I've been covering the BP oil spill and its effects on people, marine life and wildlife for over a year. I can't fully explain why I've felt so passionate about this subject other than this has been the United States' biggest environmental crisis ever, capping the well was a gripping, internationally-relevant news story, and my memories of swimming in the Gulf of Mexico as a child are among my happiest souvenirs.
But perhaps, no certainly, what's driven me through all of this is the people of the Gulf of Mexico, specifically those around Grand Isle, LA and Orange Beach, AL, whose stories continue to compel me daily. I've befriended a few of these folks on Facebook including top toxicologist Riki Ott, been invited to speak on the spill at UGA and attended a NOLA task force meeting on restoring the ecosystem.
The stories of the people of the Gulf should inspire all journalists, but unfortunately, in the words of one source the media and big business are too intertwined to reveal the full story. As I write this, I wonder if I'll ever sell a mainstream article on what's really occurring there--images of the tar mats rising like sick brown reminders of the world's largest frat party. Except, of course, the perpetrators were Tony Hayward and his ilk; and now the Obama administration.
For who else but the Obama administration authorized the Corexit dispersant applications? And though a presidential committee was assigned to report on the spill and what to do going forward -- the Minerals Management Service was rightly replaced by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement -- and one top official ater another "retired" (sayonara, Admiral Allen), this reporter is left feeling I never did, not once, report a grain of the real truth.
Oh, sure, a grain. I got the stories from the people -- I got the images from photographer and grandmother Betty Doud or the sad stories from Capt. Lori the Dolphin Lady. I got their stories. Thank God for the people, or I might have been forced to just report on those bi-weekly press calls, such as the one in which Admiral Allen defended dispersant use. I sensed then he wasn't allowed to tell the truth when I asked my first media call question:
http://www.examiner.com/environmental-news-in-new-orleans/admiral-allen-defends-dispersant-use-the-gulf
I still intend to mete out the real story. I won't rest until those who aren't down in Orange Beach cleaning up oil that washed up as recently as, uh, yesterday are held fully responsible.
Everyone talks about Casey Anthony getting away with murder. I wonder, though, why 11 men died in the Gulf, thousands remain sick, and countless dolphins and Ridley's sea turtles and brown pelicans die and yet a trial is not a national news event.
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Photo of "catfish with his butt blown off" at Grand Isle, LA by Betty Doud, Apr 18, 2011
