Gulf Coast Fund

Joshua Pelletier, Gulf Coast Fund Community Renewal and Ecological Health. While Hurricane Isaac will likely make landfall as only a Category One storm, it may cause extensive harm for one unprecedented reason: large quantities of crude oil and dispersants from the 2010 BP oil disaster remain in the Gulf of Mexico. [...Read more]

On March 14,  the U.S. Senate approved a $109 billion transportation bill that includes the RESTORE Act,  which directs 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP oil disaster to the five Gulf States – Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. [...Read more]

Today in Mobile, Alabama, community leaders from across the Gulf Coast got together for day one of a two-day summit on fair housing and environmental justice.  At the end of a day packed with panels, workshops, and speeches, I spoke with Teresa Bettis, who played a major role in organizing the summit. [...Read more]

In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, communities across the Gulf Coast began to meet, share experiences, and work together across previous geographic and racial divides.  Now facing new and ongoing challenges like the BP oil disaster, hurricane "recovery" efforts, and coastal land loss, these communities continue to rely on and strengthen these relationships. [...Read more]

Crossposted from GreenForAll.org
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This week, the New York Times green blog covered the Gulf restoration planning process, announced by President Obama in his June 15th Oval office address, and headed up by Navy Secretary (and former MS Gov) Ray Mabus.  The Gulf Restoration Network, and many other Gulf Coast [...Read more]

 Mental Health Crisis Looms as Jobs Disappear; Toxic Dispersant Still Being Used: Unsafe Seafood Threatens Commercial Fishing and Human Health; Dead Wildlife Washing Ashore [...Read more]

Today President Obama ate a heaping plate of Gulf shrimp at the White House, in an effort to assure America that the Gulf Coast is open for business.
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Despite the media frenzy that Hurricane Katrina brought to the Gulf Coast, many communities in the region felt that they were either misunderstood or overlooked. That invisibility translated into a failed recovery in many communities where citizens are still without basic needs, including permanent, affordable housing. We are determined that the communities most effected by the BP disaster will be heard and that we will not repeat the mistakes of the past. [...Read more]