Gulf Coast Oil Spill

A BP WIldlife Volunteer Tells His Story

I just stumbled upon this blog from a guy who worked hard to become a wildlife volunteer during the BP disaster.  Like many, he had experience handling wildlife and like many, what he witnessed from the paid responders was anything but professional.  In this time of National Crisis BP, our governing agencies and national conservation organizations seemed utterly content with inexperienced personnel handling the highly sophisticated and delicate job of wildlife capture and rehabilitation.  Thanks to so many people like Douglas, Darlene and Kaya Eschete, and the many wildlife experts from the IBRRC who managed to perform in such an uncooperative and hostile environment.

Here is an excerpt from Douglas Doneson's blog:

"These people were not volunteers like my friend and I. They were being paid by BP to “clean and rescue birds.” But in actuality they were injuring healthy birds. Healthy, in nature is a relative concept. Almost all wild animals have parasites, injuries, etc. Before a person, educated in wildlife recovery, catches an animal they must weigh its injury against the stress the animal will go through when it is caught, but I digress."

To read the full story please click here. 

Gulf Shrimp Tests Positive for Oil.

Nancy, (Mac) Mackenzie out of her own curiosity this week bought some shrimp in Venice, Louisiana and had them tested without deveining the shrimp.  The tests came back positive for oil, and on this week's telephone conference call she asked Rear Adm. Paul D. Zukunf about the federal tests.

From today's Operational Update Call with Rear Admiral Paul Zukunft - (see the entire transcript at THIS ADDRESS


The testing results on Nancy MacKenzie's shrimp are here.



Operator: At this time, I’d like to remind everyone in order to ask a question, press star then number one on your telephone key pad. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of... Chris Kirkham with the “Times-Picayune.” 

Paul Zukunft: Good morning, Chris. I’m ready for your question.

Operator: Chris has withdrawn his question. Your next question comes from the line of Nancy McKenzie with NOLA Emergency Response.

Nancy McKenzie: Hi, Admiral. Thanks for taking my call. Just out of my own curiosity, I recently bought a couple of pounds of shrimp in Venice and had the veins tested.

Paul Zukunft: Yes.

Nancy McKenzie: And they came back with 193 parts per million of oil. And I was wondering if you could comment on that.

Paul Zukunft: OK. Yes, no I’m not aware of that of that particular test. I’ve been to the lab in Pascagoula where they actually do the sensory and then the chemical tests over there. And then when I’ve seen the shrimp that’s been tested, it is deveined. So, you know, the shrimp has been deveined and deshelled when they do the analysis. So all I can comment are the protocols that we’re using and the fact that we’re not finding any concentration of PAH in those tests. So that’s new information and I’ll have our environmental unit follow up on that.

Nancy McKenzie: Yes, please do. Because a lot of the people down here cook in shell and cook with veins in. So...

Paul Zukunft: Fully aware of that.

Nancy McKenzie: All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Paul Zukunft: All right. Thank you.

Teleconference to Provide Operational Update on Deepwater Horizon/BP Oil Spill Response Efforts

November 2, 2010 | 3:25:25 PM EDT

WHO: Rear Adm. Paul D. Zukunft, Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response.

WHAT: Teleconference to provide an operational update on Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill response and recovery efforts.

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010, 9:00 a.m. CDT, 10:00 a.m. EDT.

The call-in number is (866) 304-5784 for domestic callers and (706) 643-1612 for international callers.

Conference ID # is 22861579.

 

Contracted Wildlife Workers Shed Some Light on Their Experiences in the Gulf of Mexico

Rebecca Dmytryk and Jay Holcomb, both wildlife workers from the IBRRC, one of the groups contracted  by British Petroleum to capture, clean and rehab birds in the Gulf of Mexico air some thoughts on their experiences while responding to the catastrophe.  In this article they address several of the issues that I witnessed and blogged about during my time covering the disaster in the Gulf.  They finally talk about being excluded from the capture efforts in the field by USFWS and LDWF as well as the near complete failure to search for, capture, or even look for affected wildlife at sea, closer to the site of the oil gusher.

This is a good and important read to begin to understand the wildlife response mission in the Gulf:

Santa Cruz Sentinel Article Found Here:

Also something to think about is an excerpt from a Florida wildlife rescue document.  Please examine the fifth line of the second section.  Why would there be ANY mention of "remaining visible in areas of heavy public use."  It illustrates that much of the spill response was about P.R. , including the wildlife response.

