He was in charge of the 9/11 victims’ compensation fund, and adjudicated claims of Virginia Tech Massacre victims and those of Agent Orange. Now Ken Feinberg is tasked with sorting out the thousands of claims stemming from the BP oil spill. Morley Safer reports for Sixty Minutes.

Read my story on the subject here:

Who Should the People of the Gulf Coast Trust for Payback?

Special thanks to: Lorrie and Bubba Williams, Cherri Foytlin, Karen Hopkins, Kindra Arnesen, Gregg Hall, NASA, Drew Landry, Drew Wheelan, Denise Rednour, Alycia Daumas, The US Coast Guard, Grand Isle State Park, Charlie Riedel/Associate Press

Join Tim Male, Defenders Vice President of Conservation Policy, visits the Gulf coast a month after the gushing BP Deepwater Horizon well was capped. On this trip, Tim shows how the disaster continues to wreak havoc on the beaches of Louisiana.

Residents along the Gulf Coast experienced a decline in their overall emotional health in the 15 weeks after the onset of the BP oil disaster, according to the Gallup-Healthways Emotional Health Index.

Residents of Gulf Coast-facing counties reported 25.6 percent more clinical diagnoses of depression in the period after the oil spill compared with before it, while those living in inland counties in the same Gulf of Mexico states showed no such drops in emotional health in the oil disaster’s aftermath.

Across each of the daily mood metrics, residents of Gulf Coast-facing counties experienced measurable increases in these negative emotions that their inland counterparts and residents of non-Gulf Coast states did not. The notable increase in diagnoses reveals that clinical depression along the Gulf coastline was climbing at a time when it was flat throughout the remainder of the country.

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Graphic

by Glynn Wilson

Based on what is being called a “rigorous review” of previously released preliminary data by a team of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists, the federal agency has compiled an expanded report of the birds rescued and collected during the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a statement released Wednesday.

The report outlines a species-by-species breakdown and maps of where the birds were collected, according to Tom Strickland, assistant secretary of the Department of Interior for Fish and Wildlife parks.

“These new detailed reports will give us a better initial picture of the effects to migratory bird populations from the Deepwater Horizon spill, help guide our efforts to restore these populations and help ensure that those responsible will be held accountable for the full impacts of the spill,” Strickland said.

The initial report released by the Fish and Wildlife Service today showed that as of Sept. 14, 2010, a total of 3,634 dead birds and 1,042 live birds have been found in areas affected by the BP oil catastrophe. These numbers are subject to verification and cannot be considered final, according to the report. Of the dead birds, the largest numbers are laughing gulls, followed by brown pelicans and northern gannets.

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The Untold Story of Human Health Effects From BP’s Oil Disaster

Editor’s Note: The Washington Post was given an opportunity for first, exclusive rights to publish this story Tuesday, but took a pass “because of the complicated nature of this story and our concerns that it’s too early to judge the real health effects.” Due to the time sensitive nature of this story, and because of tonight’s community health meeting in Orange Beach, we cannot hold it any longer for traditional news outlets. A special thanks to Spot.us for partial funding to cover travel expenses for reporting on this story.

Glynn Wilson

Robin Young of Orange Beach talks about the health problems she suffered from BP’s Gulf oil disaster (see video below).

by Glynn Wilson

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Wherever disaster strikes, there’s always an associated crud.

There was the Exxon Valdez Crud. The Nine Eleven Crud. The Katrina Cough, and then the TVA coal ash cough.

Now, along the entire coast of the Gulf of Mexico, there is the BP Crud, afflicting workers and the general population from Louisiana to Florida.

When the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, Robin Young, a 47-year-old director of guest services for a property management company in Orange Beach, Alabama, was gearing up for what promised to be the best tourist season on the coast in years. From the city of New Orleans to the Florida panhandle, communities were finally starting to feel like they were recovering from the devastation left in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Ivan.

Since suffering a debilitating bout of what locals are calling the “BP Crud,” however, like thousands of other people along the coast due to their exposure to the oil and chemical dispersants, she is now part of a growing community of activists along the coast who are worried about their health.

Just a few days after BP’s oil made landfall along the Alabama Gulf Coast in June, Ms. Young’s symptoms started with “a fiery, burning sore throat,” she said. Then came the horrible, constant cough, followed by an achy feeling much like a severe flu virus — and a lethargy that kept her in bed for two weeks solid. Her memory started playing tricks on her, and her motor skills and even hand-to-eye coordination went south.

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This is part one of a two part 17 minute film featuring highlights from day 49 to 114 of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

“There wasn’t transparency or proper organization from either BP or the government and now it appears that most of the oil was simply sank or dispersed throughout the Gulf waters,” says James C. Fox. “Now what?”

The city of New Orleans suffered one of the worst disasters in U.S. history when Hurricane Katrina flooded the city in 2005. Then when the Saints won the Super Bowl in 2010, the people felt like the city was back. But seven weeks later, BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico.

An Interview with
photographer David Rae Morris
by Glynn Wilson
LocustFork.Net

Obama Speaks from New Orleans on the Fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Full text below…
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