Climate and Environment

Photo: Mississippi Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina hit us here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  

by Hilton Kelley. Port Arthur, Texas, my home, sits on the Louisiana-Texas border on the Gulf Coast, right in the heart of this Texas energy hub. Port Arthur also is home to four major oil refineries, four chemical plants, one petroleum coke plant, and an international chemical waste incineration facility.

Photo: Oil and gas pipelines run behind Africatown's historic Mobile County Training School.  Photo credit: Karen Savage

The law will be of no value to you if 1) you do not know the law, 2) you are afraid to use the law, 3) you cannot financially afford the law. Historically, laws are created to protect the innocent and the weak or safeguard the greedy.

Above - Trees and debris at the site of Texas Brine's sinkhole near the Bayou Corne community.   Photo credit: John Achee

People like myself have been accused of being "alarmists" when it comes to some of the information that we gather, review, do our best to determine the veracity of,  and then post for all to see.

The Recovery School District (RSD) plans to build a new school on a toxic site in New Orleans, and it has the blessing of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. But a lawsuit and growing community opposition seek to stop the plan.

The Keystone XL pipeline begins in Alberta, Canada and ends in my backyard. Here in Houston’s East End, we’re well acquainted with the risks of living so close to the oil refineries whose toxic emissions poison us every day. Like so many other kids in this neighborhood, I grew up with constant headaches, asthma and skin rashes. Cardiovascular diseases and cancer are not uncommon. Now, the tar sands are here in my home.

Opposites appeared at opposite ends of Alabama on June 5. At the upper extreme a rally in Florence called for tar sands mining to stop before it begins. At the lower extreme of the state the energy industry staged a forum to which the public was invited — as spectators, not participants – in Mobile.

Marine toxicologist and Exxon Valdez survivor Dr. Riki Ott, who first sounded the alarm regarding the abundant use of chemical dispersants in the early days of the 2010 BP Deepwater Drilling Disaster, is once again touring the Gulf.

Approximately 300 people filled the Castine Center in Mandeville, Louisiana on Monday, May 12th. The crowd was electric. The majority of them held signs with slogans such as “We can’t drink your excuses,” and “Frack-Free St. Tammany.” 

We couldn’t crab and we had to eat, so my son Ralph and I worked clean up. I have two sons. One went into the Marines. Ralph’s worked with me on the boat since he was just a kid - we’re a team.  We were really in the heart of it.