Challenging the Rhetoric : ELMWOOD, LOUISIANA DERAILMENT STOKES FEARS ABOUT OIL TRAIN BLAST ZONE (VIDEO)

Challenging the Rhetoric : ELMWOOD, LOUISIANA DERAILMENT STOKES FEARS ABOUT OIL TRAIN BLAST ZONE (VIDEO):

By  Julie Dermansky
Monday, April 27, 2015

Nearly a dozen Union Pacific railway cars were blown off an elevated trestle in Elmwood, Louisiana, on Monday during a strong wind storm.

No injuries were reported in the incident near the Huey P. Long Bridge. The cars did not contain any hazardous materials, although such materials are transported on the route.

Michael Miller, who works at the New Orleans Hamburger Company, was inside the restaurant when the freight cars derailed. He said he heard a loud boom. At first, he and other staff in the restaurant kept everyone inside for safety, not knowing what had happened. When Miller received word that the freight cars has fallen, he feared his car parked in the lot was crushed. It wasn’t, but the incident has made him consider parking across the road in the Elmwood Mall’s lot in the future.

Emergency response at the site where freight cars that fell of an elevated trestle in Elmwood, Louisiana.

SEE MORE OF THE STORY, PICTURES AND VIDEO AT THE LINK ABOVE.

Challenging the Rhetoric : IS THIS THE END OF THE INNOCENCE?

Challenging the Rhetoric : IS THIS THE END OF THE INNOCENCE?

BY TRISHA SPRINGSTEAD April 29, 2015

Barbara with Grand-daughter

BY TRISHA SPRINGSTEAD

April 29, 2015

“ Offer up your best defense this is the End of the Innocence”  Don Henley.

Barbara Bourgeois is 43 years old, a lifelong Louisiana native who has such innocence in her story that she related in regard to the “Gulf Oil Disaster.” Before the disaster Barbie raised 5 children had 2 jobs; one as a dock hand at Myrtle Grove Marina and the other as a cook at the Riverside Restaurant. She made approximately $65,000 a year owned her land and her home. Life was good, she has worked hard and loves her family and children. Life was a celebration of births, eating seafood and she was part of a culture that she loves, this was her very existence. Barbara was colorful, sweet, respectful and charming.   

When the Deepwater Horizon blew on that horrific day, she was in Gretna, Louisiana. Barbie, as she is known by friends and family, came back home to Venice on April 22, 2010. She felt guilty she told this writer because she wasn't “at home when this happened.“ She thought because she was not in Venice in the day of the blowout, that she was not due any compensation from the poisoning by BP and the constant barrage of Corexit dispersant that was in the water.  

Read more at the link above...

Challenging the Rhetoric : Medical Moment With Trisha Springstead - The Double Edged Sword

Theresa Graff, Kindra Arnesen and Trisha Springstead

Challenging the Rhetoric : Medical Moment With Trisha Springstead - The Double Edged Sword: April 26, 2015 at 10:42pm

By Trisha Springstead

" The Double Edged Sword "

"When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you."  

Khalil Gabran

My Double Edged Trip to Plaquemines Parish, began at night while driving from Mississippi on two lanes of highway. Etched across the skies in the dark forever in my minds eye, were the lights of megalithic refineries. It was an auditory hauntingly quiet, drive into a place that I had never been, but visually my eyes were overwhelmed with the colorful lights. As far as the eye could see, alongside intensely, brightly lit huge cruise ships, glaring glimpses of Refineries, Oil barges. tugs, and trawlers, which became the landscape of the background of the towns, that constitute the parish called, “Plaquemines."

***Read more at the link above...

Challenging the Rhetoric : Five Years After The BP Oil Spill, Gulf Coast Resi...

Read the whole story at the link:

Challenging the Rhetoric : Five Years After The BP Oil Spill, Gulf Coast Residents Say "BP Hasn't Made Things Right"

By  Julie Dermansky  • Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - 21:31

If you ask Dean Blanchard, the largest shrimp buyer and wholesaler in the region surrounding Grand Isle, Louisiana, things “went from paradise to hell” in the five years following the BP oil disaster.

But BP's advertisements insist the company is making things right. A BP report on the State of the Gulf five years after the spill claims there is no lasting damage to the ecosystem. 

Behind the industry public relations spin, many coastal residents, including Blanchard, have seen their livelihoods destroyed and their health comprised. 

                     Dead pelican next to a tar ball on the beach on April 9, 2015 in Grand Isle, LA. ©2015 Julie Dermansky

Challenging the Rhetoric : WHAT BP OWES THE GULF SOUTH

Challenging the Rhetoric : WHAT BP OWES THE GULF SOUTH: PHOTO BY CHERRI FOYTLIN

Challenging the Rhetoric : Five Years After the BP Oil Disaster: A Barrier Island for Nesting Birds Devoid of Life

Challenging the Rhetoric : Five Years After the BP Oil Disaster: A Barrier Island for Nesting Birds Devoid of Life:  by Julie Dermansky on April 19, 2015 Cat Island, off the Gulf Coast in Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish, was home to a vibrant bird...

Photo by Julie Dermansky

Challenging the Rhetoric : OIL & GAS: EXTRACTION OPERATIONS POLLUTE WITH IMPUNITY

Advance warning, none of the following are OIL SPILLS. If they were, that would designate all of these instances of pollution on a grand scale by the corporations as accidents. Like spilled milk. These are not accidents to the corporations who have them, no, it’s merely the cost of doing business. Fines are minimal and being held accountable is non-existant as these corporations that have polluted are still doing business. They pay the fines and keep on polluting. 

Read more:

Challenging the Rhetoric : OIL & GAS: EXTRACTION OPERATIONS POLLUTE WITH IMPUNITY: January 21, 2015 ·   by  Anita Stewart  

Challenging the Rhetoric : FLORIDA: DIRTY WATER WARS IN PARADISE

One of the most important items on the ballot for Florida Voters in 2014 is Amendment 1, the Florida Water and Land Legacy. Rosemarie, a Hernando County volunteer described the Amendment, “…it will restore the funding Florida has used for decades that protects Florida’s water quality, wildlife habitats and natural beauty.”

In a state surrounded by water and green wild lands and our economy that depends so much on recreating on and near the water, our resources here in Florida are becoming minimal and endangered. Ever-worsening pollution, Big Oil, Big Sugar, Big Agriculture, the incorrect or illegal use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, Red Tide, waste dumping and the actions of the corporations and our elected officials who have permitted these actions have created dangerous situations with our fragile environment.

Read more:

Challenging the Rhetoric : FLORIDA: DIRTY WATER WARS IN PARADISE: October 22, 2014 ·   by  Anita Stewart  

Challenging the Rhetoric : FLORIDA IS SINKING

Florida can be the land of transients, liars, drifters, grifters and thieves. It is most known for the senior citizens, medical care, tourists, Disneyworld, beaches, boating, seafood, tourism (the state’s largest industry) and the craziest and most bizarre news stories. Read more...

Challenging the Rhetoric : FLORIDA IS SINKING: March 11, 2015 ·   by  Anita Stewart