Newly Formed Observer Group to Monitor Today’s Oil Lease Auction

From our friends at Louisiana Bucket Brigade:

 Khaki Vests and Citizen Monitor Buttons Identify Oil Monitoring Group

Fifteen Citizen Monitors trained to engage oil industry and government representatives will be on hand at today’s oil lease auction. The goal of the newly formed Oil Monitoring Group is to remind those bidding that they have legal obligations to protect the Gulf of Mexico. “We are reminding them that the Gulf of Mexico belongs to all of us,” said Anne Rolfes, Founding Director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. “We want to make sure that both the oil industry – which has a terrible accident problem – and the government responsible for protecting us know that they are being watched.”

Today is the official launch of the newly formed Oil Monitoring Group, a coalition of civil society organizations and citizens trained to engage with oil industry representatives and remind them both of their legal obligations and the fact that the resources they are using are public ones. “Our mission is to prevent oil industry accidents,” said Kristen Evans, who is spearheading the group. The group will continue to monitor oil industry events after today’s auction.

Trained Citizen Monitors will initiate conversations with those in attendance today’s. The event is auctioning off 38 million acres. While other sales have happened since the BP Disaster, this is the first in the Central Planning Area of the Gulf of Mexico, which is off the coast of Louisiana. The Bureau of Ocean, Energy and Management is coordinating the auction.

Election observers, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are among the groups serving as a model for the newly formed group. “We realize that all too often civil society is not in the room when industry and government make decisions,” said Anne Rolfes, Founding Director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and participant in the group.

The monitors will wear khaki vests labeled Oil Monitoring Group on the back, with buttons on the front that say Citizen Monitor. They will provide brochures to those in attendance to remind them of the laws and that people are watching.

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade is an environmental health and justice organization supporting neighborhoods’ use of grassroots action to create informed, sustainable communities free from industrial pollution.
 

Thousands of Oil and Gas Wells and Pits to be Flooded

From Our Friends at Louisiana Bucket Brigade:

No clear plans from industry, state or federal government about preparation or cleanup

A map released yesterday details that the opening of the Morganza Spillway is likely to cause the release of oil, diesel, drilling muds and chemicals into residential areas and the Gulf of Mexico. Though significant oil industry pipelines and installations will be flooded, there has been no communication from industry or government officials to residents on the subject. No information has been made available regarding the amount of contamination to be released. Conservative estimates are in the thousands of gallons.

“I have been asking for spill prevention measures for the last two weeks and have gotten little to no information from industry or emergency response officials,” said Anna Hrybyk, Louisiana Bucket Brigade Program Manager. “People living in the flood zone need to be prepared for serious chemical contamination and clean up.”

The enormous waste pit in Grand Bois is in the area to be flooded. When the pit was created, 81 trucks of waste with benzene, xylene, hydrogen sulfide and arsenic were trucked in from an Exxon plant. Exxon made $30.46 billion in 2010.

LABB is sending a letter today to the relevant agencies requesting clean-up plans, including soil and water sampling plans for contamination.

Data from government sources, available on a map created by the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, estimates that the following infrastructure is in the path of the floodwaters.

• 13,000 oil/gas wells
• 3,600 petroleum extraction operations
• 4,000 abandoned oil waste pits
• 1 refinery (Alon Refinery in Krotz Springs)
• 4 storage terminals

The numbers are likely higher as the most recent available data are several years old. Of particular concern are the thousands of open oil waste pits, like the one in Grand Bois, containing crude oil and chemicals. Officials with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality told LABB they have ordered 3 of the 4,000 waste pits to be emptied in preparation for the flooding.

Local residents and advocates believe that there is no comprehensive preparedness or response plan.

“The best predictor of the future is the past,” said Anne Rolfes, LABB Founding Director. “During the BP Oil Disaster and Hurricane Katrina, the agencies had no effective plans for dealing with the pollution, and residents and our environment continue to suffer as a result.”

The million-gallon oil spill at Murphy Oil during Hurricane Katrina is an example of the burden born by residents who not only face loss of property during disasters, but also chemical contamination. Murphy Oil failed to follow its hurricane preparedness guidelines, causing one of its tanks to be lifted from its foundation and spill oil throughout a neighborhood. Returning neighbors were aware of the oil because of its obvious presence, but never received any guidance from the refinery, state or federal government.

“Oil was everywhere – in the house, in the slab. It was unreal and we decided to move away,“ said Johnny Lewis, a resident of Chalmette at the time. “I got zero information from the refinery, zero from government who is supposed to be looking out for us.”

The purpose of today’s press events is to protect public health by prompting industry and the state to properly inform residents of the dangers they face as a result of the flooding. Residents who see chemical contamination can make reports to LABB’s Chemical Accidents Crisis Map found at map.labucketbrigade.org.

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade is an environmental health and justice organization supporting neighborhoods’ use of grassroots action to create informed, sustainable communities free from industrial pollution.