Fish Kill and BP Cover Up Confirmed on Grand Isle by Jerry Moran

In light of recent comments made by LDWF and NOAA biologists in an article on CNSNews.com that there is no evidence that ANY fish died as a result of the oil spill I feel compelled to revisit a few photos from the first days of the spill and to repost some information and photos gathered just this week by intrepid New Orleans photo-journalist Jerry Moran.  Jerry found the stench of death every where on Grand Isle, and mounds of dead fish buried in the sand by BP clean up crews, just this week!!!

First, lets look at what Bo Boehringer of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said," Fish have died for seasonal related reasons, said Bo Boehringer, spokesman Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.", and “We’ve investigated fish kills, but none have yet been tied to oil impacts,” 

Here are some photos from May 23rd on Grand Terre Island.  We encountered MANY dead large Redfish and Black Drum that day. All of these fish were still there when I revisited the island later that week, meaning NONE had been tested by LDWF.

There was no fishing, commercial or recreational going on at this time, and there was no unusually warm water to cause these fish to die, not to mention that they were covered in oil!!!

Now, here's a Bottle-nosed Dolphin found in the end of August by Darlene Eschete and the World Animal Awareness Society on Raccoon Island.  This animal was freshly dead at the time of their report, and when we re-found it there was a small circular chunk which looked like a sample taken from the neck.  Had the animal died from oil contamination it would not show up in the skin or fat, but in the lungs and internal organs.  NO effort was made to test for these on this animal, and it was tagged with LDWF in florescent paint and left to rot.

I dare say that this animal should have been brought in and had a full autopsy performed on it to determine the actual cause of death.  Incidents like this point to the fact that wildlife agencies charged with responding to this disaster have not lived up to expectations, and when we read that only 8,367 birds died due to this disaster we must question the reality of this number.

Now back to Grand Isle, this week!!!  Reports of dead fish everywhere on Grand Isle hit the internet and social media outlets last week.  They were largely Redfish and Black Drum, both bottom dwellers which are very unlikely to be affected by low oxygen levels due to warmer water.  

Here is Jerry Moran's report:

"All of these images were taken October 21, 2010 in the area of Latitude 29.199 N, Longitude 90.042 W.

For the first time in a few weeks, I headed out to Grand Isle, Louisiana – primarily to document cleanup progress that has – or has not – been made since the spill response began.

Earlier in the week, I received information regarding a possible fish kill around Grand Isle, which I confirmed to be true. My first stop was the west end of the island. Upon arrival, I did not see many dead fish, but while walking along the jetties, I was hit by an overpowering stench of death and decay. Back in May, I smelled this same scent and found a mound of buried bull redfish and dolphin, so I decided to go back to that same spot to check it out.

When I was about 10 yards from a recognizable mound of sand, I started hearing the unmistakable buzz of flies.

What I found was truly indescribable visually, I had never seen so many flies and the smell nearly brought me to my knees. There were at least 40 to 60 large redfish, drum – and who knows what else – under a BP “death mound” of sand in the exact same spot that I found the decapitated dolphin and bull redfish in May.

I find it very disturbing that BP cleanup crews are simply burying large numbers of dead fish and other marine life without letting anybody know.
 

There was also another death mound about 20 yards away closer to the beach at Latitude 29.199 N, Longitude 90.047 W. The media continues to consistently disregard or overlook these occurrences, reporting that everything is just fine in the Gulf. I know these reports are untrue, based on what I am finding six months after the spill.

Additionally, more evidence of land farming (or burying oil) on the west end of the island is seen in the images of the levee resembling the Grand Canyon rock strata, Latitude 29.195 N, Longitude 90.055 W.

Images at Latitude 29.266 N, Longitude 89.953 W are from the east end of the island behind State Park, which is still closed to the public. I couldn’t get to the beach, but I observed heavy machinery, and the constant and overpowering stench of death coming from the other side of the levee.

New Report of Oil in Grand Isle and Volunteer Opportunities to Help

This was just received from a good friend who lives on Grand Isle.  The clean up efforts have dwindled from 47,000 to 16,000 people throughout the Gulf, and there are currently NO skimming operations at all in Barataria Bay.

