Oiled Louisiana wetlands may have to be burned to be saved

[imurhuckleberry]

VENICE, Louisiana : The thick globs of oil now coating delicate grasses along Louisiana's fragile coast threaten a slow and painful death for countless waterfowl, wildlife and their wetland habitat.

Cleaning up the maze of marshes, where there's nothing to stand on and shallow-bottomed boats are needed to navigate the narrow channels, is a logistical nightmare.

Unlike a beach or rocky shore, crews cannot just drive up with a backhoe or a mop. There are plenty of places for frightened wildlife to hide from rescue workers as the oil slowly smothers them.

Experts say the best options may be to simply leave the oil there or, if the clumps are too thick, burn it off.

"When you start moving all the grasses and marshes around you might actually cause more damage than letting it biodegrade on its own," LuAnn White, director of Tulane University's Center for Applied Environmental Health, told AFP.

"Exactly what will be done really depends on how much really gets in there and how much damage is being done and I don't think we know that yet."

Favourable winds and currents have kept the bulk of a massive oil slick from reaching the coast in the month since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon sank spectacularly some 50 miles (80 kilometres) offshore and set off one of the worst ecological disasters in US history.

But with some 49 miles of shoreline now affected, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said more action must be taken to hold back the black tide.

"This spill fundamentally threatens Louisiana's way of life," Jindal said after inspecting the thick black oil pushing its way into his state's fragile wetlands. "The oil is here and the time to act is now."

Jindal is seeking permission from the US Coast Guard to build "sand booms" to protect barrier islands and has been begging for more boom to be deployed along the coast.

Officials have already been dropping sandbags and building temporary dams to protect sensitive areas.

The area houses 40 per cent of the nation's wetlands which are a major stopping point for migratory birds and provides prime breeding grounds for the fish, shrimp, oysters and crabs that support a 2.4 billion dollar commercial and recreational fishing industry.

Coast Guard Captain Edwin Stanton downplayed the current impact as "little" and on a "very small marsh."

"It's not going to kill the marsh for ever," he told AFP.

The coast guard plans to place containment booms in the marsh, use low-pressure water to flush out the oil and capture the mess using a skimmer and other equipment.

As a "last ditch effort," the coast guard was considering burning the affected marshes, Stanton said.


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