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It also marks over 1000 days affected communities and ecosystems have been waiting for accountability, justice and full cleanup of the nation's worst oil disaster that left a morbid legacy in its wake.
On Tuesday, a day before the first phase of the BP trial in New Orleans ended, conservation groups joined community members to demand accountability from the oil behemoth.
"Three years after the Gulf was inundated with BP oil, the wildlife, habitats and people of the Gulf are still feeling the effects of the disaster," National Wildlife Federation's David Muth, who represented the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign, said.
"In 2012 alone, some 6 million pounds of BP oil was collected from Louisiana's shorelines and 200 miles of coast remain oiled. We can't allow BP off the hook for anything less than justice requires--a full payment for its recklessness so that real restoration of the Gulf's ecosystem and economy can begin," Muth said.
"Two years ago, BP promised $1 billion to early restoration to be used in two years. To date, BP has only spent seven percent of the promised total," added Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of the Gulf Restoration Network. "Despite BP's slick ad campaigns, the Gulf is still hurting and can't wait any longer for restoration. It's time BP be held fully accountable under the law."
Indeed, as The Atlantic's Julie Dermansky has documented, the effects of the oil can still be seen. She writes:
Yet even three years later, the residual effects of the oil spill are still apparent on the Gulf Coast. I covered the BP oil spill from the start, and have gone on documenting the effects of the hardest-hit areas in Louisiana and Mississippi, revisiting those areas over the last week. Below are some of the photos I have taken. Along the Mississippi coast one can still find tar balls. In Louisiana I observed, among other disturbing signs of the spill, oil sheen along a coastal marsh, and erosion on an island in Barataria Bay sped up by the death of mangrove trees and marsh grass.
On Wednesday, Drue Banta Winters, attorney with the Louisiana governor's office, cited these statistics, the Times-Picayune reports:
The National Wildlife Federation added in its report Restoring a Degraded Gulf of Mexico: Wildlife and Wetlands Three Years into the Gulf Oil Disaster:
In addition to the oil, the chemical dispersant Corexit has wreaked havoc, and as a report released Friday from the Government Accountability Project detailed, it was knowingly used to make the gushing oil merely "appear invisible" while exacerbating levels of toxicity.
The group warned that the toxic oil/dispersant mix will continue to cause "devastating long-term effects on human health and the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem" for a long time.
And after the Gulf disaster began, marine toxicologist Riki Ott was sounding the alarm on the toxic effects both the oil and Corexit were having on human health.
"After three years," said Patty Whitney of Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing, "the Gulf and its people can't wait any longer for environmental restoration that supports resilient communities."
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It also marks over 1000 days affected communities and ecosystems have been waiting for accountability, justice and full cleanup of the nation's worst oil disaster that left a morbid legacy in its wake.
On Tuesday, a day before the first phase of the BP trial in New Orleans ended, conservation groups joined community members to demand accountability from the oil behemoth.
"Three years after the Gulf was inundated with BP oil, the wildlife, habitats and people of the Gulf are still feeling the effects of the disaster," National Wildlife Federation's David Muth, who represented the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign, said.
"In 2012 alone, some 6 million pounds of BP oil was collected from Louisiana's shorelines and 200 miles of coast remain oiled. We can't allow BP off the hook for anything less than justice requires--a full payment for its recklessness so that real restoration of the Gulf's ecosystem and economy can begin," Muth said.
"Two years ago, BP promised $1 billion to early restoration to be used in two years. To date, BP has only spent seven percent of the promised total," added Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of the Gulf Restoration Network. "Despite BP's slick ad campaigns, the Gulf is still hurting and can't wait any longer for restoration. It's time BP be held fully accountable under the law."