"Drew - A shrimper stopped today and said that oil is coming in heavier than he had ever seen into Barataria Bay and it is all over the Sand Dollar  and there is oil on our beach in front of house"

Connie and her husband Gary live just over half way down the island, probably in zone 9, on the front beach.  "Heavier than he had ever seen"  means pretty darn bad.  I hope that the USFWS or LDWF are down there to revamp search and rescue operations.  I'll investigate and let you know. The Sand Dollar is the main marina on the East end of the island.  How much oil is OK to let contaminate the beaches and marshes??

Volunteer Opportunity

Deepwater Horizon response activities continue in coastal Louisiana and it may be months or years before we know the full extent of the impacts. The cooperating organizations of the Gulf Response Involvement team continue to offer opportunities in coastal restoration that help preserve and restoreLouisiana’s disappearing coast. Please join us for our next event.

 

Little Lake Planting

Tuesday, October 26^th, 2010

8:30 am to 3:00 pm

Depart from Lockport, LA

 

During the Planting event, GRIT will provide:

·         All required equipment, including trash bags, shovels, life vests, etc.

·         Food and refreshments to all volunteers

·         Plant Materials

·         First aid kits on site

·         An information and safety briefing prior to the day’s activities

 

Volunteers must be 18 years or older. The project site is located west of Lockport, LA and is accessible only by boat. Volunteers will meet in Lockport. Volunteers must provide their own transportation to Lockport and lodging, if required. Volunteers will be emailed details about the event, including the exact location, once they are registered.

 

Volunteers must register online at www.lagulfresponse.org prior to the October 25^th. The event is limited to 30 volunteers, so REGISTER TO HELP TODAY! 

 

New Gulf Oil Found In Barataria Bay, and Clean Up Non-Existent in the Water and on Wildlife Refuges

While the well may have been capped in July, oil continues to wash ashore throughout the Gulf coast.  On September 19^th, my last day in the Gulf I met with pharmacist and activist Pam Batson from Mobile Alabama to survey the beaches in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  We had seen a video on Youtube posted which showed large amounts of oil entering the backwater lagoon through one of the passes in that community, and a commenter had posted that they believed the whole video was staged and that what was being shown couldn’t be oil, so we decided to check it out first hand. 

 

Upon arrival at the beach, the smell of oil was nearly overwhelming, and within a very short time, both Pam and I had terrible headaches.  In a weird way, I was glad that Pam was suffering as well as it validated what I was feeling and have experienced through the months in the Gulf.  With the media not paying attention, and the nation seemingly ready to move on from the largest environmental catastrophe our nation has ever faced, sometimes I question the reality of my situation.  But no, it was obvious that the fumes were horrible, and someone was there to tell me that it’s not me who’s crazy, it’s the rest of the country who, despite all of the math and science are willing to believe statements from our own government like, ”over 75% of the oil has disappeared”.

 

We walked about 200 meters down the beach through copious tarballs scattered through the splash line of the beach, and you could see many more just off the beach in the water.   When we got to the small pass in the beach, there were a couple of people fishing the breach with the incoming tide, and there was oil everywhere.  You couldn’t walk in the surf without having oil stick to the bottom of your feet, and larger blobs of oil, exactly what the video showed were in the water.  Some of these blobs were a one foot squared and about 3 or 4 inches thick.

 Snowy Plover tracks in the mine field of oil on Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge.

Earlier that day I had been on Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, and what I found there was even more disheartening to me.  As one of the only un-developed pieces of coastline from Pensacola to Mobile Bay, Bon Secour serves as a hugely important refuge for much of the wildlife in the area, including resident Snowy Plovers as well as migrating Piping Plovers.  There were tarballs covering nearly the entire 50-75 meter wide beach. After being deposited in the splash zone and wrack in the high tide line, the heavy winds had blown the tarballs all over the beach, and they existed in a high density almost to the far dune line.  I encountered a pair of Snowy Plovers here who had to navigate a veritable mine field of oil as they foraged along the debris of the tide line.  There was no clean up effort visible anywhere near this area.

 A Snowy PLover at Bon Secour on September 19th.  All of the brown dots are tarballs.

In fact, though the amount of oil that continues to wash ashore has not diminished at all, BP contractors charged with cleaning the beaches have been cut to a fraction of what they once were.  Even though their TV ads proclaim that they will be there to see this thing through to the end, they continue to put forth an effort that is no where near the level of severity of this environmental disaster, and our very own Government, Wildlife Agencies, and national environmental organizations seem content with allowing this to happen.  While some may be looking forward to habitat restoration in the region, they have all allowed a laughable response to this most urgent and pressing problem.  I don't know about the legality of picking this oil up, but I'm starting to think that ordinary citizens might start to organize their own clean up efforts to show what a herculean response looks like.

