In Isaac's wake, Gulf Coast beaches littered with oil tar

[fleur-de-lisa]

Source: MSNBC

Weathered oil in the form of tar has washed up on some Louisiana beaches from Gulf waters churned by Hurricane Isaac, prompting restrictions of fishing in some waters and tests to determine whether the source is submerged oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

"I'd say there's a smoking gun," said Garret Graves, Gov. Bobby Jindal's top adviser on coastal issues. He said tests were being done to verify the source of the oil. "It's an area that experienced heavy oiling during the oil spill," he said.

Officials Tuesday evening restricted fishing in waters extending a mile off a roughly 13-mile stretch of coastline from Port Fourchon eastward to just west of Caminada Pass. Recreational rod and reel fishing can continue but commercial and recreational shrimping, crabbing and commercial fin fishing was prohibited there.

The state Wildlife and Fisheries Department said there was a large mat of tar on one beach and concentrations of tar balls on adjacent beaches. Graves said later surveys found several more mats. The size of the tar mats was not immediately clear. Graves said high water has prevented a thorough examination.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48912502/ns/us_news-environment/

---

I knew this was coming. BP has been saying for a while that the oil spill has been largely contained. I call 'bullshit'!!!

[northoftheborder]

1. I'll bet BP oil will wash up on those beaches for a hundred years. Soooo much oil.

[kenfrequed]

2. This is proof of their lies

And they should be sued within an inch of their existence.

[XemaSab]

3. I completely disagree

I think they should be sued OUT OF existence.

[kenfrequed]

25. Yes

Actually, I will withdraw my previous comment and agree with you completely.

[Angry Dragon]

23. 11 people were killed ......... still waiting for the murder trials

[fleur-de-lisa]

4. I agree . . .

and I've been urging everyone I know that it's not safe to eat any seafood from the Gulf . . . which really sucks for all the folks who make a living from the fishing industry!

[revolution breeze]

5. My uncle is an oyster fisherman

And he refuses to eat any oysters harvested from the Gulf. Enough said.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

12. 'Refuses to eat Gulf oysters'--IMO anybody who does eat them is a fool

Oysters feed by filtering nutrients from the water around them. A single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day. Can you imagine the FILTH inside an oyster from the heart of the BP oil spill area? Several bay cleanup programs rely primarily on dumping millions of oysters to create reefs that gradually clean huge quantities of water. (see http://chesapeakebaywaters.wordpress.com/oysters-clean-the-bay/ ).

In contrast to oysters, fish that feed on algae and plankton can be relatively safe to eat after concentrations of oil are broken up. But even fish need to be tested before they can be sold safely for human consumption. Oysters from oil and surfactant contaminated water are simply out of the question as food.

[They_Live]

18. But it is not just the oil,

it's the dispersant, Corexit, which doesn't really break down and is a deadly neurotoxin. That's what really concerns me even more than oil and why I refuse to let my child anywhere near a gulf beach. That disaster broke my heart. The beach is no longer a destination for me.

[revolution breeze]

21. We have friends from Oklahoma

Every March they visit and we have always grill a few sacks of oysters. Since the oil spill, we have had to change our tradition because I will not poison my friends.

[SoapBox]

6. Never forget...Drill, Baby, Drill.

And Flipp'n Mittens and Coupon Care Ryan would make the situation worse if they could.

[bongbong]

16. On an un-related note ....

> Flipp'n Mittens

Isn't it GREAT how the Liberal Media is talking so much about the flip-flopping that Etch-A-Sketch is doing? I'm glad they're talking about it 10x as much as they did with Kerry, seeing as how Mittens flip-flopped 100x the amount.

[DeSwiss]

7. Oil tar, and......

...rats as well as dead fish.

- K&R

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. "Up to 1 million barrels of oil are estimated to remain in the Gulf of Mexico."

