In the two years since the worst environmental disaster in US history, all the spilled oil has been removed from the Gulf, all the people and businesses have been compensated for their losses, and happy wildlife is performing Disney-esque dancing routines for returning tourists. Ha Ha! Just kidding. Even though it’s not on the front page anymore things haven’t returned to normal on our Gulf Coast. With the anniversary of the BP spill, we thought we’d let you look at the state of things today…
The Daily Green– This website has the most complete coverage we could find with 33 
separate subcategories including the latest news, facts, and stats, pictures and maps for the BP oil spill, its size, its impacts on wildlife, and the efforts at containment and cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico.
As usual, Public Broadcasting has the best, most in-depth broadcast reporting on any subject. Click here for a PBS report on the anniversary, here for a Frontline documentary on the spill, and here for a radio report from the coast. For contrast, you can watch the 2:37 that CBS News did on the anniversary.
The environmental effect is probably the most serious and long-term impact of the spill. TreeHugger.com and the National Wildlife Federation have concentrated coverage of the environment. Also, when BP starts to say that it’s impossible to separate their spill from regular environmental fluctuations they’ll have problems. Scientists have been able to definitively link a “graveyard of coral” to BP oil from the spill.
Almost as important as the progress on the cleanup is the progress through the judicial system. Here is an update on the legal action against BP, and info on the first criminal charges filed in the case.
“Stick Your Damn Hand In It: 20th Birthday Of The Exxon Valdez Lie”- was an article by Greg Palast that was the seed for ongoing our “News To Make You FURIOUS” column
“BP Learned from the Valdez. Did we?”– Our FURIOUS article from August, 2010, this had some great links to various aspects of the spill, including video from an Alabama TV station whose testing of water samples from “safe” areas had to stop when the samples exploded.
Interactive Map of the Spill Area– This is an absolutely fascinating tool for “emergency responders and environmental resource managers who deal with incidents that may adversely impact the environment” like NOAA, EPA, DHS and others. It gives you the ability to map ANY aspect of the spill including overflight observations, sampling data, oil trajectories, fishery closures, administrative boundaries, and much, much more. Get this- it’s so detailed that if you wanted to, you could even track the spill impact on the habitats of the Choctawhatchee Beach Mouse.
RestoreTheGulf.gov– This “Official Website of the United States Government” is “…intended to help individuals, small businesses and communities navigate the many different kinds of resources that they may seek to leverage as they plan for recovery and the future.” The fact that the rollover graphics on the homepage are mostly from late 2011 and that the “latest news” was last updated Feb 6, 2012, might give you confidence that our government is treating the spill with the seriousness it deserves. Might not.
BP Website– Well, who knows? There COULD be something useful here.
Politicians comment on BP spill– The Times-Picayune called around asking for comments on the 2-year anniversary. Read responses from New Orleans Mayor Mitch 
Landrieu, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, U.S. Sen. David Vitter, BP Chairman Bob Dudley, Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke, scientists Gary Cherr and Sean Anderson, ornithologist Melanie Driscoll, and the Ocean Conservancy.
What’s it like living on the Gulf Coast? Nicole Maurer will tell you the impact on her family.
Photo essay of the spill and the coast– Beautiful photographs of a horrific subject
