Chief Albert Naquin
Yesterday Chief Albert Naquin of the Isle de Jean Charles tribe of coastal Louisiana and Kristina Peterson, pastor of the Blue Bayou Presbyterian Church of Gray, Louisiana came through Minneapolis on their way to a conference in Duluth. Kristina also works part-time as a researcher at the University of New Orleans’ Center for Hazards Assessment and Risk Technology, a Center that has maintained its integrity by refusing all funding from BP.
A three-hour interview with them will lead to a commentary on Views from the Edge on the effects of Deep Water Horizon, the ravaging of the coast by the oil companies since 1940, the distribution of BP settlement funds, and the life of these subsistence fisher people on a disappearing island.
Views from the Edge 
I look foward to ur comments. I have two friends in the area of the Gulf. One works fir BP and the other is against off shore drilling. Interesting contrast os opinions.
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Jim, it may take more than a few days. Interesting to hear about your two friends. The oil corporations are the largest employers. The “oil canals” they build in the 1940s also bear much responsibility for the delta’s ongoing shrinkage and disappearance.
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I’m anxious to hear your report Gordon. Of course we have to realize Minnesota has done its share of creating a dead zone in the delta and beyond by draining all of our wetlands and then using farm chemicals to increase yields. Multiply all of our abuse by all the states doing the same in the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri Valleys. Ironically the farm chemicals are produced from the same oil & gas stocks coming from the delta and offshore drilling. As Pogo says “we have met the enemy and he is us”.
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Yes. That’s why Chief Naquin and Kristina are in Duluth today. It’s from the headwaters of the Mississippi to the river’s mouth in Louisiana. Thank you, Gary.
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Gary, It’s going to be days before I write. We just lost our two dogs, Maggie and Sebastian. Broken hearts here. Yes to everything you’ve written. More to come.
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