This is an exerpt from Steve Cardiff and Donna Dittman's most recent report from surveys of oiled birds on the barrier islands of Southern Louisiana;

Steve writes,"Still considerable patchy residual oiling across island with oil stains on rocks, and scattered dried pools of oil on sand and tidal flats, but oil has weathered and has disappeared from most plant stems; marsh vegetation appears generally healthy, but some small areas with totally dead spartina. Oil smell not as bad but still strong in spots.  No oiled birds encountered except for
immature Little Blue Heron with light oil."

and, " on the way back to Grand Isle from East Grand Terre Island we encountered substantial amounts of floating oil in Barataria Bay north of Grand Terre Island.  This
was reddish, snotty stuff in linear slicks, with the oily substance extending down into the water column.  We also saw more dispersed tiny blobs of this stuff scattered over wider areas of the bay.  Some of the denser slicks were covered with gas bubbles from apparent bacterial decomposition."

From Donna;" We were out Thurs-Fri – and saw some oil in the bay side of Grand Terre – no one skimming.  But, it’s more “dispersed” than the mats of gooey goop – but I think would still soil birds.  There was some of that on East Grand Terre."  Seen on October 8th!!!!

The results of the lame clean up effort.  Ghost Crabs excavate oil from their holes.  Is it illegal for Ghost Crabs to dig in Florida too?

 

Raccoon Island Revisited

Raccoon Island is a major seabird rookery in the mouth of Terrebonne Bay.  It is the last island in the chain of barrier islands that stretches west  from the mouth of the Mississippi River, and is home to thousands of seabirds including Brown Pelicans, Black Skimmers, Terns and Laughing Gulls.  It was also the site of oil washing ashore in early July.  There was only one layer of boom around the island which was not anchored well at all, and the winds and surf which drove the oil in, also pushed the boom far up onto the island, and right through the Royal Tern colony, and into the mangroves in which the Brown Pelicans nest.  

A Cornell film crew led by Marc Dantzker was the first to witness the catastrophe on this island, and New Orleans photographer Jerry Moran was quick on the scene and captured the gruesome effects of the oil and the poor response.  On a subsequent trip in August, Jerry and an independent research team travelled there to document the destruction and take samples from the dead birds, many of which did not appear to be oiled.  What they found were freshly expired birds, and many more along the shore that had not been collected.  With this in mind, and the newly discovered dead birds of Madoto Island close by, I travelled to Raccoon Island on September 5th with Shawn Carey from the Massachusetts Audubon Society and local wildlife photographers Charlie Bush and Darlene Eschete.  We wanted to investigate if the mortality on the island was from past events, or if there was ongoing death among the birds there.

We had been under way, zooming through the marshes and out into the bay long before the sun rose over the spartina.  Shrimpers were just hitting the docks in Bayou Dularge as we passed in the fresh morning air, and a group of Tri-colored Herons passed over in the dawn crepuscule on their way to their foraging grounds.  It took about 45 minutes to get out to the gulf and to this last island, and as we approached from the west, thousands of Royal Terns were foraging along the southern shore of a sand spit island just west of Raccoon.  I counted approximately 8,000 birds in the air all around us as we approached our destination.
Hundreds of Pelicans Fill the Air on the Western End of Raccoon Island 

Raccoon Island is a large island, perhaps three miles in length, and has a wide sandy beach in the front, with a swath of Black Mangroves and marsh on the bayside.  The gulls, terns and Skimmers nest on the beach, while the thousands of Brown Pelicans and wading birds utilize the stubby mangroves to build their flimsy stick nests in.  I had not seen a Pelican chick for sometime on any of the other nesting colonies and assumed that breeding was all done, which made me a little more relaxed about stepping foot on the island.  As we landed some of the birds roosting on the eastern tip of the island rose to the air, but quickly settled back down.

