disappearing at an alarming rate after decades of mismanagement of the mississippi river levees, as well as ever-expanding oil and gas production. as a consequence of that river being leveed, the marshland is not getting fed, and it starts to deteriorate. that s reason one. the second reason is oil and gas companies cut canals through the marsh. because of those two very things, a piece of america vanishes every day. now the oil catastrophe threatens to kill off even more of these vital marshlands. locals think this rapidly deteriorating piece of our ecosystem should be of national interest, and if it were happening elsewhere, the theory goes, it would be. if i took a football field out of manhattan, what do you think would happen? how about a football field every 40 minutes? you think the world would be horrified?
wetlands protect the levees, levees protect us. but louisiana s wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate after decades of mishandling the mississippi river levees as well as expanding oil and gas production. as consequence of that river being levied, the marsh land is not getting fed and it starts to deteriorate. that s reason one. the second reason is oil and gas companies cut canals through the marsh. because of those two very things, a piece of america vanishes everyday. now, the oil catastrophe threatens to kill off even more of these vital marsh lands. locals think this rapidly deteriorating piece of our eco system should be of national interest. and if it were happening elsewhere, the theory goes, it would be. if i took a football field out of manhattan, what do you
here, the government or tokyo electric power. it reminds you in some ways of those debates we had on your show, in fact, about whether or not the u.s. government or bp was running the show during the oil catastrophe. yeah. it sure looked like bp, as we know. thank you. michael, more for you next time. i m sorry to short you this time. we had so much to get on tonight. michael sanger and david hirsh. up next, president obama and members of congress from both sides of the aisle had been pushing for more nuclear energy here at home. of course, even the democrats were joining the team, but is the crisis in japan changing their minds? the future of nuclear energy here, after this, next. you re watching hardball on msnbc.
it s made worse in japan by the fact that you have a news media that, while much more independent than it used to be, still sort of organizes itself around government ministries and is far more dependent on the government for official needs. and so, it s a lot harder to come out with the kind of journalism that we see here in the united states that would challenge an existing governmental position. the other element in all of this is the tokyo electric power company may not be fully leveling with their own japanese government officials. and one of the remarkable things about this is it s very hard to know who s really in charge here, the government or tokyo electric power. it reminds you in some ways of those debates we had on your show, in fact, about whether or not the u.s. government or bp was running the show during the oil catastrophe. yeah. it sure looked like bp, as we know. thank you.
around government ministries and is far more dependent on the government for official needs. and so, it s a lot harder to come out with the kind of journalism that we see here in the united states that would challenge an existing governmental position. the other element in all of this is the tokyo electric power company may not be fully leveling with their own japanese government officials. and one of the remarkable things about this is it s very hard to know who s really in charge here, the government or tokyo electric power. it reminds you in some ways of those debates we had on your show, in fact, about whether or not the u.s. government or bp was running the show during the oil catastrophe. yeah. it sure looked like bp, as we know. thank you. michael, more for you next time. i m sorry to short you this time. michael sanger and david hish. up next, president obama and members of congress from both sides of the aisle had been