Hands Across The Sands New Zealand

My friends. I am here in the fight of a lifetime to  "Stop Deep Sea Drilling" in New Zealand.

The groundswell of momentum to stop deep water drilling is almost intoxicating. People, businesses, tribal leaders, and even the children seem to be together in their love and heart felt commitment to protect New Zealand from the horrors we went through in the Gulf. As we all know the only way to keep the disaster from these shores is to stop the drilling in deep water before it begins.

There has been a series of meetings with locals and Hui assemblies where I have presented my photos and videos from our BP mess.

Kaikoura Public presentation

The people were more than willing to come out publicly to say no deep sea drilling. Even the town councilman who was in attendance said the town had begun drafting a resolution to say no. Many businesses such as Strawberry Tree (a local pub) have been very outspoken in the movement to stop this madness.

Abbey tags a wall in the Strawberry Tree

Whale Watch is one of the most influential businesses in the district and has come out strongly against. It's a good thing because we, in the US, know what a single disaster like our Gulf can do to all marine life. Imagine no one being able to see these majestic creatures again!

A Sperm Whale off the coast of Kaikoura

Of all the wonderful sights and people of this trip, the children of the Kaikoura Suburban School have absolutely the most inspiring event yet.

I was asked to speak to a group of grade school students about my experiences in the Gulf of Mexico. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about it. I am used to speaking to adults about what corrupt and dangerous neighbors BP was to us and their "silent partner" Anadarko. I had never been asked to talk to children about it.

I was ushered into a classroom full of children who welcomed me with songs and a very impressive display of their resolve to help protect their Moana (Ocean)

After the talk I asked if they had any questions they wanted to ask. I was very impressed with what they asked.

Kids are the true hope for the future.

They are practicing for Hands Across The Sands Kaikoura

 SO here is the ask of my friends in America. We have a great momentum here and I actually believe we can stop deep water drilling off the coast of Aotearoa (New Zealand) but need to let the people here know that they are not alone in the fight. When Hands Across The Sands America happens on the 18th, I want as many people in America as possibly to make and display some signs to say "We support no deep sea drilling in New Zealand" or words to that effect. Take video, and or photos of the event and send them to me on Facebook (John Wathen) or email at hccreekkeeper@gmail.com

I will then spread them all over the islands here to show our support for this monumental movement. Good on ya for doing this. Together we can shove these drill crazy son's of BP back home to Texas with their tail tucked!

May 6, 2013 6:50 pm

Protests mount on use of BP Gulf spill funds

By Ed Crooks in New York

A plan to build a convention centre in Alabama using money given by BP to restore the coast of the Gulf of Mexico has angered environmentalists, raising concerns over how funds to improve the environment are spent.
The plan is part of projects worth $594m announced last week by BP and the five coastal states affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, funded out of the $1bn that the company promised in 2011 for early restoration of the Gulf.

Groups including the National Wildlife Federation have protested that building the convention centre in Gulf State Park in Alabama, justified as a way to improve public access to the natural resources of the coast, will do nothing to repair the damage done by the spill.
The controversy is a foretaste of even fiercer disagreements that are likely over the much larger sums expected to flow into the region in damages and penalties following the trial over the disaster at the federal court in New Orleans.
The convention centre is planned as part of a refurbishment of the park using $85.5m of BP’s money: the bulk of the $94m spending announced in Alabama last week. It will replace a lodge that was wrecked by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Robert Bentley, Alabama’s governor, said the centre, which will be built and run by a public-private partnership, would create jobs and generate more tourism in the state.
David White of the NWF said his organisation was “shocked” by the decision.
“The American public expects to see BP’s oil spill money spent on projects that will restore the health of the Gulf coast, not on pork-barrel projects like a convention centre,” he said.
Another group, Alabama Coast United, said the governor had “decided to cause more damage by disturbing land that has been reclaimed by nature”, rather than spending money to remove oil that settled on the seabed along the coast.
Several of the new projects announced by BP are not directly related to damage done by the spill.
Texas, for example, is spending more than $10.7m to restore Galveston Island State Park to its condition before Hurricane Ike in 2008.
In Florida, $10.8m is being spent to remove asphalt from beaches, and $4m on two passenger ferries.
BP said that although some of the places where its money was being spent had not been directly affected by the spill, the projects would “address loss of use by providing residents and visitors with new recreational options, better access to existing natural resources and a greater opportunity to enjoy them”.
Projects have to be approved by BP and the natural resource trustees, which are representatives of several US federal government departments and agencies, and the coastal states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Texas.

