Grand Isle

Grand Isle is home to one of the nicest beaches I've ever seen. It stretches for miles and is at least 50 yards wide throughout even at high tide. The sand is heavy and the colorful two story stilt houses of the local fishermen dot the coastline. Unfortunately, the view of the gulf from shore is obstructed in every direction by offshore drilling platforms. And to think people in Massachusetts don't want windmills 20 miles offshore. Some of these platforms are no more than 7 to 10 miles away. I couldn't shake the feeling that this could have been Louisiana's Ft. Myers Beach, had the hotels arrived before the oil companies.

Anyway, i didn't come down here to lay on the beach. Grand Isle remains in NOAA's 72 hour potential beached oil zone, and the one thing i can do now is help clean the beaches in advance. So I spent Tuesday afternoon beach-combing for trash. And there was plenty of it. Bag after bag was filled. If oil doesn't reach the shores here, and I hope it doesn't, at least i've finally done something here besides get lost, make phone calls, fill out volunteer aps and drink on Bourbon Street.

But, there likely will be oil on these shores. I came across this beached oil boom within minutes of arriving. The currents and wind are not in Grand Isle's favor. And the growing presence of National Guard to the west was not a positive sign either. What bothered me most is that if the oil is as close as is has been spotted, there were no warning signs anywhere. No biohazard warnings, no beach closed signs, no "no fishing" signs. In fact i didn't even think i would even be allowed to see the beach let alone walk up and down it.

There seems to be a huge disconnect between the local population, the environmental groups, and the people in charge of disaster relief. BP is in charge of the operations in conjunction with US Fish and Wildlife. The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and the Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research appear to be the "go to" environmental groups. But i can see no evidence of organization or communication between anyone. And don't get me started on the Audubon Society, which is basically a club run out of an apartment. I have wildlife experience and Hazmat training, both of which all of these groups claim they need right now. But what they really need is my experience with volunteer coordination.