Louisiana

Louisiana is my home. It is where I lived for 2/3 of my life. No matter how many times I have moved or how far away I am, it is home. I grew up in the coastal region by  Texas in Lake Charles. I had plans to move back in Nov of 2005, but a hurricane derailed that. Now there is a catastrophe in the gulf. This shook me immensly. I know a few people who work offshore, and this is something that just isn't thought about. It is something that you file away in the back of your mind, but you never actually think that it will happen. Lake Charles has a lot of industry...oil refineries, plastic plants, lots of chemical plants. When I was about 18 I was working in a Waffle House, and there was an explosion at an oil refinery about 5 miles away. It shook the windows. It took a few minutes to think about the refinery. I believe there were no fatalities.

About the gulf. What is the long term effect of this mess? The map of the projected spill goes from Corpus Christi to the Atlantic. It hurts my heart that this has happened. Venice, Louisiana is a commercial fishing town. That is all that people do there. What are their livelyhoods going to be now? How will they survive? What about the children? What about the fishermen all the way in Hackberry? How will this effect them and their families?I hope that the industry takes a hard look at itself.  I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason. I don't think that we will ever understand why this has happened, but there is a lot to be learned. I just don't even know what else to say.