What a long strange trip it's been!

I will be making my public debut here in NZ on Wed. It is an honor to be representing My friends and family in the Gulf and my brothers and sisters of the Waterkeeper Alliance. 

A local radio station here interviewed me today and I told them the truth. We had thousands of people, hundreds of ships, boats and even Corexit and we failed miserably at keeping it off of our shores and our people got sick then and still today are sick from that failure!

This was in the local paper here in Wellington today.

Eye witness shares stories of oil spill Photojournalist in Kaikoura

Last updated 13:41 01/05/2013

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Supplied

Kaikoura bound: Environmentalist, John Wathen is holding a presentation of Wednesday next week about the Gulf oil disaster

Kaikoura

 

An American photojournalist will share his eye-witness account of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster at a free seminar in Kaikoura on Wednesday next week.
The community is invited to John Wathen's presentation, which will include a short film and discussion.
The evening is hosted by No Drill Kaikoura and Greenpeace, and will include an update on deep sea oil drilling proposals in New Zealand.
Mr Wathen is an environmental photojournalist from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He chartered a plane to fly over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, capturing images of the spill as it developed.
Since 2010, Mr Wathen has continued to document the after-effects and the impacts on coastal communities.
Mr Wathen is a member of the International Waterkeepers Organisation that campaigns for the protection of waterways, and was the recipient of the Waterkeeper's River Hero of the Year Award in 2012.

For more information contact: Ralph Hogan 03 319 6637.
The seminar is at 7pm in the Memorial Hall supper room.

BP SLICK IN NEW ZEALAND!

IT'S OFFICIAL FOLKS

Your Hurricane Creekkeeper in New Zealand??!!

Hurricane Creekkeeper on Hurricane Creek, Photo by Ken Robinson

As your Hurricane Creekkeeper I've had the privilege of being the advocate for one of the most beautiful places on Earth, Hurricane Creek. Kenneth Robinson will be standing in as Your Hurricane Creekkeeper while I am away. Let Ken know if you see anything that needs attention... kennethrobinson1@netzero.com (205-310-0995)

 

Through my involvement in groups like the Citizens Coal Council and Waterkeeper Alliance I have become associated with some of the worlds most passionate water advocates.

Waterkeeper Alliance in Baja

Part of being your Hurricane Creekkeeper is the ability to capture evidence and present it in a way that is both passionate and not sensationalized. What I see is sensational enough without making it bigger than it is. That process has taken me to some of the largest man-made disasters in history. I took my cameras to Kingston Tenn. to document the coal ash pond disaster there with my sister Waterkeeper, Donna Lisenby.

Donna Lisenby, Upper Watauga Riverkeeper  documents dead fish

We were given the bums rush out of the river by TVA goons with trucks, boats, and helicopters! You would have thought we had committed some heinous crime instead of collecting evidence in what was at that time the largest spill of any toxic material into a river in American History.
We were actually given citations for paddling a canoe and a kayak in a Waterway of The US.

Officer John B. Neal issues citation to Upper Watauga Riverkeeper

John L. Wathen, Sandra Diaz, and Donna Lisenby proudly display our citations

Little did I know then that the Kingston coal ash disaster would follow me home to Alabama in a subtle and devious manner of it's own.

Enter Perry County

The ash was not cleaned up but only transferred to Perry County, Alabama in a whirlwind of toxic issues of it's own.

Then in April, 2010, America suffered another huge man-made disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf of Mexico, 05/07/2010

Again, I had a front row seat for the largest man-made disaster in our history! This one was the most dramatic spectacle of callous greed and deceit I had ever encountered. Media was intimidated to a point where they were afraid to report anything. BP had goons all over the place trying to keep the story down using any methods available to stop the truth. I went over their heads, so to speak by using a flight service named SouthWings.

