skip to main content

→ Top Stories:
Fracking
Safe Chemicals
Defending the Clean Air Act

Feature: Disaster in the Gulf

The oil that spewed into the Gulf was an unprecedented environmental disaster that continues to devastate local communities. It will be years before we understand the full extent of the damage. The bipartisan commission appointed by President Obama in the wake of the Gulf oil disaster found that the disaster was not a one-time fluke, but a result of systemic failures in government oversight and industry management. The oil industry, the administration and Congress should move swiftly to implement the recommendations of the commission to guard against another deadly disaster.

Take action! Tell Congress to implement the recommendations of the presidential oil spill commission to prevent another Gulf oil disaster >>

Related Links

Three Years Later: Act on the Lessons of BP Disaster

Posted April 17, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution, Moving Beyond Oil, U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
, , , , , , , ,

This Saturday marks the third anniversary of the BP blowout that killed 11 men aboard the Deepwater Horizon and sent some 170 million gallons of toxic crude oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, in what President Obama called the...continued

Lubchenco Has Championed Science and Ocean Restoration at NOAA

Posted January 7, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Reviving the World's Oceans, Solving Global Warming

Tags:
, , , , , , ,

Comments (1)

The United States used to be a laggard in managing ocean fisheries. Popular and valuable fish got pushed to the brink of collapse and others seemed poised to follow. But this year, the US established itself as a global leader...continued

On the Carbon Pollution Front Lines, There's No Normal Anymore

Posted January 1, 2013 by Rocky Kistner in Curbing Pollution, Environmental Justice, Green Enterprise, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming

Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As Congress stumbles through an embarrassing year-end game of fiscal brinkmanship, the world continues its slow burn toward unchartered and dangerous territory. It’s a future that threatens us all with more cataclysmic storms, punishing drought, mind-boggling Arctic ice melts, and more...continued

How Does the FDA Know What Is Safe to Eat or Buy If It Doesn't Define Safe?

Posted December 19, 2012 by Peter Lehner in Health and the Environment

Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , ,

More than 90 percent of Americans carry residues of the chemical BPA in our bodies, according to the Centers for Disease Control. We encounter the chemical through every day products such canned food, and ATM receipts, and this steady exposure...continued

In the Gulf's Rising Tide, Hurricane Sandy Strikes a Familiar Chord

Posted November 9, 2012 by Rocky Kistner in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming

Tags:
, ,

Comments (3)

Down in the Louisiana bayou, people have first-hand knowledge of the kind of suffering a maelstrom like Superstorm Sandy brings. After the titanic tempest slammed into northeast coastal communities, killing more than 100 and making thousands homeless, people in the Gulf could feel their pain. After all, Gulf...continued

Oil and Water Create an Uncertain Future in the Southern Wild

Posted September 10, 2012 by Rocky Kistner in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Reviving the World's Oceans, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, Solving Global Warming

Tags:
, , , , , ,

Cajun fishing and hunting guide Ryan Lambert has weathered his share of storms over the years. He rebuilt his house and lodge deep in the Louisiana bayou seven years ago after Katrina rampaged across the area like a wild boar...continued

Administration's New Plan for Drilling in Our Oceans is Too Aggressive

Posted June 28, 2012 by Regan Nelson in Moving Beyond Oil, Reviving the World's Oceans, U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
, , , , , , , , ,

The Interior Department is set to release its five-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan covering the period 2012 to 2017. Under this plan, the Administration will allow further leasing in the fragile Arctic Ocean and offer up new tracts...continued

Fossil Fuel Subsidies: The Answer Lies in the Gulf

Posted June 20, 2012 by Rocky Kistner in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Reviving the World's Oceans, Solving Global Warming

Tags:
, , , , , , ,

This week, much of the globe’s attention is focused on the United Nation’s Rio +20 Earth Summit, where thousands of international delegates and NGO representatives are gathering to hammer out solutions to an increasingly stressed out, warmed-up world. As the slow-burn...continued

New Lawsuit Fights Oil Spill Amnesia

Posted June 19, 2012 by David Pettit in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

Tags:
, , , , , , , , ,

Today’s post is co-authored with my colleague Jamie Friedland. If we don’t learn from our catastrophic oil spills, we are doomed to repeat them.  That’s why on Monday, NRDC and a coalition of conservation groups filed a lawsuit pressing the...continued

BP Sees a Return to Grandeur as Gulf Fishermen Reel From Disaster

Posted April 27, 2012 by Rocky Kistner in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil

Tags:
, , , ,

The second memorial of the nation’s worst oil catastrophe has come and gone, forever linked to Earth Day and seared into the psyches of millions of Gulf residents and fishermen. In recent weeks, the media has unleashed a torrent of stories about the devastating...continued

About

Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.

Feeds: All Posts