Drew Calls for Third Party Environmental Oversight of Contracted Clean Up Efforts

In a recent interview on New Orleans radio station WWL with Tommy Tucker I called for third party environmental oversight of the clean up efforts.  In the 1990's throughout the gulf region, 3D seismic testing associated with oil and natural gas exploration was unnecessarily harmful to the environment, and when the public was notified, the state of Louisiana required that the firms conducting this testing hire their own environmental oversight.  In lieu of the growing evidence that the contractors, and other entities working on the response of this spill are doing similar damage to the very environment that they are supposed to be cleaning up I think it is absolutely a must that these companies be required to enlist third party environmental monitors to make sure that no more unnecessary harm is done to the fragile marshes,and shoreline ecosystems where this work is taking place.

Tommytuckerinterviewmp3

Recently, the Audubon society has posted a volunteer listing for Florida residents, to perform exactly this task in that state.  Lets hope that this is just the beginning and that all states will soon require this action, or maybe we'll just let them continue to play catch with Pelican eggs in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana?

Comments

[george a wheelan]

It is a great idea you cant let the FOX control everything that goes on behind the doors of the hen house GW

[Frank Renfrow]

Hello Drew,

Thanks for the updates and your great work for our birds. I enjoyed listening to the interview, and the third party idea is a very good one, probably something that should have been done from day one.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but what happens to the succesfully fledged terns when they start diving in the water and get coated with oil? It seems like everyone is still operating on a 1,000 barrel a day outlook, when the reality is 60,000 to 100,000 barrels a day. One only has to look at the maps showing the mass of oil that is just about to hit the coast to see that something more needs to be done to ensure that avian populations are not wiped out in that area.

I guess I am just a lone voice in the wilderness but I think the only viable solution is this:

1. Determine the species that are most at risk and most distinct from their counterpart populations away from the Gulf.

2. Capture as many healthy individuals of the at-risk species as is possible and keep them in captivity until at least the risk of exposure to fresh oil is gone.

3. Captive breeding programs may have to be initiated if these birds cannot be released safely into the Gulf within a few years time.

4. If we are truly compassionate about the suffering of the birds other measures need to be taken to alleviate the suffering of oiled birds that are beyond rescue.

I have been deeply engaged in ornithology on an amateur level for over thirty years now. I have fristhand knowledge of how very fragile and delicate avian physiology is after witnessing decades of habitat destruction and loss of birdlife. In my humble opinion I doubt sincerely that very many birds exposed to that toxic oil could survive for any length of time afterwards.

I hope I am wrong.

Frank

[Al Kelley- Marine Biologist]

After dismal nesting success in Arctic last summer (due to snow falling in June because of warmed waters of Hudson/St. James Bay), the only logical (yet extraordinary) method is to net and transport voluminous numbers as they land in Gulf and rush to west and east coasts.......sounds outrageous, but , so is one blown-out well-head fracturing geological strata for miles....and miles....

[drew wheelan]

Not a bad idea. Wonder if anyone in the USFWS is thinking about that option?? I will ask around. Unfortunately, my criticism of the capture efforts in LA have kind of alienated me a bit.

[drew wheelan]

Not a bad idea. Wonder if anyone in the USFWS is thinking about that option?? I will ask around. Unfortunately, my criticism of the capture efforts in LA have kind of alienated me a bit.

[drew wheelan]

Frank,
I do think that your ideas warrant more research and serious scrutiny in preparation to put some of your ideas into action. Especially with this impending storm, there needs to be some seriously pro-active strategies developed to ensure that many of these populations are not hit too severely. Certainly marsh bird populations, and birds like Wilson's and Snowy Plovers should be considered and monitored VERY closely, which to my knowledge is not happening at all. I don't think that I am qualified enough as a population biologist to say one way or another without serious research what is the best course of action here, nor has my experience in the gulf been long enough to know these birds on a level intimate enough to make recommendations of this extreme nature. I will say that your ideas are the first of this nature that I have heard tossed around, and that it would certainly behoove federal managers to take the possibility of this type of action into their discourse as they decide what to do next here in the Gulf.

[Al Kelley- Marine Biologist]

Drew....you were right on......KPFK (90.7) with Ian Master's has the largest 'socially responsible' audience; give em a ring.................