Ike Coverage: Hurricane's environmental toll shows perils of expanded offshore drilling

When Hurricane Ike hit the U.S. Gulf Coast last month, it unleashed an environmental disaster, details of which are only now beginning to emerge. The ecological damage gives some indication of what the tropical storm-prone Southeast could face with the expansion of the offshore oil industry.

At least a half-million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the wetlands, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas, according to an Associated Press examination of federal data:

The AP's analysis found that, by far, the most common contaminant left in Ike's wake was crude oil -- the lifeblood and main industry of both Texas and Louisiana. In the week of reports analyzed, enough crude oil was spilled nearly to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and more could be released, officials said, as platforms and pipelines were turned back on.

About half of the crude oil known to be spilled so far came from one facility operated by St. Mary Land and Exploration Co. on Goat Island, Texas, near hard-hit Bolivar Peninsula, the AP reports. Ike's surge flooded the plant and broke the pipes connecting its eight storage tanks, which held oil produced from two wells in Galveston Bay. Most of that oil is believed to have ended up in the Gulf of Mexico, which is already suffering from a massive Dead Zone caused by agrichemical pollution runoff.

Studies on marine species have found that the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contained in petroleum can remain toxic for many years following an oil spill. Crude oil also contains toxic heavy metals.

Groups hope to see microlending programs at work in the Gulf Coast

The Christian Science Monitor poses the question this week: could microloans work to revitalize the Gulf Coast in the same way they have worked for poor areas of Africa and Asia?

Three years after Katrina, one-quarter of New Orleans small businesses remain closed. But the return or recovery of small businesses “is essential to the long-term stability of these neighborhoods,” Christy Wallace Slater of the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF) told the CS Monitor.

In the Institute for Southern Studies recent report, Faith in the Gulf, we reported on the vital work of Jewish Funds for Justice (JFSJ) and other faith-based groups and funders in community-centered redevelopment work along the Gulf Coat. This latest project by JFSJ is the first person-to-person microloan program in the country, and it will be partnering with contributors nationwide to provide loans to struggling small businesses along the Gulf Coast.

The campaign, called the 8th Degree, will give microloans ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, which will be distributed through the ASI Federal Credit Union (ASI). The JFSJ campaign is modeled on Kiva.org, which enables individuals to give a loan of any size directly to entrepreneurs in the developing world, the campaign aims to enlist individual Americans to do the same for hurricane-ravaged businesses, reports the CS Monitor.

Ike Coverage: Galveston mayor's wish list has some complaining of "conspiracy"

The rebuilding requests that Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas presented during last week's congressional hearing on the post-Ike recovery has generated so much controversy that the local paper has published an editorial trying to assure readers that it did not involve some sort of nefarious conspiracy.

One item on Thomas's wish list that's proven particularly suspect was the request that the federal government hand over undeveloped land it holds on the island's relatively unscathed east end. Opponents of a plan championed by Thomas and others to essentially give away that land to private developers "saw a conspiracy" to carry out that plan, the Galveston Daily News reports.

Thomas also requested money for a bridge over West Bay -- a proposal that generated an enormous controversy back in the 1990s and which the state eventually rejected as too expensive. Thomas also asked for a flyover lane off Interstate 45 that had initially been rejected as a political favor for developers. The mayor, we should probably note, is president of Thomas & Company of Galveston, a private real-estate and investment firm.

City Manager Steve LeBlanc said the wish list was put together by the city's department heads and some consultants after a discussion lasting about an hour. The paper scolded city leaders for the undemocratic nature of the process:

...[I]t is also hard to see how anyone at city hall might think large sums of federal money actually might be spent on the items on that list without further discussion by the city council. After all, any money the city receives should be spent on projects that reflect the will of the people, and that is properly expressed through elected representatives.

Gustav Coverage: Hundreds of Katrina Cottages ruined by Gustav

When Hurricane Gustav hit the U.S. Gulf Coast earlier this month, it ruined hundreds of cottages in southern Mississippi that were provided to residents left homeless three years ago by Katrina. So far, more than 230 of the so-called "Katrina Cottages" have been deemed uninhabitable by insurance adjusters due to water and storm surge damage, according to a release (pdf) from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. There are current over 2,800 Katrina Cottages occupied by families across South Mississippi.

The state is offering affected families a few options: relocation to a cottage in a commercial mobile home lot, with the family responsible for paying any lot rents or fees; placement in a cottage on other land where local codes allow it to be there permanently and where it does not have to be elevated higher than six feet; or moving to a rental apartment with the state footing the bill for the security deposit and rent through February 2009, when assistance for Katrina victims is set to end. Families that opt to live in a cottage will get the opportunity to buy it at a reduced rate based on income and ability to pay. Funds to house the Gustav victims are coming from insurance proceeds for the destroyed cottages.

