morning and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about – the spill," he said.
On Thursday morning, he said, when he was shaving, his daughter Malia peeked her head into the bathroom and said, "Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?"
"I think everybody understands that, you know, when we are fouling the earth like this, it has concrete complications not just for this generation but for future generations.
"I grew up in Hawaii, where the ocean is sacred. And when you see birds flying around with – with oil all over their feathers and turtles dying and – ... that doesn't just speak to the immediate economic consequences of this. This speaks to, you know, how are we caring for this incredible bounty that we have?"
ABC News went underwater off the Gulf Coast to see first-hand what the Deepwater Oil Disaster looks and feels like. It looks like a nightmare.
We’ve seen the oil start to wash up on shore, and we’ve seen satellite images of the slick. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg: You need to take a look at the underwater impact of the oil geyser and the dangerous chemicals BP is using to “disperse” it — effects that could last for decades, even if the risky “Top Kill” maneuver to plug the well works.
This is some nasty shyt. I hope that we can see some positive movement in a few weeks. What are your thoughts on the BP Oil Spill?
It appears that Kentucky's GOP candidate for the US Senate is adopting the Sarah Palin playbook. First, get nominated for high political office. Second, start flapping your mouth to the point that the electorate realizes that you are not to be trusted with the job for which you've been nominated. Third, write a book and make millions of dollars.
Rand Paul is on Step #2.Did you hear him absolve BP of all accountability for the recent oil spill by saying, "sometimes accidents happen"?
BP has considered or tried dispersants, skimmers, booms, a containment dome, a smaller "top hat," a "hot tap," a giant pipe to siphon off the oil and a "junk shot." Still oil continues gushing from the Deepwater Horizon site. Meanwhile, nobody knows how much. Estimates from the government, outside experts and oil companies differ. PBS has published this tracker.
The President announces that the independent commission he created for the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling will be chaired by former Florida Governor and Senator Bob Graham and former EPA Administrator Bill Reilly. He promises accountability not just for BP, but for those in government who bore responsibility.
This is a terrible environmental disaster that will be in our minds for decades to come. How do you see this playing out over the coming weeks and months?
