The State of the Gulf: Q&A with Rex Dingler, Founder NoLa Rising

This month in our “The State of the Gulf – in the Words of Our Neighbors and Friends” series, we’re bringing you some of the voices of the Gulf, people that we met with during our trip and that we’ve stayed in touch with over the last few months. This Q&A is with Rex Dingler, founder of NoLa Rising.

What does the Gulf look and feel like now, 8 months after the spill?

Well, I reckon that depends on where you’re allowed to look. A close personal friend of mine is working some of the remaining clean up boats out of the Passes of the Mississippi River and he’s told me that they’re not allowed to dig into the sand. They’re only allowed to take the very top layer if something is on it. Meanwhile they have CH-46 style helicopters dropping bags of sand on beaches and in certain spots in the water. The assumption is that it’s to further sink anything that may be coming up. The reason for not digging into the sand is because it exposes layers of oil that have either been covered or is settling. According to one story from same friend, one of his co-workers had gone out and dug a hole, filming it with either a camera or cell phone camera. BP or its affiliated company discovered that he had been doing this due to an informant and they subsequently confiscated his phones, camera and computer. Further to that, they secured whatever warrant they needed to search his home and seize his home computer/s. Last I heard, he’s currently facing charges and fines that could put him in prison for 10 years.

Another friend who is an award winning video-journalist was slated to shoot the marsh washing away with each tidal change. On a daily basis, we’re seeing large swaths of marsh wash out into the Gulf that has been killed as a result of the spill. I had lived in these bayous on a small island called Pilottown for 5 years and I guarantee you, you don’t see marsh wash away in one tidal change. Our coastal erosion is a much slower process than what is now in place. The coast of Louisiana will have long term damages as a result of this… much worse than what we’ve already seen over the last 50 years.

How have you personally been affected?

I’d say that anyone in our region with a conscience has been affected and those of us who lived through the after effects of hurricane Katrina have had to deal with issues of PTSD re-surfacing. Louisiana has had a long history of cooperation with the oil companies and this has felt like a major betrayal. They can throw money around all they like, but it still doesn’t give us peace of mind that our coast is any healthier or that our seafood is any safer to eat. The government picks and chooses how they will test seafood from affected areas and BP and friends has scientists saying all is well. You see, we’re a little skeptical down here because no one seems to have reliable and trustworthy information to give us. Coming from New Orleans, I know what it’s like to be shit on by the government and now big business.

Did I lose my job? No.

Did I lose my faith in our system works?  Absolutely.

It has shown many of us that what matters is money and the mechanisms of industry that keep earning it without meaningfully giving back. And then I also get to deal with new and interesting illnesses that my friends who work closely in the area now face.

How has your community been affected?

I think over all malaise in the city. But in the areas closer to the spill… we’re really talking about long term health issues that are being ignored. According to some sources, BP will be ceasing operations following the New Year. As before, we’ll have to go back to a DIY and volunteer method for cleaning up this mess.

What has the government accomplished in the last 8 months?

First, the government has accomplished the ability to irritate and frustrate her citizenry. And depending on which side of the political spectrum you sit on depends on a persons’ take on this. Personally, I think our current White House did a good job in holding BP to the $20 billion commitment and also in holding off while safety regulations can be reviewed. It hurt us a little in the short term, but hopefully it will provide a catalyst for safer practices in the drilling industry. One thing that I think isn’t so good is that I still don’t think our government has gone far enough in introducing legislation to make European standards applicable to the US.

It’s another example of how the large corporations control and influence our government (all many levels). Last thing that I don’t feel the government has been as thorough on as they should have been is giving a full range of testing to the seafoods coming from the Gulf. I eat our seafood and I want it to be safe. However, if it came to feeding my children seafood from the Gulf, I would probably defer to another food type. There’s no reason our government shouldn’t be totally honest and transparent with us, but they no longer represent the will of the people so much as they do the will of private interest.

What do communities in the Gulf still need that they’re not getting?

Focus and attention on the long term health issues that the people in the region are facing. Especially those that closest to the mouth of the river that are continuously having to seek medical attention for issues that weren’t existent prior to this. It’s a great story and then the government declares 75% of the oil vanished (magically I presume). That was all the media needed to pack up their cameras and declare their summer vacation over. Maybe they can do a retrospective on children’s health in a couple of years after some have died or developed some sort of anomaly (that will surely be declared unrelated).

What is one local charity/organization that you believe is doing good work that people who want to help the Gulf can donate to?

Save Our Coast.

As as aside: I’m well aware that some of this has seemed like a rant, but we are a culturally wealthy people that feels like we take the brunt of industry’s willingness to harm the environment in order to provide the bounty of energy and seafood for the nation. It’s a little thankless at times, but we’re okay because we’re not looking for adulation or sympathy or pity. We do it because we are giving people in South Louisiana.

I’ve done my best to avoid the subject of Katrina in answering these questions, but there are lots of truths about why our area was so damaged by the storm. It has to do with industry cutting away our bayous to lay pipe so that the rest of the nation can benefit… it has to do with 23 states dumping their heated industrial waste into the Mississippi River system thus heating the temperature mean when it pours into the Gulf thereby pulling hurricanes towards the mouth of the river… it has to do with the systemic problem of contractual corruption and greed that leads to levees not being built effectively. These things are greater than the storm we dealt with and the spill we’re dealing with, there are symptoms of a far greater sickness that has penetrated our nation. I’m not a pessimist, nor a doomsayer, nor a conspiracy freak… but these things prove that our quest for profit at any cost have a human cost.

To me, that is unacceptable.