Beyond Katrina

Unified Command Responds to Mississippi River Oil Spill - 7/26/08 Update

Efforts to contain and clean up the nearly 420,000 gallons of oil spilled in the lower Mississippi River continue Saturday.

The following is the latest information:

• More than 48,000 gallons of an oil water/mix has been recovered to date.
• Approximately 795 responders from four oil spill response organizations are currently deployed throughout the region affected by the spill. The responders are using approximately three tugs, 71 work boats, 7 barges, 33 skimmers, 10 vacuum trucks, to clean up the spill.
• Approximately 188,000 feet of boom is deployed.
• All water intakes are open except one near Boothville, close to mile marker 19.
• A plan to salvage the barge is being developed.
• Ninety-five vessels are currently waiting to transit the river. Approximately 50 vessels planning to transit the waterway are expected to arrive in the area throughout Sunday.
• One oiled dove was captured and cleaned.

The Unified Command is working diligently to ensure personal safety, to expedite pollution mitigation efforts and to resume commercial traffic as soon as practically possible.

An incident website has been established at www.NewOrleansoilspill.com

Citizens can report oiled wildlife by calling 504-393-0353.

 

Disaster photography as art?

Should death and suffering be a collector’s item, hung on a home’s wall? With photos from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina now appearing in art galleries, the controversy is not just over photojournalism as art; it’s whether art should reflect reality, particularly when that reality is still fresh in our minds. Today’s news consumers have become accustomed to seeing images of dead people in newspapers and on TV, but seeing a huge print of one in an art gallery is quite different. And it makes many people downright uneasy when that image is sold for a lot of money.

hmmm...the issue of disaster photography has been an ongoing topic here at Beyond Katrina...

Jodi Mailander Farrell writing for McClatchey Newspapers continues the dialouge in this article, New York is awash in photojournalism -- but is it art?. Provocative topic... good read...check it out!