About Us: The Gulf Coast Group

GULFPORT, MS
The Gulf Coast Group is confronted with multiple environmental challenges. While each of us enjoys the natural wonders of the Gulf and the estuaries in our own way—whether in a kayak or behind a camera—we are focused on several ongoing issues:

The BP disaster: Through the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA, established by the Oil Pollution Act of ’90) and the RESTORE Act (diverting 80% of Clean Water Act fines to coastal ecological and economic restoration), BP fines and penalties will be funding activity in all five states that border the Gulf of Mexico. The Sierra Club is active in making sure Mississippi’s money goes to restore the ecosystems affected.

Kemper Coal Plant: Mississippi Power and its parent, the Southern Company, are building a coal gasification plant in Kemper County that will be paid for by customers of Mississippi Power—ratepayers who live in 23 counties in the Southern part of the state. The process is unproven, the strip mine to feed it will destroy 48 square miles, and the plant is already 30% above the original budget. For background: http://www.biggerpieforum.org/blog/kemper

Drilling for Oil & Gas in the Mississippi Sound: http://12milessouthcoalition.com/