Here is the second half of our discussion with Tulane's director of the Center for Applied Environmental Public Health, LuAnn White. 

In part 2 of our interview, LuAnn will answer the questions below. Again, for your ease-of-viewing, I provided the approximate start time for each of the answers so you can find the info you want quickly. 

 8. A number of media reports have been filmed in Grand Isle and other coastal areas. The Mississippi delta estuary and ecosystem is huge, and it has a lot of backwater and surface area. Is there oil in there? Can it be remediated and/or recovered? Does it need to be? (start)

9.  It seems like current media coverage is falling into one of two very different categories, either highly optimistic (“the oil has disappeared”), or very dire (“the Gulf will take decades to recover”). What causes this split in the coverage? What is your outlook? (4:05)

10. What do you think the media was hoping to find when they came down to the Gulf Coast? (8:10)

11. What do you think will be the impact from this event on the region’s long term reliance on the oil and gas industry? (11:05)

12. Is now an exciting time to be a scientist? (14:30)

13. Talk for a moment about seafood safety and the processes used to ensure that toxins, including oil, haven’t affected food from the Gulf. (16:10)

Today's calendar is full of great information gathering for you.

• In the morning we go to Tulane University to find out exactly how dispersants affect crude oil and the process oil goes through from the crust of the Earth all the way to your car's engine - on a technical/chemical level

• We'll speak with an EP in Baton Rouge and ask the questions you've posed in the forums and via email. Some topics include what absorbents are being used - burnable or degradable; why collected solids are going to landfills instead of addressing them locally with thermal treatment or bioreactors; and more.

Stay tuned!

After speaking with the Joint Incident Command group this weekend, here’s an overview of what I’ve found out about dispersants used in the Gulf to control, contain and cleanup the BP oil spill...

- Dispersants are chemicals that can be used to break up oil and speed its natural degradation. They are generally less harmful than oil and biodegrade more quickly than untreated oil.

- According to EPA, dispersants have been useful in breaking up the oil offshore and preventing more oil from reaching fragile coasts and wetlands.

- BP has been allowed to use dispersants during this disaster because the spill was more than three miles from the shoreline. For this use, BP has been preauthorized to use approved dispersants. Conversely, BP has had to get daily approval from the Coast Guard and EPA to use dispersants in any surface applications.

*Each of these approvals and requests can be found at http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

- The EPA has been testing for dispersants near the shore and has detected no dispersant compounds. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and EPA scientists are conducting rigorous ongoing monitoring and analysis of the effectiveness and toxicity of the dispersants used.

*As of the date of the EPA’s document, toxicity testing had not shown any significant effects of dispersants on aquatic life.

 - Mobile air monitors (see photo) taking samples throughout the region have detected only very small amounts of compounds that may be related to dispersants.

I traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi to speak with Lisa Morrison of Compton Engineering.  When we announced this project, Lisa reached out to the commonground team and said she'd be happy to talk with us and show us some projects she has been working on as a result of the spill.  She discussed some of the environmental issues facing the area and the mindset of residents and the realities of being in a region that’s been hit hard by Katrina and now is being affected on many levels by the BP oil spill.

Click on the photo to give a listen.

Lisa showed me some of the work her company has been doing. Compton is responsible for various environmental consulting projects in the Gulf region and she showed us one project that keeps oil out of the wetlands....

I spoke with Michael Carvalho, an environmental attorney based in Marietta, GA, about legal issues pertaining to the oil spill. Here's what we covered...

• There IS an opportunity for environmental professionals in the legal process because lawyers rely on skilled environmental consultants to advise them and to help them document the condition of sites - pre- and post-oil.
• Cases are likely to go on for years as they did in Alaska for the Valdez spill. There is still oil up there and there are still situations being litigated. Down here in the Gulf, we don't even know how long the impact will be felt.
• The process of using dispersants hasn't been well-researched and we don't know the long-term effect of these chemicals on the environment. This makes proceeding with care vital. Mike talks about not jumping to a settlement.
• Businesses will not see money unless they are proactive and go to court. The factors in that process include the possibility that BP will drag their feet. And further, that if a claim cannot be explicitly proven, it may not receive anything.

So, click on the photo here and the audio will launch. 

Please leave your comments and questions right here on the blog. Thanks!

Yesterday, commonground sat down with Stuart Weese of Whitney Bank to discuss what the oil spill has meant to anyone in his position as an environmental representative of the bank. While loan officers are ultimately responsible for the loans they write, they rely on people like Stuart to help them make decisions about risk and loans. Especially now that the oil spill could affect property and businesses - and HAS already affected perceptions of the area.

Click on the photo to start the audio.

Billy Nungesser is Parish President of the Plaquemines Parish in Belle Chase, LA. He is vocal. He has taken a strong stance for the people in his parish and in his state. He doesn't like being jerked around - and that's what he thinks is going on. 

Click on the image to hear the interview with Billy. 

He believes oil is going to continue rolling up on the coastline of his state for ages and wants responsible parties to acknowledge there's a problem and not hide from him or his constituents.

Today we got a few minutes with the man who has been shouting at BP and the US Government since the first day of the spill. Give a listen and let us know what you think.

In the next day, I'll be processing some video taken at the same event where we chatted with Nungesser. It gives you a little perspective of the number of press folks who are still chasing down stories here in the Gulf. Contrary to what you might not be seeing on your local news, this is still the biggest story down here. Bars have CNN going all the time and it is on people's minds.

Also coming up on the blog are audio interviews and lots more photos (I took about 100 today). Just running out of time in the day to share it all with you. And to that point, I hope you're enjoying this resource and style of coverage. While it might seem at first to be overwhelming because we're sharing so much content, it's really something you can do at your own pace. The commonground blog isn't going anywhere and my responsibility is to answer your questions and share info long after I return back to the chilly Northeast (it's 97 degrees down here, what have you got?!)

So have fun, ask questions, and share what we're sharing. Thanks for reading and listening and watching!

Jeff

I got a call from one of the CBS stations back home asking me what I was doing these days and I told them I was spending time in the Gulf covering the oil spill. They asked if I'd answer some questions and share some of my experiences with their readers and of course I said yes...who doesn't want to work with one of the largest news organizations in the world?

Here's the first conversation I had with them about the spill. We'll keep chatting with them about developments down here in the Gulf and beyond. If you're in the Boston-metro area and have some insight into the BP situation, I'm sure they'd like to hear from you. They're always looking for local ties to national stories.

My daily schedule coming up soon! It's gonna be a wild Wednesday.