Category: Gulf Oil Spill

BP Offers “Elaborate” Funeral to Boat Captain’s Widow

BP Offers “Elaborate” Funeral to Boat Captain’s Widow

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A BP representative offered the widow of Captain William Allen “Rookie” Kruse as an elaborate a funeral as she wanted to give her husband. More than just a slap in her face, this finally gives us the bottom line of what BP just doesn’t get. It’s not about money or fancy good-byes to one whose life was intertwined with the sea, it’s so much more.

For those lucky people who live their lives on the Gulf of Mexico, the connection they feel to Her is more than dollars and cents. She becomes part of them. Their lives are enriched by knowing Her and the creatures who live in and around Her. When She begins to die, a part of each person dies as well.
Their hearts are one with the sea. Watching the Gulf become choked with oil, witnessing the devastating effect on wildlife, and breathing fumes of death while working to help in the cleanup takes a toll on all involved. Even though these guys are old salts and may be a bit hard-edged, at their core they recognize the priceless value of a healthy sea, something BP cannot understand.
For so many decades BP and other oil company’s focus has been on profit…the ‘drill baby drill’ mentality. Our government has endorsed this behavior. They have not stopped to consider the consequences of their actions. Everything has been about money, the bottom line, and increased gain in their stock. That’s their modus operandi.

We are being given a golden moment in which we can re-educate BP and other oil companies about true values and morality of a higher level. They must learn from fishermen and children, scuba divers and surfers, residents and visitors, and from boat captains like “Rookie” about what it means to truly love…not money and profit but the magnificent resources of which we are caretakers.
May Captain Rookie’s death serve as a warning to all who put profits first instead of natural resources. May his life teach us all to value the wondrous gifts of nature and be honorable stewards.

Sweeping Our Past Clean, Preparing for the Future

Sweeping Our Past Clean, Preparing for the Future

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While visiting Gulf Islands National Seashore today I observed workers sweeping tiny tar balls into dust pans. As I stood gazing out over the Gulf, watching billions of baby blobs of oil roll in the surf, I thought that it is time we clean up our past mistakes and clear the way for a new future.

I’m NOT saying hide our mistakes, like BP is doing by using dispersant, but own them, clean them up and lay the groundwork for a new and better future. We must learn from our past, both the mistakes and the successes. In our nurturing the earth, we create fertile ground for a brighter, healthier future.

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast

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It was a stormy day but the dramatic clouds and wind added to the rugged beauty of my visit to Gulf Islands National Seashore. I visited Ft. Pickens and Perdido Key areas and both places were jazzed with contract employees working to clean beaches. Workers were even using brooms to clean areas. I was very impressed.

Least terns were nesting on the open sand, seemingly content with their newly hatched babies. Pelicans foraged offshore. It was a wonderful visit to these pristine areas.

Then I arrived back in Alabama. Less than 10 miles from the super-busy-bees in the National Seashore, Gulf State Park beaches at Alabama Point were covered in tar balls the size of my fist. And worse, an oily sheen covered the surface and oil mousse was washing on shore.

I traveled another 5 miles or so to the beach pavilion at Gulf State Park and when I arrived at the end of the boardwalk, the hot, heavy smell of diesel hit me. It was so strong I could taste it on my tongue. The oily froth was thick there and I stood, choking on fumes and sobs.

So why are tar balls littering Alabama’s beaches and Florida has crews that are organized, energetic and are literally sweeping the beaches? Can someone please explain the difference?

And…WHY ARE PEOPLE ALLOWED TO SWIM ON THE BEACHES IN FRONT OF CONDOS IN GULF SHORES, ALABAMA? There was oily froth washing ashore and people were swimming in it. I suppose we can assume people are basically self-destructive or naive but is the health department so afraid of angry, hurting merchants that they turn their heads when people are being coated in oil? Come on! Let’s show some intelligent responsibility and protect those too ignorant to protect themselves. They trust ‘officials’ to keep them safe! I think their lives are worth more than their money!

Back to the Coast

Back to the Coast

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After almost two weeks away from the Gulf Coast, I’m headed back this weekend. My brother and I talked today (he lives there) and he spoke with a guy who lives two miles from Ft Morgan on the Gulf. He told of watching the Gulf die a little more every day. In front of his home he said there is hardly anything alive.

Oxygen levels measured at Ft. Morgan, Alabama, are the lowest they have ever been. A huge fish kill is expected. And so it begins….

It has been difficult being away from the unfolding disaster yet I feel I am given small periods of grace where I can come back to my mountain home, take some deep breaths and then dive back into my work in my birthplace.

I dread going back yet it is there is where my heart lies and where my mind is almost constantly. To help myself cope I visualize the well capped and clean. I see the water being cleaned and healed. I hold a space for the wildlife and plants to heal…all this in my mind and heart. Who knows if it will help the situation. But it does help me. By holding a positive vision for the future I can grasp a thread of hope for recovery, if not in my lifetime, at some point. I want my grandchildren to see the Gulf as I have known it prior to this sad event.

Sea Turtle Dreams in an Oil Spill Nightmare

Sea Turtle Dreams in an Oil Spill Nightmare

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It’s 4am and I just awoke for the second time tonight dreaming of sea turtles. In both dreams I had found a young loggerhead sea turtle with a small bit of oil on it. I cleaned it and put it in a bathtub until rescue workers arrived to further care for it.

As I looked out the window in the dream I saw a huge loggerhead sea turtle crawling up on the oil-soaked beach. This grandmother turtle was coated in oil. I ran outside to help her but by the time I got there rescue workers already had her on a stretcher taking her for cleaning and rehabilitation.

Every night I wake up with nightmares about the creatures of the Gulf Coast. Sleep hasn’t been great but tonight a therapist friend of mine was staying at my mom’s home–in the dream. He remained invisible yet I could hear him in the other room. It seems my psyche is working out my stress about this disaster by having the wildlife rescue theme tonight and implanting a live-in therapist in my dreams.

My mom and I chatted last night and she tearfully expressed her love and concern for the ocean. She said, And I don’t know it like you do. Scuba diving has given me the opportunity to claim the ocean as my first home, my true home. I have had intimate encounters with huge sea turtles, tiny arrow crabs, yellow-headed jaw fish and bicolor damselfish…to name just a few. So yes, I am taking the black cloud of oil and the colorless yet more-toxic dispersant filling the Gulf very personally. These are my friends and teachers that are dying.