Lessons For Louisiana

The state made a Faustian bargain with the petro-chemical industry.



Joe Scarborough represented the Florida panhandle in Congress before MSNBC. The slick will soon reach his hometown; Pensacola.

This NASA satellite photo from Thursday, April 29, 2010 shows the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico as it closed in on the Pass a Loutre area of Plaquemines Parish at the tip of Louisiana's Mississippi River delta.

As oil oozed into fragile wetlands, and bad weather hampered efforts to protect the coast line, military assets like Air Force spray planes to drop oil dispersing chemicals into the spill and Navy inflatable boom and skimming systems are were deployed in the region.

Alaskan Mark Jones helped direct the U.S. Navy’s clean up effort in Prince William Sound after the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. Now he’s brought his experience to Louisiana to consult fellow fishermen.

Audio: BBC, PRI & WBUR's Here & Now, 4/30/10. Host: Robin Young.