"We are making every attempt to not only help these families find housing, but to ensure they are able to remain within their communities and school districts where they currently live," said MEMA Director Mike Womack.

The Associated Press reports that most of the uninhabitable cottages are located in Mississippi's coastal Hancock County, which was Katrina's Ground Zero. The state obtained a federal waiver that allowed the cottages to be temporarily set up in flood zones so residents could live on their own properties.

Mississippi built the cottages with a $281 million federal grant. While Louisiana also got money for cottages, it hasn't built any yet. The idea for the cottages arose during the post-Katrina Mississippi Renewal Forum as a way to provide storm-safe emergency housing that could be transformed into permanent dwellings.

(Photo of Katrina cottage by Samantha Bearden from MississippiRenewal.com)

Ike Coverage: In Texas, undocumented workers are rebuilding the coast

In towns along the Texas Gulf Coast, residents continue to rebuild following Hurricane Ike. The Houston Chronicle reports that Ike’s destruction is sparking one of the largest rebuilding efforts the state has seen in decades, and much of this work will be done by illegal immigrants.

Homeowners have already turned to undocumented day laborers to help with debris removal, roof repairs, and repairs to other storm-damaged property. Contractors have also hired them to rebuild or restore businesses and the city's infrastructure, reports the Chronicle. Unlike in New Orleans, which experienced an influx of Hispanic immigrants coming to work in the recovery effort, in Texas many of the area’s existing immigrant population will do the rebuilding work.

According to the Chronicle:

…this tug and pull of the labor force highlights an uneasy dilemma: The region needs the muscle of undocumented immigrants, but simultaneously is a cog in a broader crackdown of illegal immigrants at worksites.
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The looming demand for immigrant labor for rebuilding efforts illustrates how dependent Texas industry and commerce are on undocumented workers.
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According to a 2006 study by the Greater Houston Partnership, construction is the largest employer of undocumented workers in the city, employing nearly 36,000 people.

Crackdowns on illegal immigration, including the numerous immigration raids of the past few years, have had a devastating impact on many immigrant communities in Texas—separating families and creating a climate of fear. More the ever, the large role that immigrants have played in rebuilding the Gulf Coast following the devastating storms of the past three years illustrates the need for long-term immigration reform and not short-term policies of scare-tactics and raids.

Along the Louisiana coast, indigenous cultures and communities remain in peril

Hurricanes, flooding, and coastal erosion continue to threaten many indigenous communities across coastal Louisiana. Albert Naquin, chief of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians on Isle de Jean Charles in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, says it's time for the island's remaining residents to move farther inland, surrendering their way of life to the twin threats of storm surge and coastal erosion, reports the Times-Picayune.

Due to land loss, the island and much of the community is being swallowed by the Gulf of Mexico. According to the Times-Picayune, more than a week after Hurricane Gustav flooded much of Isle de Jean Charles, Hurricane Ike brought a 9-foot storm surge, overtopping the island's 6- to 7-foot levees and swamping homes once again. Although the Native American residents of the island have lived through numerous floodings, most do not have the money to continually rebuild, and the community knows it will never get stronger levee protection.

As the Times-Picayune reports:

Like other bayou communities, Isle de Jean Charles is a victim of coastal erosion, subsidence and sea-level rise. The oil and gas industry's construction of canals for vessels and pipelines enabled saltwater from the Gulf to invade and destroy freshwater wetlands. Levee building also caused southern Louisiana communities to be cut off from the Mississippi River and its sediments, which would have replenished the land and prevented it from sinking.
Island shrinking

Isle de Jean Charles once stretched about four miles wide, but is now a quarter-mile wide.

Coastal and bayou communities throughout Louisiana have been sinking for years, placing Cajun, Creole, and other unique cultures along the coast at risk of disappearing completely, and threatening the livelihoods of entire coastal communities. This land and culture loss is one of the biggest ecological and social disasters along Louisiana's coast.

Tribal leaders and tribal attorneys say the recent storms again sound the alarm that Louisiana's coastal communities need stronger flood protection and more emphasis on coastal and wetlands restoration to reduce surge, reports the Times-Picayune. “These communities are cultural and historical assets,” Joel Waltzer, a tribal attorney for the Pointe-aux-Chenes Indians, told the Times-Picayune, adding that losing the communities “would mean the end of an entire lifestyle and, in this case, the end of an entire people.”

Ike Coverage: Relief workers weather an above-average hurricane season

Hurricane Ike is pushing its way into Texas today and tomorrow, and already hundreds of thousands of people have evacuated to further inland locations. The National Weather Service issued a warning to people living in small houses on Galveston Island that they faced “certain death” from flooding if they remained in their homes. A mandatory evacuation has been issued for Galveston, and hurricane warnings were issued for a 400-mile stretch of coastline that stretched from south of Corpus Christi to Morgan City, La., reports the New York Times.

