Day one : BP oil
At 12:13 a.m. I suppose the end of day one can be heralded. What a long day. Of course I am still working (obviously) getting content out on the website. I started my tour of the gulf on the docks in Venice Louisiana, where I met Bruce Miller, Public Information Officer (PIO) for the U.S. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Service in Venice, LA.
Miller explained details and possible misconceptions about the oil spill, for example, that it is just one giant wave of oil washing ashore. The reality is that the oil has degraded since being released into the gulf and is separating into separate weights, which travel in strings and blobs throughout the water, instead of one large moving collection.
The other interesting thing he explained was that the birds who are becoming soiled by the oil aren’t getting oil on the beaches, they are diving birds and are becoming covered in the oil when they dive for fish who are trapped in the oil.
After interviewing him, we were met by U.S. Coast Guard PA3 Jonathan Lally who escorted us to the Joint Information Center where we met with the Joint Chiefs, Lt. Frank Kulesa of the U.S. Coast Guard and Jon Parker, BP Information Section Chief. The center is a combined effort of the offending party (BP) and the Federal Government. The state governments are not involved at this level because multiple states are effected by the oil spill.
By the way, as we approached the secured area, we were told there was a six foot gator “ova theya,” oh, hello Louisiana, I guess I really am in the bayou.
The birds were beautiful, egrets and ibis were as abundant as squirrels in Colorado running in front of our SUV as we traversed a flooded section of roadway through the marsh at the Mississippi Delta.
What an incredible start to an amazing story. I look forward to much more, and more interesting imagery.
You can follow the content on our website: Gulf Oil Coverage
A chart in the Joint Information Center in Venice, LA is tagged with information concerning areas in their command. Photo by Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency
Jenn LeBlanc 
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Check out what others are saying...[…] thank you to everyone for one of the most incredible years of my life. Though I feel all my work in the Gulf is being overshadowed by this one image, I also know that for me, while both the illustration […]
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