The return
Jenn will be returning to the Gulf of Mexico to continue the coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill August 4-10,
one month after the original trip.
If you are interested in content, you can contact her via
email: Jenn@jennleblanc.com
She will be documenting:
Venice/Fort Jackson/Buras/Grand Isle LOUISIANA,
Long Beach/Gulfport/Biloxi MISSISSIPPI,
Orange Beach/Fort Morgan/Dauphin Island ALABAMA.
Louisiana’s Grand Isle goes through the oil ringer
By Noelle Leavitt
Reporter Noelle Leavitt handles mousse July 6, 2010 at Grand Isle Beach. Mousse is characterized as brown, red or orange in color with a pudding-like sticky consistency by Deepwater Horizon Response. Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency
Sticky blobs of oil lay upon the shoreline of Grand Isle, LA that is usually cluttered with children playing in the crisp ocean this time of year.
As the laughing gulls walk along the beaches, their webbed feet occasionally touch the polluting, pudding-like mousse that was breached from a broken oil rig nearly a mile deep off the Gulf Coast of Louisiana.
A portion of the contaminated shoreline is what’s called the “hot zone,” where tar balls and sticky oil pollute the beach.
Protective booms are spread along the shorefront, as well as signs posted warning the public to stay out of the effected areas.
Local residents now rely on BP for their income, said Grand Isle resident and home builder Wesley Bland, who has received two payments of $5,000 dollars in the last couple of months for lost work.
“This year was supposed to be a big year for me, better than last year. I have built 25 homes right here in Grand Isle,” Bland said. “I employ 17 people. Since the oil hit, I have six workers, and next month I may not have any.”
The father of four young children, Bland said $5,000 isn’t enough to pay his bills.
“You know, I put a sign out and I basically told (BP) to go to hell, but BP has came in and handed checks to all the local people, and continue to do so every month,” Bland said.
- A sign just outside Grand Isle shows the discontent businessman Wesley Bland has about the BP oil spill. After speaking with Bland, his disappointment with the handling of the incident over the last 78 days has shifted from BP to the U.S. Government.
Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency
- The beach is closed July 6, 2010 near zone 10 of Grand Isle Beach.
Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency
- The plastic barrier to prevent unauthorized persons from entering the contaminated beach is about 60 feet before the large inflated black and orange boom that demarkates the hot zone seen here July 6, 2010 near zone ten of Grand Isle Beach. The surf at zone ten is much darker in color the crest of the waves a dark brown in color. The beach is closed and there are plastic net fences set up to keep all unauthorized personnel away from the inflatable containment barrier which demarkates the hot zone. Nobody is allowed in the hot zone without the appropriate hazmat gear and equipment including facemasks and tyvek suits where the oil is the worst. There are “decon” crews whose primary job is to make sure none of the oil and chemical contaminants pass the barrier of the hot zone, cleaning the crews who clean the beach. They are the last defense between the oil and the public.
Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency
- A laughing gull stands on the Grand Isle beach surrounded by blobs of oil mousse. Mousse is characterized as brown, rust or orange in color with a pudding-like sticky consistency by Deepwater Horizon Response.
Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency
- A dark brown tide is seen July 6, 2010 near zone ten of Grand Isle Beach. The surf at zone ten is much darker in color than the surf at zone five, the crest of the waves a dark brown in color.
Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency
Louisiana tattoo parlor expresses frustration through art
By Noelle Leavitt
Tattoo artist Bobby Pitre has much to say about the BP oil spill, but he’s not doing it with words — he’s doing it with gobs of paint on billboards outside of his tattoo parlor in LaFourche, LA.
Huge paintings of President Barack Obama, the grim reaper, and an amputated body cover the front of his business — Southern Sting Tattoo Parlor — allowing him to use his own form of freedom of expression.
“It’s just a way to vent your frustration,” Pitre said. “It could’ve been prevented with a few more safety steps, you know. But they chose to ignore it, to save a few bucks, well a few million bucks, still, look at what it’s costing them now, you know.”
He also has a mannequin, wearing a gas mask, holding a dead, oil-saturated fish standing on the corner of his storefront.
“My little girl loves to fish. That’s pretty much what it is, the fish are toxic now with the oil. We can’t go out and fish,” Pitre said.
Passersby honk car horns throughout the day, sharing their annoyance with Pitre about the BP oil slick.
“On the side of the road, I could scream a hundred times a week if I wanted to,” Pitre said, adding that his art is a more useful way to assert his disappointment with the oil industry.
“People are pretty upset. There’s a lot of people that are actually working out there. As long as they’re making money, they’re alright right now. It hasn’t really hit home because they’re not starving right now,” he said. “It should’ve been stopped a long time ago, it could’ve been prevented — that’s why I’ve got this painting right here, ‘Deep Water Drilling 101’.”
Inside his parlor he has three paintings: Two of BP CEO Tony Hayward, and one of
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindel. The Jindel painting is very supportive of the governor, and outside his shop Pitre painted “Bobby Jindel for President.”
“It’s pretty tragic the way it happened,” Pitre said. “Just the spill, the amount of oil that’s coming out is ridiculous.”
Pitre actually used to work in the oil fields. He was a welder and a fitter at the ship yards, so he’s very familiar with that end of it too.
Now, he spends his days as an artist, helping people express themselves with body tattooing.
Travel update:
Here is our tentative day schedule for the gulf oil coverage:
Monday: Venice
Tuesday: Grand Isle
Wednesday: Biloxi/Mobile area
Thursday: Pensacola area
Friday: Destin area
We are following several stories both National and local (to Colorado) and even a few hyper-local for our friendly neighborhood newspapers.
If you have need of content in any of these areas please contact Noelle and Jenn directly through our dedicated email:
GulfOilCoverage@gmail.com
Jenn
Gulf Oil Coverage 