Oil Pollution

Should we believe the industry that brought us Exxon Valdez and the Deepwater Horizon that oil blowouts can be contained and controlled in the frigid oceans of the arctic?

in the pristine prairies of the Great Plains states, ranchers have been engaged in the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline. At stake is the country's most important groundwater resource -- the Ogallala Aquifer.

Down in the bayou, the status quo endures. Oil continues to threaten one of America's great natural treasures, a fertile wetland that is both the breadbasket and nursery of the Gulf.

Rep. Issa trotted out Gulf politicians intent on bashing Obama administration oil drilling policies. The hearing could have been called, "Making the Oil Industry Whole Again: How the Obama Administration Put Safety Before Profits."

As the turtles and dolphins keep dying, the anniversary of the BP well explosion and death of 11 men approaches. The science is only in its beginning stages of understanding the impact of the country's largest oil spill.

Not one of the 16 Gulf Restoration Taskforce members represent NGOs or Gulf community organizations. That doesn't sit right with many who had been promised direct representation by last October.

We have permitted the oil and gas industry to maintain a strangle-hold on our politicians and block clean energy solutions that will not only create new jobs but make the planet healthier for us all.

Katrina battle-hardened residents here on the Gulf coast are being tested as never before. BP has layed off most of its local cleanup workers and claims are now being denied in record numbers.

In Washington and in state capitals around the Gulf, politicians continue to stick to their guns that most of the oil has been cleaned up or harmlessly dispersed. Many fishermen here don't believe it.

In mid-June, I joined Laird Hamilton and Gabrielle Reece as they visited the Gulf oil disaster. Following is a short video that contains moving testimony about what they saw.

BP recently announced it will provide $500 million to scientists for research into the Deepwater Horizon disaster's impact on the Gulf of Mexico. Whil...