Darlene was first off the boat, and the first thing she saw was a pile of feathers from a dead gull.  It looked like it had been there for a long time, as the bones were bleached, and the Ghost Crabs had not left any bit of flesh behind.
The Remains of a Laughing Gull Outside of a Ghost Crab Hole   

Stepping onto the island, I quickly saw that tarballs and older pancake sized patties were all along the shoreline.  Some of the mangroves on the front edge were stained with oil.  As we made our way to the eastern tip we discovered a mat of oil pushed high up on the island, almost to the dune grass.  I dug down around its edges to see if there was more oil covered by sand, but it appeared isolated.  In fact, compared to the damage witnessed elsewhere, the volume of oil found on the island was much less, and appeared to have made landfall in one or two single events, and not throughout time.
A Mat of Weathered Oil Continues to Contaminate one of the Most Important Seabird Habitats in Louisiana 

As happy as we were to see the smaller volume of oil on the shores of one of Louisiana's most important colonies, we were distressed at the fact that the oil still remained.  Granted, nesting has just recently finished up here in the Gulf, so crews have not been able to get out there, but it appeared that very few tarballs were continuing to wash up, so that if cleaned from the oil it is likely that this island would remain oil free.  The amount of oil on this beach might seem trivial in comparison to the millions upon millions of gallons still out there, when you take into account the importance of this island as bird habitat and the fact that if a commercial fisherman discharged one one thousandth of the amount of oil still left on the shores of Raccoon Island they would face serious fines and perhaps even criminal charges it's infuriating that more is not being done.   
One of Five Piping Plovers Seen on the Shores of Raccoon Island

As we began to head west along the island two Piping Plovers scurried by on the shoreline, right through remaining tar patties and added an exclamation point to what I was feeling.  The allocation of resources during this catastrophe has been very poorly managed, as hundreds of people clean spotless white sand beaches while other areas remain ignored, even vitally important bird habitat. We saw five Piping Plovers in a half mile stretch of oiled beach, as well as many other migrant shorebirds.  We estimated between 3-4,000 Brown Pelicans roosting along the shores as well.

While I was glad to see that more oil had not contaminated the islands in this western part of the chain, it was disheartening to say the least that nothing was being done.  Just a handful of independent journalists and biologists have witnessed this area during the catastrophe, and again, one has to wonder if the resources aren't being allocated purposefully in more visible areas, at the expense of perhaps more important places.  It becomes less of a question if you look at this document leaked to me be a spill responder , "place special emphasis on remaining visible in areas of heavy public use"!!!!!
On the island, we also encountered a dead Bottle-nosed Dolphin, which Darlene had discovered on a trip with the World Animal Awareness Society 9 days prior.  After calling it in to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, they must have been on the island since, as they had marked the dolphin with a florescent, "LDWF". It appeared that a small tissue sample had been taken from the throat of the Dolphin, but no necropsy was performed.  I'm no mortician, but if the death was spill related, I imagine that the causes would be visible in the vital organs, and not from accumulated toxicity in the flesh of the animal.  It would be interesting to know if this animal was counted in the official tally, or if they're going to just rely on formulas to determine how many dolphins were killed by the spill.
 A Bottle-nosed Dolphin found dead on the shores of raccoon Island

Louisiana in Photos Week 13, Gulf Oil Spill

The night crew takes a break from digging holes to locate the submerged layers of oil under the sand and determine the extent of the mass of oil. 
 The holes quickly fill with oil and water.
In spots the oil is very thick.  These layers are between 10 and 18 inches deep, and exist because BP didn't focus enough man power on cleaning the oil when it washed in, and let the tides cover it up. 
State Park Employee Leanne Sarco rescues Hermit Crabs from the contaminated water on BP's forgotten beach on Grand Isle, Louisiana.
Holt Webb from Vanishing America probes below the sand for submerged oil. 
Jackpot! Nasty black crude just under the surface.  A Willet and a Semi-palmated Plover were foraging around this pool just before this was taken.
This stuff is very thick, and nasty.  A BP shovel didn't touch this beach for over two months while this oil sat there.
A Willet on the front beach in the scummy water.
A young white phase Reddish Egret on the front beach in Grand Isle.  Good to know someone fledged successfully into the toxic Gulf.
Sunset over Barataria Bay.  