(Garret Graves, who advises Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on coastal issues,)
"Up to 1 million barrels of oil are estimated to remain in the Gulf of Mexico. That oil remains, Graves said, because BP has failed to clean it all up in the more than two years since the tragedy. “That’s four to five times the oil that was spilled with the Exxon Valdez,” he added."
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/hurricane-isaac-deposits-oil-possibly-from-deepwater-hori

Alabama and Miss. beaches got oil during Isacc, not as bad as La., but plenty.

[SmittynMo]

9. After that disaster

I vowed never to go in the gulf again. We'll see the affects from this for generations.

[Submariner]

10. Your lying eyes and tastebuds haven't seen the BP ad

According to BP, everything seems peachy keen.

[link:

|

[SleeplessinSoCal]

11. Of course. They must love the look and smell of tar everywhere. It gives me a headache.

[NV Whino]

13. Gee, I wonder where that came from.

[mikki35]

14. Tip of the Oilberg

The surfactant they used was supposedly to 'break up' the oil so that it would gradually be dissipated through the ocean. It was very very very obvious from the git-go that it was doing very little to 'dissipate' the oil. It was clumping it together, making millions of those tarballs that are now washing up on shore. But clumping it together weighted it, so that they sunk to the bottom. Presto - no more visible oil slick - no more screaming US coastal residents/fishermen/etc. - no more monstrous lawsuits. Out of sight, out of mind. Until the next hurricane, anyway. They've been outrageously fortunate that it has been so long since a gulf hurricane - and this was only a Cat 1. Give you 3 guesses what's gonna happen if (when!) they get another Cat 4 or 5.

[Grammy23]

15. I live along the Gulf Coast ---

The beautiful sugar sand beaches are only about a 20 minute drive from my house. I was there just over a week ago. This was before Isaac shoved lots of water and potentially a lot of "weathered oil" onto our shores. The sand looked pretty nice. There were the usual things you'd expect to find....the sea shells, the sea weed and drift wood. But I also know that there are crews STILL OUT there picking up tar balls every day. (They are suited up in white hazmat type suits with mops and nets and plastic bags to deposit what they pick up.) They move from one area to another. My husband had been to a couple of different places out there and found the same crew on different days. He noted that they were carrying dip nets and they were carrying thick tarballs. Tar patties.....turds from the sea. Their nets were half covered in black oil about half way up the net.

We are subjected to BPs ads telling us what a great job they did cleaning things up and how much money they spent to do it. I always scream back at the TV that they have NOT done the job. It is still OUT THERE, rolling in day after day. If the crews were not out there every single day picking up the tar balls, the beaches would not be fit for ANYONE, man nor beast, to go.

Make no mistake! The oil is not gone and probably won't be gone for a long time. Possibly not in our lifetime. BP will continue to lie to us and tell us what good guys they are and how much they have spent. It is all a lie about "the job being done". Don't believe it. I do not know who to blame or ask for help. It is way more complicated than can be addressed here. Too much money, too many lies, too many people involved. We the residents along the coast are the losers. And make no mistake about it. Wherever there is drilling, fracking or any other method to extract the oil or gas, the possibility of this kind of disaster continues. None of us is safe. NONE OF US.

[They_Live]

19. I am so sorry

and it makes me angry too. Now where do you suppose all those plastic bags filled with toxic waste are winding up? This is just ONE disaster from one well. Who knows what else is going on (and probably being covered up).

[Cleita]

20. I wish for the sake of Americans like you that we could get these

oil companies, both foreign and domestic out of our oceans. We have stopped off shore drilling here on the California coast but the companies keep pushing and they may prevail. We need some really tight federal laws with real teeth in them to stop these major polluters in their tracks in every ocean we border. Who will the legislators be who rise to the task?

[Cleita]

17. I wonder where that came from!

I wonder how BP is going to spin this in those commercials about how wonderful everything is in the Gulf today thanks to them.

[dipsydoodle]

22. Well you'll know if its bullshit

when they check the unique idenity of the oil. Won't you.

Aside from that the article refers to Tuesday evening. What day is it in the US. today ?

[Odin2005]

24. BP = Bastard Polluters.