John Wathen, SouthWings pilot, Tom Hutchings, and Industrial Scars photographer, Henry Fair

It has now come to me to put these disasters to good use.

I have been asked to come to New Zealand for a month to work with Green Peace New Zealand.

It will be my honor to meet and greet with environmental groups and tribal elders of the Maori People  to share what I have seen and experienced in both the coal and oil industries in my journeys across America's oil and coal fields.

Follow me on this new and fabulous adventure where I will attempt to put all of this horror story of American Extraction technology to good use informing the people of New Zealand of what can be expected if they allow deep water drilling in their sacred tribal waters.

The wells in New Zealand will be almost twice as deep as BP's Deepwater Horizon, with bigger pipes, and only 3 (THREE) oil response vessels that can't even leave the harbors because they are so small the waves will capsize them. Imagine what will happen if (when) the have a disaster like ours! We had hundreds of boats, planes, people on the ground and "supposedly" well trained responders.

 

 It is my sincere hope that what happened in the Gulf of Mexico will be a warning to the Maori of what is more likely to happen to their pristine waters than not. I will also be working to start up a Waterkeeper New Zealand program to further support world wide clean water that is Fishable, Drinkable, Swimmable, any where in the world.

You can keep up with my trip and it's success by adding BP Slick to your reading list.

Here's an example of what I have been told to expect...

(turn on the closed captions for English translation)

Babs "Roaming Buffalo" Bagwell, Voice from the Gulf

Babs "Roaming Buffalo" Bagwell, Voice from the Gulf

Babs is from the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha, Choctaw people in, Louisiana.

Babs like so many has become an activist out of necessity. Listen to her account of living with big oil before and after the BP, Deep Water Horizon disaster. For more information about the Isle de Jean Charles visit...  www.isledejeancharles.com

 

Dr. Wilma Subra, Voices From The Gulf

Dr. Wilma Subra, Voices From The Gulf

Dr. Wilma Subra

WILMA SUBRA

PRESIDENT, SUBRA COMPANY

P. O. BOX 9813

NEW IBERIA, LA 70562

SUBRACOM@AOL.COM

Committed to protecting the environment and the health and safety of citizens, Wilma Subra

started Subra Company in 1981. Subra Company is a chemistry lab and environmental

consulting firm in New Iberia, LA. Mrs. Subra provides technical assistance to citizens, across the United States and some foreign countries, concerned with their environment by combining technical research and evaluation. 

This information is then presented to community members so that strategies may be developed to address their local struggles.

 Utilizing the information gained from community involvement, the needs identified are

translated into policy changes at the State and Federal level through service on multi-stake holder committees. She has just completed a seven year term as Vice-Chair of the Environmental Protection Agency National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT), a five year term on the National Advisory Committee of the U. S. Representative to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation and a six year term on the EPA National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) where she served as a member of the Cumulative Risk and Impacts Working Group of the NEJAC Council, and chaired the NEJAC Gulf Coast Hurricanes Work Group.

Mrs. Subra holds degrees in Microbiology/Chemistry from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. She received the MacArthur Fellowship, Genius Award from the MacArthur Foundation for helping ordinary citizens understand, cope with and combat environmental issues in their communities and was one of three finalist in the Environmental Category of the 2004 Volvo for Life Award. 

I wish to thank Dr. Subra for taking time to make this message available.

BP Slick Is Back!

After a long absence due to personal and disaster related matters I have decided that the public needs to hear the truth about what's happening in our Gulf of Mexico.

I have been honored with an invitation to visit the Maori People in New Zealand to help expose big oil for what it is.  A ticking time bomb capable of destroying entire lifestyles in a single "incident"

What better way to do that than to let the people of the Gulf of Mexico in America speak directly to the Maori through BP Slick interviews with real people in a real life energy sacrifice zone.

BP disaster 05/07/2010 by JLW

The first in the series "Voices From The Gulf" is Cherri Foytlin. Cherri is a mother of 6 beautiful children who was thrust into an activist roll by the Deep Water Horizon disaster of 2010. She later took matters into her own hands and walked from Rayne La. to Washington DC. (more than 1,400 miles)

To my new friends in New Zealand, Kia Ora... Meet Cherri.