Oil Spill Update: One Month Later

One month ago today, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the Louisiana coast, causing 11 tragic deaths (and some incredible stories of survival) and what may be the worst environmental disaster of our time. The news from the Gulf is mixed; oil continues gushing from the ocean floor, but has yet to decimate the Gulf coast as severely as some feared. Scientists remain hopeful that they can staunch the leak, despite the fact that initial figures on the amount of oil pouring daily from the sunken tanker were probably gross underestimates. As engineers and scientists continue to try everything from “top hats” to “junk shots” to stop the oil, you can keep up with updates from the US Climate Action Network and here on the RAC Blog. Or, if you prefer, Jon Stewart offers up this concise summary of cleanup efforts thus far.

There are many ways to help including donating time, energy, and resources to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Gulf Coast region. Jewish Funds for Justice opened their disaster relief fund immediately after the spill began and hopes to be disburse funds to local projects as soon as they are ready to get to work; if you are able, please donate today. You can also look for solidarity events in your community in the coming weeks. We’ll post more opportunities to help here as they arise.

Even as we respond to the spill itself, we recognize that this is a critical political moment to galvanize the movement for a clean energy future. The ongoing disaster is just one in a very long string of reminders of the need to transition from dirty and polluting fossil fuels to clean energy sources. That’s why several members of Congress have introduced legislation to reinstate bans on offshore drilling, and the Administration is asking Congress to pass a new law holding the oil companies accountable for their actions. The need to clean up our oil economy is clear, and we’re hopeful that Congress will act soon to protect our coastal environments and economies from disasters like this in the future.

Hundreds of activists and advocates (including many of our friends at Sojourners) came together in Washington last week to tell President Obama that the BP disaster is his “crude awakening” and that we need clean energy now. It will take all of our voices calling on Congress and the President to act to move toward truly clean energy alternatives. Solving the drilling question is only one aspect of a comprehensive energy strategy. With the introduction of the American Power Act by Senators Kerry and Lieberman last week, the fight for comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation is underway, and we hope you will join us as we work to pass a strong and equitable bill this year.

I am proud and encouraged by the faith community’s response to the disaster, and hope we will continue to engage in the climate and energy conversation as we work to strengthen the environmental movement and enrich our own religious lives, as Christian environmental activist Jonathan Merritt calls us to do in his recent Washington Post column. It’s time to join together in solidarity with those cleaning up the Gulf, and work toward a clean energy future that ensure such disasters are a thing of the past.