First signs of thick oil found in Plaquemines marshlandsBy Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune <http://connect.nola.com/user/ckirkham/index.html> May 19, 2010, 6:54PM [oil-pass-a-loutre.JPG] Photos by Ted Jackson / The Times-PicayuneGov. Bobby Jindal and Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser tour the oily waters of the Roseau Grasses, which mark the coastline of southeast Louisiana at Pass a Loutre at the mouth of the Mississippi River, on Wednesday.
After weeks of estimates, countless models and hundreds of boat excursions seeking hints of oil in Louisiana's marshes, a bleak picture began to emerge this week as the first signs of thick, dark oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill <http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/> could be seen blanketing a patch of marsh grass near the mouth of the Mississippi River. At the eastern reaches of the delta, where Pass a Loutre meets open water, dark brown oil was covering an entire patch of cane grass on Wednesday. On the open water, a dark-brown tint could be seen on grasses just above the water's surface. A few feet inside the marsh grass, where the currents move the water less, there was a thick coating of oil -- much different from the random, smaller clumps of oil or thin sheens seen during the past two weeks across Louisiana's coastline. "This is a small area," said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. "If this comes in in waves and goes farther inland into the marsh, we'll be 25 to 30 years, if ever, recovering from this." Nungesser and Gov. Bobby Jindal were at the site Wednesday as part of a continued push to get the Army Corps of Engineers to approve -- and BP to pay for -- the construction of barrier islands offshore to intercept the oil before it moves into the state's fragile wetland ecosystems. [oil-fishing-net.JPG] Gov. Bobby Jindal holds up a fishing net dripping with oil. "This oil is already here in these passes, this damage has been done," Jindal said. "What we do not want is for this oil to get farther into our wetlands, farther into our marshes. "We need this approved, without delay. I want see this approved today." [oil-bottle.JPG] A hand holds a bottle dipped into the oily waters of Pass a Loutre. Jindal said that within seven to 10 days, the thick oil standing in marshes like Pass a Loutre will eventually lead to discoloration of the marsh grass and, potentially, lead to its death. Cleaning the marshes once oil gets inside is also a challenge, because heavy-duty equipment could do more long-term damage to the habitat than just letting the oil dissipate on its own. "A lot of this oil, I suspect they'll end up leaving it back in there, and over time hoping that it degrades," Jindal said. "The problem for us, though, is that those species don't have time, those young Gulf species don't have time. They've got nowhere else to go. The damage has already been done." Nungesser had an even more stern assessment. "Everything that that blanket of oil is covering today will die," he said. "All of the bugs that the fish come in to eat, all of the critters in the marsh will die. And that marsh will die. There's no way to clean it up." Oil has also washed up on the sandy shoreline west of South Pass in Plaquemines Parish. Jindal and Nungesser have been putting pressure on the corps to approve the emergency dredging permit to build up the sand barriers <http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/artificial_ba\ rrier_island_plan.html> that the state filed late last Tuesday. They said Wednesday that they had been told by the corps it could be approved by the end of the week, but they had no official time estimate. A corps spokesman, Ken Holder, said in an e-mail statement Wednesday that the corps must still comply with National Environmental Policy Act procedures, and that the corps is seeking comments from various resource agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among others. "We are currently evaluating all of this information for potential environmental impacts, as required under NEPA," Holder said in the e-mail message. The corps could not provide any estimates of when or if the permit would be approved. There's also no official word on whether BP will front the estimated $350 million cost, and possibly more, of constructing the nearly 90-mile chain of sand barriers extending east and west of the Mississippi delta. Jindal said he expects the corps to approve the permit as soon as possible, and for the Coast Guard to push BP to fund the project. BP is responsible for the oil cleanup. "Once we get the corps permit, my expectation is that the Coast Guard is going to force BP -- they should force BP -- to do this," Jindal said. "It really doesn't matter to me whether BP wants to or not. They're the responsible party. It is their obligation to help protect this coast." More photos at link [scroll down]: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/first_signs_of\ _thick_oil_found.html
