Gulf Oil Spill Dispersed?

The mood improves, but Gulf Coast residents still skeptical.

As Editor of the Scholastic Kids Press Corps, I have been in New Orleans this week with two Kid Reporters. We are covering stories about the region's recovery from the Gulf Oil Spill and the upcoming 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

When we first got here, people were somewhat down about the spill and the fact that many fishermen are out of work. They are also stricken by the damage that may be done to the delicate ecosystem in the marshlands along the Louisiana coast.

Today, the mood improved somewhat when the government announced that 90 percent of the oil is gone. It has been dispersed by nature, according to NOAA reports, with the help of chemicals put in the water to break of the slimy substance. Also, thousands of workers have been busy cleaning the oil off of beaches and animals and out of the wetlands.

At the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in the French Quarter in New Orleans today, families crowded around tanks to see rescued sea turtles swimming freely amongst brightly colored tropical fish. The aquarium has put four of the more than 170 rescued turtles on display at the aquarium. That's all that are well enough to be put in with the healthy population of sea life.

Kid Reporter Abi Lista will have a video report on the Audubon turtle rescue efforts that will be posted next week.

Oysters are back on the menus in many of the restaurants in town, though they are smaller (and a bit more bitter tasting) than usual. Some of the bigger beds have been closed until they are deemed safe for harvest again.

Today, the Kid Reporters also retraced some of Abi's steps as a young girl growing up in the New Orleans culture before Hurricane Katrina. A favorite haunt was a Six Flags theme park in New Orleans East. Like parts of its neighborhood, it is still shuttered after five years. Haunt is a good word to use here. The place is a ghost town.

Abi also ate some of her favorite foods, now being threatened by the oil, checked out Mardi Gras World, and walked through the French Quarter.

Check back next week for a report on how her city has made a comeback in some places and not so much in others. She and her dad will tell you why they decided to return rather than resettle somewhere else.

Tomorrow, Kid Reporter Trinity Vogel and I are going out on a boat in the wetlands. Check back here to find out what we saw and what the Coast Guard has to say about the latest news.

—Suzanne Freeman, Editor

PHOTO: One of two rescued Kemp's Ridley turtles that are now well enough to be on display at the Audubon Aquarium of the America's in New Orleans. Once the waters in the Gulf are ruled safe again, the turtles will be returned to the wild. (Photo by Lee Alvey)

Obama on Oil Spill: What Do You Think?

New Orleans Kid Reporter sees oil spill troubles first hand.

Fifty seven days since the BP oil spill began and 75 days until the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I watched President Barack Obama address the nation from the Oval Office in the White House last night. The President focused on three main aspects of the oil spill: cleaning up the oil, recovering and restoring the gulf coast, and making sure there is not another catastrophe like this one in the future.

I live in the New Orleans area and have family all over the Gulf Coast. I have seen first hand the long-term recovery from the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005. Unfortunately the Gulf Coast is again in need of help, this time from the nation’s worst environmental disaster.

The impact of this disaster may be more widespread than the hurricane and consequent flooding, and the recovery may take much longer.

“Unlike an earthquake or a hurricane, it is not a single event that does its damage in a matter of minutes or days,” President Obama said of the oil spill. “The millions of gallons of oil that have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico are more like an epidemic, one that we will be fighting for months and even years.”

I wanted the President to scold BP for not having any plan for such a disaster and he did just that.

“I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and businesses who have been harmed by his company’s recklessness,” President Obama said, calling the company “reckless.”

That fund will be administered by a third party and not by the oil company, he said.

“BP will pay for the impact this spill has had on the region,” President Obama promised.

I was glad to hear the President explain the need for a long-term recovery plan as well. He put Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy and a former governor of Mississippi in charge of a newly formed Gulf Coast Restoration Plan.

He also seemed to understand that the negative impact on the land and waters of the Gulf Coast area directly affects the people who make their livings—and their lives—here.

“I’ve seen empty docks and restaurants with fewer customers—even in areas where the beaches are not yet affected,” said the President who has made four visit to the area since the spill. “The sadness and anger [the people here] feel is not just about the money they’ve lost. It’s about a wrenching anxiety that their way of life may be lost.”

Finally, President Obama talked about how to prevent another catastrophe like this one from ever happening again. I heard the President use strong language to express the nation’s need to develop clean energy and alternative energy sources.

“Each day, we send nearly $1 billion of our wealth to foreign countries for their oil,” he said. “And today, as we look to the Gulf, we see an entire way of life being threatened by a menacing cloud of black crude. We cannot consign our children to this future. The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now.”

I can only hope that this latest catastrophe will help us all finally realize we must make the changes needed to end our dependence on fossil fuels now. Perhaps the oil industry jobs that are lost in the Gulf now can be replaced by jobs that are related to clean energy.

“Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash American innovation and seize control of our own destiny,” the President said.

I agree. What do you think? (Send in your comments in the Comment section below.)

—Abigayle Lista

PHOTO: Oil-covered pelicans sit in a pen waiting to be cleaned at a rescue center facility set up by the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Fort Jackson, Louisiana, June 7, 2010. Two hundred and ninety two birds have been brought to the center over a six week period. (Photo: REUTERS/Sean Gardner)

Remembering Hurricane Katrina

Kid Reporter Abigayle Lista looks back at the storm that wrecked her community.

It’s been four years since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and the pain is still felt by many of us. I was 9 years old when Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005. It was hard for me to understand what was going on. I knew about hurricanes and the kind of damage they could leave. But I couldn’t believe the devastation and destruction this one left in its wake.

After evacuating our home, my family was anxious to hear news about what was going on. We left our house a couple of days before Katrina made landfall. The weather reports were at first vague on the course of the hurricane, but we knew was it was a category five—the most destructive and strongest hurricane of all.

The day after Katrina made landfall, we witnessed the destruction of places we were very familiar with. Homes and businesses were crushed to the ground. We watched as whole neighborhoods filled with floodwater. We saw people on roofs crying for help and the people who sought refuge in the Superdome in downtown New Orleans begging or food and water.

In the end, I knew it would take a very long time before life could get back to normal. For us, it was several years before my whole family was back together under one roof. Many people are still without homes, or are now living in different cities or states. It helped me personally that I was able to report on the recovery for Scholastic News and the Scholastic Kids Press Corps.

Four years later, I’m happy to say much has improved. All the support from volunteers and donation funds all across the country helped the area start its long recovery. There is still a lot to be done, but progress has been made. The people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region are resilient and strong. We are proud of our culture and heritage and will do whatever it takes to make a full comeback.

—Abigayle Lista

PHOTO: (TOP) A view of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans nine months after Hurricane Katrina's storm surge broke the levies and flooded the neighborhood. (Photo by Suzanne Freeman) (BOTTOM) Habitat for Humanity volunteer Katsumi Nakayama from Tokyo, Japan, with Scholastic News Kid Reporter Abigayle Lista in June 2008 during a volunteer rebuilding project in New Orleans. (Photo Courtesy Abigayle Lista)