Disaster relief groups already on the ground serving evacuees affected by Hurricane Gustav are turning toward Texas this week, readying a relief response as Hurricane Ike makes landfall. Non-profit and faith-based relief operations such as Operation Blessing, the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, the Salvation Army and World Vision have put relief teams are on the ground to begin distributing food, water and other needed items to victims.

Relief workers, overwhelmed but prepared

These groups have been stepping up their activities and providing non-stop relief work in what has been a well-above-average hurricane season. As the Institute for Southern Studies underscored in our recent report, Faith in the Gulf, these faith-based and non-profit relief organizations have become a vital part of relief and recovery work in hurricane-prone areas.

Some of their recent work includes:

• Since Gustav made landfall in Louisiana, thousands of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers operated feeding kitchens at 23 locations in five states. Southern Baptist volunteers have prepared nearly 770,000 meals; completed 275 chainsaw jobs; provided 7,903 showers and 1,138 loads of laundry, reports the Baptist Press.
• In preparation for Hurricane Ike, Texas Baptist Men have activated four teams to serve around the state and will prepare about 46,000 meals a day, reports the Baptist Press.
• The Pentecostal relief outfit, Convoy of Hope, is responding to victims in Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica, after providing in recent days more than $1 million of aid to the Gulf Coast of the United States following Hurricane Gustav. In the United States, Convoy of Hope has distributed 26 semi-truckloads of relief supplies to more than 200,000 people in Louisiana and the U.S. Disaster Response Team is preparing to redirect its efforts to Texas, according to Reliefweb.
• Following Hurricane Gustav, the Salvation Army served more than 100,000 meals throughout the gulf coast area. This includes food service for evacuees, volunteers and other first responders who are helping in the evacuation. The ministry has more than 100 mobile feeding units, two 54-foot mobile kitchens and multiple fixed feeding sites at its Corps and other outposts throughout the region, reports the Salvation Army in a press release.
• Nationally, churches across Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and as far north as Oklahoma have opened up their doors to evacuees following the most recent storms.
  

“We’re in full preparation mode here,” Audrey Black, manager of World Vision’ Storehouse in Picayune, Miss., said in a World Vision press release prior to Hurricane Gustav’s landfall. “We have been seeing long lines at gas stations and stores as people stock up on necessities—but not everyone can afford to stock up. World Vision’s priority is to make sure we're ready to help the region's low-income and forgotten populations.”

In Houma in the days following Gustav, North Carolina Baptist disaster relief units rolled in with six 18-wheelers filled with meal supplies, to cook 30,000 meals a day for delivery to residents by the Salvation Army’s fleet of disaster response trucks, reports the Baptist Press. “People ask, 'Why do you need these guys?’” Kilm Liretta, a Houma reporter, told the Baptist Press regarding the North Carolina Baptists’ feeding operation. “You know what I tell them? Without these guys, we’d be lost.”

In response to Hurricane Ike, nonprofit and faith-based volunteers, staff and vehicles are awaiting deployment with other equipment and supplies to storm-struck areas. The American Red Cross has requested that Southern Baptists Disaster Relief, the third largest disaster relief organization in the United States, be prepared to provide up to a total of 500,000 meals per day, while the Salvation Army has requested another 70,000 meals, reports the Baptist Press. Relief workers have been working with the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and federal and state officials to plan a response in Ike’s expected strike zone.

The steady stream of storms has caused many groups to recruit more volunteers. “One of the problems we’ve been facing is fatigue,” Mickey Caison, director of operations at the Southern Baptist Disaster Operations Center, told the Baptist Messenger. “We’ve been going at it hard all year with tornadoes and floods and ice storms. So we’ve been in a response somewhere all year long. And a lot of those volunteers have used their vacation days already. As we are working toward additional responses, we are looking at whether we are going to be able to mobilize enough people.”

Saving the Coastline

Sharon S. Gauthe, director of southern Louisiana’s Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing (BISCO), a congregation-based community organization part of the PICO national network, has been working in the Hurricane Gustav hard-hit areas in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes to bring attention to the relief and recovery needs of the area. "Please spread the word that we do need to be helped in our communities," she said.

Local faith-based groups such as BISCO continue to engage in advocacy work to ensure that communities impacted by these storms gain better protection. For instance, BISCO is interested in seeing policy that improves the safety of communities in southern Louisiana. “Man has destroyed that protection and now we’re forced to get out to survive,” Patty Whitney, a BISCO community organizer, said in an Oxfam press release following Gustav. “Before, people could prepare. They could board up, stock up on supplies. They knew how to protect themselves from the furor of nature because nature itself provided protection.”

BISCO believes that protecting healthy marshes along the coastline and helping to restore the marshland would provide a level of security and safety so many of these costal communities desire. “The technology is there, but the political will is not,” Whitney said in the press statement, underscoring that BISCO is determined to change the political landscape. “Our goal is to work with communities and networks across the country to help build the will to save the coastline.”