{"id":33,"date":"2011-04-18T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2011-04-18T14:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/?p=33"},"modified":"2011-04-18T07:31:11","modified_gmt":"2011-04-18T13:31:11","slug":"gulf-oil-spill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/gulf-oil-spill\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembrance of the Gulf Oil Spill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Oiled<\/a>

Oiled Brown Pelican upon intake May 20, 2010 at Fort Jackson, Louisiana Oiled Wildlife Center. (Photo: International Bird Rescue Research Center)<\/p><\/div>\n

This week, as we pause to remember Christ’s death on the cross and the redemption and hope of the risen Christ on Easter Sunday, we also mark another anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On April 20, 2010 an oil explosion killed 11 people in the Gulf of Mexico and erupted into one of the worst man-made disasters our nation has ever faced.\u00a0 By the time British Petroleum (BP) managed to cap the oil well located below the Deepwater Horizon rig, more than four million barrels of oil<\/a> had gushed into the Gulf of Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This week we remember our horror at the lives lost, our grief as the oil continuously poured from the broken well to devastate beaches, wetlands and wildlife. We remember the months of waiting\u2014for the well to be capped, for the oil to disperse, for the fisheries to reopen, for damages to be figured and repaid to the suffering people, businesses and communities in the Gulf.<\/p>\n

And now, at the one year anniversary, we look for signs of hope:\u00a0<\/p>\n