Post-Katrina Restoration

• In response to concern over the failure of Congress and the Bush administration to move forward on promises to rebuild the coast after Hurricane's Katrina and Rita, the GRN launched a campaign to flood Congress and the Administration with emails urging the President to make a real commitment to Louisiana's coast and communities.  We developed an action alert asking that recipients take a moment to remind the President of his pledge by sending emails to him and members of Congress.  This one action alert generated over 40,000 emails to the administration.

Water Resources: 

• The GRN, working with local citizens, in Mississippi , were able to catch glaring problems with watershed cleanup plan, aka TMDLs, developed by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).  For example, we provided technical assistance on a TMDL for a lake in coastal Mississippi.  The MDEQ based the TMDL on a 25-year-old study, made assumptions about the lack of contaminants without any data, and was essentially going to write off the lake off because of lack of funding.  As a result of petitions by the GRN and local citizens, the MDEQ made substantial improvements to the TMDL and even sought funding for a special toxics study needed to effectively address the pollution impacting the lake.
•  The GRN was also successful workign in coalition with our Louisiana members to ensure that the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Feasiblity Study, to address Louisiana's coastal wetlands crisis included active public involvement and a well-demonstrated set of objectives and principles.  Additionally, we obtained an important commitment from the State of Louisiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to coordinate wetland restoration, permitting, and civil works projects in southern Louisiana.

Fisheries:

• The GRN published a report detailing fisheries bycatch problems in the Gulf.  The Every Fish Counts report highlighted deficiencies in fisheries management on bycatch matters, explained the impact of reef fish gear types, and detailed opportunities for the public to take action. The report was well received by the press and was distributed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to all of its members.
• The GRN, working with its Gulf fisheries partners, responded promptly by filing suit in federal court to challenge the issuance by the National Marine Fisheries Service of a legally inadequate management plan for red snapper.  The law suite ultimately led to the publication of an interim rule that addressed conservation concerns.

Open-Loop Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities:

•  The GRN built a diverse coalition of recreational and commercial fishing organizations and community groups opposed to the use of open-loop vaporization system at offshore liquefied natural gas facilities.  We established the "Gumbo Alliance for Safe LNG", through our work on Shell Oil's Gulf Landing terminal offshore of Louisiana, and the "Gulf Fisheries Alliance" through our work on the ConocoPhillips Compass Port LNG facility offshore Mobile, Alabama.  Working with these partners we obtained letters to the Maritime Administration from Governors Barbour (MS), Blanco (LA), and Riley (AL) indicating that they would veto any open-loop terminal in the Gulf.