Oil on Beaches in Alabama

Off for my second trip. Spent this am on Pine Beach in Bon Secour NWR. Tar balls as far as the eye could see. On the beach, floating in the surf. Some very fresh. Some the size of marbles, others spread out the size on a dinner plate. Cleanup work has started, but there were new tar balls where the sand had already been scraped and cleaned up. Heavily oiled water and soda bottles (Coke is generic for soda in the South, ask anyone in my family).
Heard that POTUS was headed down to AL/MS/FL today. Saw Marine 1 cruise the beach while I was out shooting. I was the only person on the beach. Some heavy equipment lined up to work, but no work until about time I was leaving (10 am). Spoke to some locals who said President was supposed to be coming to Bon Secour this afternoon. Secret Service had been around for a week. Don't know if he will be here or not. Second time he and I have missed each other!
Headed to Venice, LA. Will get a chance to go into Fort Jackson facility where they are rehab ing birds. Thanks to Jamie Clark and Cindy Hoffman of Defenders for the Press Pass.
Still looking to get into the marshes again and also head into area where most wildlife being affected.. May get to post some images tonight on blog. Now just taking a break to get Press Pass figured out.. Stayed tuned.. Things are looking worse. We are definitely in this for the long run.
Thanks to Rebecca for being so understanding so close to our wedding!

Article in Paper

Dropping youngest son off at driving school (yes, almost there raising kids!), and friend was telling Joe that she saw my picture on the front page of the Knoxville News Sentinel newspaper.. In fact, several pictures.
I knew this was coming because I spoke to a friend of mine while working out last week. He is a reporter for the News Sentinel and also asks where I have been lately and what I have been doing. When I explained to him my trip to the Gulf, he asked to pursue a story.. Seems that the other people at the paper where interested enough to want to run the story.. Didn't know when it was going to run, but was nice to see some local color and spin on the Gulf Oil Spill.
Right now I am trying to get things worked out to go back down next week and shoot more..
May pick different spots this time and then go back the first week of August to follow up on all the spots I've shot so far.
Depends on how far and how much the oil is impacting over the next 2 months.
All this travel is being down while also trying to get ready for wedding on July 3rd.. Rebecca has been extremely supportive and encouraging during this environmental crisis during the preparation for our marriage.. See her image of me in the article below.

Go to Knoxville News Sentinel to see the article in Monday June7th paper...

Oil Spill continues

I came back home last Friday (May 28) from Venice, LA.. It feels strange not to be down where all the action is. I became accustomed to seeing the news commentators live, not on the screen. Since I have been back, I have been through my images and am trying to organize some support to do further documentation of the oil spill. Doug Inkley, Chief Biologist for the National Wildlife Federation, said in an interview, that it would be nice to watch some of the affected areas over time to see what happens. That is what I'm prepared to do as my last trip documented images with GPS coordinates so I can go back to those areas and record, photographically, what is happening to our environment from the oil contamination. I am very disheartened by the seeming lack of effort to start cleaning up or protecting better the area around Venice, LA where I shot. It would be nice if there was some communication from someone (EPA, USFWS, BP, etc) about definite plans and organization to clean up the spill.. Maybe they're waiting until it's over..

It puts my mind almost in a state of shock to imagine the enormity of the impact of this oil spill. BP is going to owe a lot of people a lot of money for this tragedy. But all the money what make up for the heartbreak we all feel for the rape of Mother Nature.. Make your thoughts know to your Congressional Representative.. Donate money to Defenders of Wildlife and National Wildlife Federation to help with the clean.. Consider volunteering time, when they finally get around to cleaning up this mess and allow volunteers to help.

The image for today is a panorama of an area that shows how ineffective the protective boom is that they are spending so much time and money putting out..

This Isn't Venice Italy

Having just returned from a trip to Greece and Italy, I thought the next time I would tell someone that I’m going to Venice, it would be a trip to Venice, Italy since we didn’t go there back in March.. Then certain events in life change your entire perspective.. The BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has done that.. Within days of realizing just how large the spill was and considering the impact on the Gulf Coast environment, I knew I had to come photograph what was happening. Rebecca and I were walking with another scientist from her department when I told her that I might want to be gone for 1-2 weeks to photograph the oil spill.. She said no problem.. To put this response in perspective, our wedding is coming up on July 3 and we still have some planning and details to work out.. What a great support, but that is one of the many reasons I am marrying her..
On to the Oil Spill. Today I was fortunate to get on one of the boats that the National Wildlife Federation put together to get a first hand look at the oil on the water. There were scientists from LSU and FSU, reporters and photographers and videographers from Reuters, AP, NBC, PBS.. I actually got to meet Tom Bearden of the MacNeil Lehrer Report for PBS.. Nice guy. There was even a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) or submarine that a scientist from LSU brought to look for oil under the surface of the water. He went down about 250 feet and saw globules of oil floating consistently down the entire water column. We saw no fish, no dolphins, no birds.
All of this is very disturbing. The thoughts that the impact may be for 10-15 years, maybe even a lifetime. This oil spill may affect all of the Gulf States coastline and maybe the Atlantic States coastline up to Cape Hatteras. The amount of wildlife and wild areas that may be affected is staggering. This trip is my start of document, over time, the affects of the oil spill on wild life and wild areas. My wish is that the images will get no worse than the ones I’ve seen.. But I know that is only a pipedream..
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Bon Secour NWR and Gulf Oil Spill

I have been here since Saturday afternoon.. Talked to a bunch of people and walked several beaches and some trails. The only evidence you see here that there is something coming is the barriers the Alabama National Guard has put up on the Sound side of Fort Morgan area. These barriers are lined with a felt like material and will be filled with a polymer that binds to hydrocarbons and will not release them once bound.. Supposedly the polymer can then be used for paving or even burned with a higher BTU than lignite coal.. The polymer is not toxic to wildlife, even ingested while loaded with hydrocarbons.

The US Coast Guard has also been mobilized as 500 Reserve USCG have been deployed from all over the country to the Gulf coast to try to respond to any threat of oil coming on shore.. The group I talked to is from Hawaii.. A long way from home..

Tar balls, even though I haven't seen any yet, are normal to come on shore. They don't know where they come from.. Speculation is oil leaking from fields underwater, oil rigs leaking, tankers with oil leaking, etc.. I have been told that all the tar balls found have been tested and are not from the Deep Horizon event.. But we were also told that only 200000 gallons a day were leaking from the site and now appears that may be a gross underestimate.

All in all, people are mobilizing to try to deal with the eventual onslaught of oil.. Whether that will be beaches black with oil slicks or just a few tar balls, no one seems to know..

LA is getting hit very hard and that is the next stop on my trip by Tuesday afternoon..

I'm hoping to keep coming back to these areas to document photographic the effect of what some people say is the worst environmental disaster in American history.. Stay tuned..