Indeed, as The Atlantic's Julie Dermansky has documented, the effects of the oil can still be seen. She writes:
Yet even three years later, the residual effects of the oil spill are still apparent on the Gulf Coast. I covered the BP oil spill from the start, and have gone on documenting the effects of the hardest-hit areas in Louisiana and Mississippi, revisiting those areas over the last week. Below are some of the photos I have taken. Along the Mississippi coast one can still find tar balls. In Louisiana I observed, among other disturbing signs of the spill, oil sheen along a coastal marsh, and erosion on an island in Barataria Bay sped up by the death of mangrove trees and marsh grass.
On Wednesday, Drue Banta Winters, attorney with the Louisiana governor's office, cited these statistics, the Times-Picayune reports:
The National Wildlife Federation added in its report Restoring a Degraded Gulf of Mexico: Wildlife and Wetlands Three Years into the Gulf Oil Disaster:
In addition to the oil, the chemical dispersant Corexit has wreaked havoc, and as a report released Friday from the Government Accountability Project detailed, it was knowingly used to make the gushing oil merely "appear invisible" while exacerbating levels of toxicity.
The group warned that the toxic oil/dispersant mix will continue to cause "devastating long-term effects on human health and the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem" for a long time.
And after the Gulf disaster began, marine toxicologist Riki Ott was sounding the alarm on the toxic effects both the oil and Corexit were having on human health.
"After three years," said Patty Whitney of Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing, "the Gulf and its people can't wait any longer for environmental restoration that supports resilient communities."
_____________________________
It also marks over 1000 days affected communities and ecosystems have been waiting for accountability, justice and full cleanup of the nation's worst oil disaster that left a morbid legacy in its wake.
On Tuesday, a day before the first phase of the BP trial in New Orleans ended, conservation groups joined community members to demand accountability from the oil behemoth.
"Three years after the Gulf was inundated with BP oil, the wildlife, habitats and people of the Gulf are still feeling the effects of the disaster," National Wildlife Federation's David Muth, who represented the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign, said.
"In 2012 alone, some 6 million pounds of BP oil was collected from Louisiana's shorelines and 200 miles of coast remain oiled. We can't allow BP off the hook for anything less than justice requires--a full payment for its recklessness so that real restoration of the Gulf's ecosystem and economy can begin," Muth said.
"Two years ago, BP promised $1 billion to early restoration to be used in two years. To date, BP has only spent seven percent of the promised total," added Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of the Gulf Restoration Network. "Despite BP's slick ad campaigns, the Gulf is still hurting and can't wait any longer for restoration. It's time BP be held fully accountable under the law."
Indeed, as The Atlantic's Julie Dermansky has documented, the effects of the oil can still be seen. She writes:
Yet even three years later, the residual effects of the oil spill are still apparent on the Gulf Coast. I covered the BP oil spill from the start, and have gone on documenting the effects of the hardest-hit areas in Louisiana and Mississippi, revisiting those areas over the last week. Below are some of the photos I have taken. Along the Mississippi coast one can still find tar balls. In Louisiana I observed, among other disturbing signs of the spill, oil sheen along a coastal marsh, and erosion on an island in Barataria Bay sped up by the death of mangrove trees and marsh grass.
On Wednesday, Drue Banta Winters, attorney with the Louisiana governor's office, cited these statistics, the Times-Picayune reports:
The National Wildlife Federation added in its report Restoring a Degraded Gulf of Mexico: Wildlife and Wetlands Three Years into the Gulf Oil Disaster:
In addition to the oil, the chemical dispersant Corexit has wreaked havoc, and as a report released Friday from the Government Accountability Project detailed, it was knowingly used to make the gushing oil merely "appear invisible" while exacerbating levels of toxicity.
The group warned that the toxic oil/dispersant mix will continue to cause "devastating long-term effects on human health and the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem" for a long time.
And after the Gulf disaster began, marine toxicologist Riki Ott was sounding the alarm on the toxic effects both the oil and Corexit were having on human health.
"After three years," said Patty Whitney of Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing, "the Gulf and its people can't wait any longer for environmental restoration that supports resilient communities."
_____________________________