Subject: Domestic Disaster Response Relative to the BP Oil Spill Along Louisiana's Coastline

CBF Louisiana is sensitive to the human toll from the mounting oil-spill crisis along our coastline.

The crisis in the Gulf is dredging up unresolved feelings from Hurricane Katrina but, in this case there could longer term effects.

There is rising anxiety over a way of life being threatened.

People here were starting to feel normal again -- New Orleans getting back to being New Orleans -- but with a spill of this magnitude there is no such thing as “an effective response.” Long-term pollution can create permanently contaminated communities.  Although some of it is metabolized, components of oil can remain in the environment for long periods of time. Many are openly expressing sadness and anger about this event.

Particularly in southern Louisiana, because of Katrina, there has been a significant loss of community resilience, including the strong social networks that help a community cope with a disaster. People awere already tired before the oil spill.

Stress is being felt most in communities nearest to the slick.  The newspapers are full of stories about people’s anxieties about their jobs and their communities.  Anger at the government and the oil industry is rising. 

Comparing this to Katrina triggers a whole set of psychological associations that people outside of New Orleans can only barely understand.

Katrina work remains. I just got off the phone with Wayne Patterson, a member of First Baptist Church Pendleton, SC, and also a member of CBF's National Coordinating Council. Wayne and five other CBF folk from South Carolina are in New Orleans this week, hanging sheet rock in a Katrina-damaged home. Many people here still have not gotten their lives back together since Katrina hit five years ago. The oil spill adds insult to injury.
 
For the immediate future, CBF Louisiana Disaster Response is looking at three specific ways to respond to the oil spill:
 
Beach Clean-Up Project
 
Up to this point, there has been no place for our volunteers to make a physical difference, because:

• Many areas of Louisiana that have been impacted by oil are sensitive marsh areas that are only accessible by boat and require professional training for oil remediation activities.

• BP is only using trained and paid contractors to handle oiled material.

• We do not want to detract from the use of a local and contracted workforce that may rely on compensation for clean-up related activities to supplant the interruption of their previous income.

 
Now, with the news that the "top kill" was unsuccessful, the focus is shifting to potential impact zones.
 
Debris and trash that collects on our shorelines can potentially get covered in oil and make the clean-up of these natural areas even more complicated. 
 
For anyone in your congregation who might be interested, there will be a beach clean-up project in Cameron Parish this Saturday, Juine 5th, 8:30AM -3:00PM.
 
This project will include the removal of natural and man-made debris from the shoreline to make the removal of oil less difficult. It will also include raking and moving the organic debris from the waterline to beyond the high tide line.
 
This is a pre-landfall clean-up, and there will be no handling of any oil contaminated material or wildlife. 

Volunteers MUST register online for this event at https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/316/mtglist.asp?formid=event
Unregistered volunteers will not be accepted.

BP requires that all volunteers must be 21 years or older. The project site is located along the Cameron Shoreline near Holly Beach.
 
This is a single day event. Volunteers must provide their own transportation to and from the project site.
 
Volunteers will be emailed details about the event and what to bring/wear, including the exact meeting location, once they are registered. 

Soul Care
After Hurricane Gustav, CBF Louisiana reached out to Rev. Tommy Bellon and his family, in Pointe aux Chenes, along the coast in Terrebonne Parish. Tommy is the pastor of Live Oak Baptist Church and CBF disaster response teams from Georgia and South Carolina helped raise the Bellon's house and renovate their interior. CBF disaster response money helped pay for this work. 
 
Point-aux-Chenes is just a few feet above sea-level. Tommy tells me they have opened the church as a staging area for workers hired by BP to install booms with the hope of preventing damage to their shoreline. I could hear the deep concern in his voice: "If they shut down the shrimping and then also shut down the oil industry here, we are going to be really hurting. And, if we get hit by a tropical storm or hurricane, we will probably be dealing with a massive clean-up for quite some time."
 
Understandably, this desparate situation is threatening their way of life, culture and livelihood. It is all they have ever known and the prospect of losing it is obviously traumatic. BP is now saying the well might continue to spew millions of gallons of oil into August. 
 
When I asked what we might do to help, he suggested that as things worsen over the summer there will be a need for caring Christians with crisis counseling skills simply to express the love of God through compassionate listening. 
 
Interestingly, Tommy has expressed particular concern for the two Indian tribes who occupy tribal lands in Pointe-aux-Chenes and Isle de St. Charles. Among the more needy, neglected and forgotten, he is pleased that BP has made a point to hire local workers for food preparation and boom installation. Yesterday, BP made a $2,000 contribution to the church, which opened its doors at no charge.
 
Training for Critical Incident Stress Debriefing and Crisis Counseling
I am reminded that not only do we need to provide Post Traumatic Stress Intervention training in Haiti, plans for which are progressing quite well, but also to do so with CBF folk who want to be ready to respond after critical incidents closer to home. 
 
In addition to giving survivors hope, this type of training might also prove to be an effective way of heightening disaster awareness among our constituents and getting folks more invested in this ministry.
 
The "lagniappe" ("something extra") in this is that the principles learned for application to disaster response will naturally spill over into opportunities for similar ministries in their own backyards.
 
This idea is consistent with our increasing emphasis upon year-round "disaster response" through community ministry. I, personally, want to provide some of this training, and I am looking for people who might be interested in adding another tool to their ministry toolbox.
 
Whether beach clean-up, crisis counseling or something we have not yet thought of, just let me know what you want to do to help.  

Reid
G. Reid Doster, DMin., LMFT, LPC
Coordinator, The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) of Louisiana
Associate National Coordinator, CBF Disaster Response
Pastor, Bridgewater Church