Gulf Oil Spill – Cleaning Wetlands May Be Impossible

Posted on by

HUFFINGTON POST– The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.

Officials are considering some drastic and risky solutions: They could set the wetlands on fire or flood areas in hopes of floating out the oil.

They warn an aggressive cleanup could ruin the marshes and do more harm than good. The only viable option for many impacted areas is to do nothing and let nature break down the spill.

More than 50 miles of Louisiana’s delicate shoreline already have been soiled by the massive slick unleashed after the Deepwater Horizon rig burned and sank last month. Officials fear oil eventually could invade wetlands and beaches from Texas to Florida. Louisiana is expected to be hit hardest.

On Saturday, a major pelican rookery was awash in oil off Louisiana’s coast. Hundreds of birds nest on the island, and an Associated Press photographer saw some birds and their eggs stained with the ooze. Nests were perched in mangroves directly above patches of crude.

Plaquemines Parish workers put booms around the island, but puddles of oil were inside the barrier.

“Oil in the marshes is the worst-case scenario,” said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the head of the federal effort to contain and clean up the spill.

Also Saturday, BP told federal regulators it plans to continue using a contentious chemical dispersant, despite orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to look for less toxic alternatives. BP said in a letter to the EPA that Corexit 9500 “remains the best option for subsea application.”

Read full article HERE.

© COPYRIGHT HUFFINGTON POST, 2010

Leave a Reply

RELATED NEWS

  • Empire Files: The Sacrifice Zones of Hurricane Harvey
  • The Climate Change “Debate” and Marketization of Nature: Everyone Loses
  • BP’s Oil Spill: Criminal Negligence, Thousands Still Sick & A Gulf Graveyard Left Behind
  • Midway Albatross, Casualties of a Plastic Genocide
  • CORPORATE MISCONDUCT

  • Media Roots Radio: China Derangement Syndrome, Big Pharma Opioid Erasure & Apple Fed Pedo Hunters
  • Empire Files: A Guide to US Empire in Africa: Neocolonial Order & AFRICOM
  • Media Roots Radio: PG&E’s Criminal Extortion Racket & California’s Collapsing Infrastructure
  • Media Roots Radio: Tasmanian Alkaloids and the Johnson & Johnson Opium Poppy Monopoly w/ Peter Andrey Smith
  • Abby Martin Speaks Out Against Venezuela Coup
  • Abby Martin Presents 2018 Motherfucker Award for Fire to PG&E
  • Media Roots Radio: Deadly Wildfires, Midterm Wash, Trump Fans Flames of Civil War
  • Media Roots Radio: George W. Kavanaugh, Haley is Out, Tech Purge Intensifies, Peaceful Protests Now ‘Terrorism’
  • Media Roots Radio: US Aids Yemen Massacres, Venezuela Regime Change Plot, Sanctions Shut Down “Empire Files”
  • Media Roots Radio: Cambridge Analytica Private Mercenaries, Blue Planet & Jones/Stone/Neocon Alliance
  • Empire Files’ Best of 2017 Roundup
  • Empire Files: The Sacrifice Zones of Hurricane Harvey
  • Who Newsies the Newsmen? A Sober Look At “Fake News”
  • Chevron vs. the Amazon – Full Documentary
  • Abby Martin Interviews President Rafael Correa on Empire & the Environment