Coastal Loss, Coastal Cost

This sounds like a reasonable idea.


Who else agrees?


The oil and gas companies should help repair what they damaged.


Mr. Bill creator Walter Williams turns his camera on the oil and gas industry and asks for help paying for coastal restoration. He is not alone.


By Mollie Day, Gambit Weekly, April 15, 2008


As fuel prices continue to climb and people across the nation accuse oil and gas companies of price gouging to amass huge profits, some researchers remain focused on the energy industry's role in accelerating a different crisis — the demise of Louisiana's coastline.


Hundreds of square miles of marsh grasses that once carpeted Louisiana's coastal prairies have become open water in the space of a few decades. As the marshes disappear at an alarming rate, so does the state's natural hurricane protection barrier. Along with it go vast acres of Gulf fisheries and nurseries, coastal cultures, the very ground needed to protect the nation's domestic oil and gas infrastructure.


Filmmaker Walter Williams' recent documentary, Restoring the Coast: Who Pays?, explores the legacy of oil and gas companies along Louisiana's coast and the reasons why some coastal advocates believe the energy industry should pay at least some of the costs of restoring the coast — before it's too late.


Until recently, Williams was best known as the creator of Saturday Night Live's infamously tragic character, Mr. Bill. Lately, Williams has earned acclaim for his campaign to restore the coast at the expense of the oil and gas industry.




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