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As tar balls begin to wash up on the shores of Texas, and journalists decry the banning of media from covering the BP oil spill up close, the devastating spill has reached a new milestone: it is now considered the worst ever oil spill in the history of the Gulf of Mexico, not just the United States. The Obama administration is coming under increasing scrutiny for not requiring adequate oversight of the cleanup efforts by BP. Now, Southern Californians will have the chance this afternoon to directly address senior representatives from the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for a public listening session and discussion on issues such as land conservation.

GUEST: Neal Desai, Senior Program Manager, Pacific Region, of the National Parks Conservation Association.

More information about the National Parks Conservation Association at www.npca.org.

EVENT DETAILS:

When: Thursday – July 8, 2010, 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Where: Thorne Hall, Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles, CA 90041 (See map at http://www.oxy.edu/x6307.xml)

Who: Senior national and local leaders from US EPA, CEQ, USDA, DOI and DOD will be present to hear your recommendations and to participate in a conversation with you about America’s Great Outdoors.

Register: This event is free and open to the public.

In the event you are unable to participate in person, please submit your comments and stories via the America’s Great Outdoors website at http://www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors/.