Video: Day 109, A Flight Over Affected Areas in Terrebonne Bay and Barataria Bay, Louisiana, August 6th

On August 6th I was lucky to get a seat on a Southwings Aviation flight over much of the affected areas of southeastern Louisiana.  I saw so much oil, I couldn't believe it.  Though there was only sheen and nasty foam in the water, oil was everywhere on the beaches and in the marshes, as well as submerged under the water.  Knowing what some of the areas look like on the ground that we flew over, I can't believe how bad some of these other areas must be, and nothing is being done to clean the oil up in most of these places.  The vast majority of area that we flew over had not been cleaned at all, and we literally did not see one clean up worker on any beach that we flew over.

Oil Everywhere

In the last four days I have seen more oil, by volume than I had previously in my entire first 11 weeks here in Louisiana.  On August 6th, I flew over Terrebonne and Barataria Bays with Southwings Aviation and the Lower Mississippi Riverkeepers.  What I saw was horrifying.  Oil blanketed every single beach and Gulf side marsh from Raccoon Island east to the Mississippi Delta.  There was evidence of clean up on 5 beaches, but from the air it looked like the efforts were all but superficial, except on Grand Isle beach which looked pretty clean.  However, on the eastern tip of the island we could see mats of weathered oil that extend for hundreds of meters along the coast, and have just begun to be dealt with by BP contractors. Nearly all of the marshes that we passed had a wide rim of orange and brown dead marsh grasses lining them.  Also what was evident were dark blotches of probable submerged masses of thick oil in the nearshore areas.  I learned last night that when the oil mixes with the sand, they call it asphalting, and this is what's happening nearly everywhere, as the sticky nature of the Louisiana crude bonds easily with anything that it touches, like feathers for example.
Oil found on the evening of August 9th in Grand Isle State Park.  This was from a 30 inch deep hole that revealed oil existing in multiple layers under the sand. 

I am so glad that I don't own a TV and have to listen to the propaganda being fed by BP on nearly every channel, and the main stream media and government reports that actually back up the claims that they are cleaning this oil up.  In two hours of flying over the affected beaches, although we saw evidence of clean up crews, we saw not a single person working.  Not one.  Everyday more migratory birds arrive on these shores, and little to nothing is being done to safeguard them from a highly toxic environment. I flew over 60 plus miles of coastline and nearly every marsh was oiled like this.  Marshes present a particular problem, in that they don't know how to clean them, but cleaning the beaches should only be limited to man power and resources which should be limited at about 97 billion dollars, so there is absolutely no reason why these beaches shouldn't be spotless.  A large accumulation of oil on Elmer's Island which has been there for more than 11 weeks.  It appears that they have just begun to clean the northwest corner of the deposit.

This oil on Elmer's Island has been there since the very first days that the oil hit, somewhere around May 20th.  From the air it is very apparent that they have just begun to scrape some oil out of the Northwest corner of the deposit.  This oil has been there for literally two and a half months without effort to pick it up.  When it firs hit shore it was the perfect type of conglomeration to be vacuumed up in a pump truck like the type used in Caminada Pass.  In fact these trucks could have and should have been deployed on day one, but it wasn't until may 28th that any type of clean up began anywhere, and then it was just a poorly organized show dressed in red, white and blue uniforms sent to perform for the President.

One thing that this flight revealed was that the oil, like seaweed and other debris tends to accumulate on points and eddies and geographic changes in the shoreline.  It then becomes apparent that much of the clean up effort should be focused in these areas, instead of ambling up and down beaches scooping up tarballs, there is real, heavy, thick oil in these locations.  Many hundreds of barrels of oil are represented in the above picture, which is contrasted now by the aerial photograph taken on May 22 by Richard Shephard of the exact same location.  Many more images of this oil can be seen on his website rsairphoto.com
Heavy oil on Elmer's Island in the very first days of oil hitting the shores of Louisiana.  It remains to be cleaned up 80 days later.

A disconcerting thing is that not only does oil tend to make landfall on these points and eddies, but it is also exactly where birds tend to roost and loaf.  Almost all of the large groups of birds that I have seen lately tend to congregate in these areas.  Young of the year dispersing from the colonies are congregating in large numbers in the Gulf right now, as well as many migrants.  I have not seen any effort to haze or keep birds form these areas where they can continually become fouled in this oil that, although weathered, becomes emulsified and nasty with the noon day sun.  There is oil throughout the Louisiana coast, and a very obvious pull out of clean up workers here in Grand Isle.  What will happen to all of this oil left behind?  It will continue to seep into the ecosystem and contaminate everything from crabs to shrimp to Reddish Egrets.  What is happening down here is not right.