The second line will have to wait

New Orleans’s funeral traditions dictate that loved ones are carried to the cemetery to the tune of a somber dirge. It has been five years since Katrina ravaged the region, but over the past 4 months since the BP oil spill and the resulting drilling moratorium brought a halt to life, work, and hope, these melancholy tunes have become a soundtrack of daily life throughout the Gulf region all over again.

Today could be a milestone day for the region though. In the Gulf of Mexico, the flow of oil has been successfully halted and new reports indicate that the remaining underwater oil plume has been completely depleted — a major event for the notorious spill. Simultaneously, thousands of miles away in Washington, the White House Oil Spill Commission is meeting.  This commission needs to do the right thing and call for President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to end the region’s other major spill – the jobs spill.

To bring attention to the ongoing American jobs spill and to let the White House and Congress know that the Gulf Coast’s future is in their hands, we’ve released the video below:

Today should be a day of celebration, where the unique Bayou Spirit that defines the region bursts out and says – laissez les bon temps rouler! – let the good times roll again.  But that decision is in the hands of those in Washington.  Let’s hope they hear the pleas of our fellow Gulf citizens  –  otherwise, the second line may have to wait a bit longer.