Deepwater Horizon Disaster 5 year anniversary: Remembering and honoring, with continued hope for future solutions and prevention.

On the fifth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, we remember the 11 men who gave their lives as well as their families.  Although it may be many lifetimes for our environment to return to its pre-disaster state, the wives, children, parents, and relatives of those 11 men will never be able to replace their loved ones.  They are forever in our prayers.

We had the good fortune to assist one of the families of the 11 men that died.  Five years later the loss is still there.  A widow who has moved on gracefully with her life giving the best to a young boy who is fast becoming a young man without the helping hand of his dad.

We also helped rig workers and first responders on vessels of opportunity.  Our prayers are with them today.

Perhaps it is a good time to reflect on the fragile infrastructure of marshes and wetlands that come together to make our coast and particularly Plaquemines Parish, one of the most unique places on our Earth.  And time to reflect on just how quickly a man-made disaster can threaten our very existence.

Sadly on this 5 year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, oyster banks are still barren. Oil deposits lay off the coast and the marshes show signs of the elevated erosion wrought by the oil and cleanup workers invading the shorelines.  The effects of the crude oil spilled onto our shores may be long and troubling.

Cat Island, which once stood as one of the foremost brown pelican breeding grounds on the Louisiana coast, is today  a series of rocks barely visible above the waters of Barataria Bay.  The mangrove trees that supported the island were killed by the Deepwater Horizon's crude.  Despite appeals to BP, efforts to save the island are unfunded and running far behind.  Unfortunately, the Louisiana coast has not rebounded as fast as advertisements would have us believe.  We pray for a faster resolution to everyone's injuries and look forward to a brighter future.