Spring is in the Air! Oil is in the Water and Land!
Say, remember that BP oil disaster in the Gulf in 2010? No, it hasn't all or mostly all been cleaned up.
Fortunately the air in New Orleans no longer "smells like 30 weight, like the floor of a transmission shop on a hot summer day." as it did for much of mid-2010. However in the Gulf, bayous, and marshlands, the effects continue. An acquaintance told me of a recent visit to a wild life preserve in Plaquemines Parish -- every step he took created a "squish" with oil oozing out of the ground.
Times-Picayune: Dolphins in Barataria Bay are severely ill, NOAA says
"Bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay are showing signs of severe ill health, according to NOAA marine mammal biologists and their local, state, federal and other research partners, NOAA announced today. Barataria Bay received heavy and prolonged exposure to oil during the 2010 Gulf spill after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded."
Times-Picayune: BP's oil spill cleanup isn't done: An editorial
"State officials expressed their unhappiness last fall when the Coast Guard and BP decided to stop cleaning up oil from the massive 2010 spill. They believed that the plan to shift away from cleanup efforts would leave coastal beaches and wetlands vulnerable to continued oil contamination, and there is new evidence that they were right. [...] Oil is likely continue to reappear for an extended period of time."
Flickr pix: Northern Barataria Basin - March 5, 2012
Flickr pix: Oil at Middle Ground - March 27, 2012
Outside Magazine: The Gumbo Chronicles. Deepwater Horizon Aftershocks on Louisiana Seafood Excerpts:
"“Dey tellin’ everybody everything’s OK,” he said, in the region’s ubiquitous Cajun accent, which features a lot of dis and dat. “And it’s not. The crabs are not getting fat. A lot of dem are dying right when dey shed. The biologists say everything’s normal. Well, shit. We out here on the water almost every day of our lives. We know what changes from one day to the next. Where the little crabs? Before BP hit, they’d be all over this boat. Where dey at? We screwed.”"
"Melancon had no oysters for us. He took us out to his leases in his 23-foot flat-bottomed boat to show us why. For an hour we motored gently through the calm, flat water, passing flocks of ibises and pelicans, until we moored the boat and Melancon winched up a cage. It surfaced dripping black slime. The oysters were coated in shiny goop. Melancon plunged his tongs into the water and pulled up a jiggling mound of black pudding. “What the hell is that?” I asked. Melancon scooped some up with his hand. It held like shaving cream. “I think it’s oil,” he said. “Look how it stains your hand. Dat’s carbon.”"
National Geographic: BP Oil Spill’s Sticky Remnants Wash Up Sporadically On Gulf Beaches
Aljazeera: Gulf fisheries in decline after oil disaster. Nearly two years after BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, fishermen and scientists say things are getting worse.
Food Safety News: No Sign of Oyster Recovery Two Years After BP Oil Spill
Fortunately the air in New Orleans no longer "smells like 30 weight, like the floor of a transmission shop on a hot summer day." as it did for much of mid-2010. However in the Gulf, bayous, and marshlands, the effects continue. An acquaintance told me of a recent visit to a wild life preserve in Plaquemines Parish -- every step he took created a "squish" with oil oozing out of the ground.
Times-Picayune: Dolphins in Barataria Bay are severely ill, NOAA says
"Bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay are showing signs of severe ill health, according to NOAA marine mammal biologists and their local, state, federal and other research partners, NOAA announced today. Barataria Bay received heavy and prolonged exposure to oil during the 2010 Gulf spill after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded."
Times-Picayune: BP's oil spill cleanup isn't done: An editorial
"State officials expressed their unhappiness last fall when the Coast Guard and BP decided to stop cleaning up oil from the massive 2010 spill. They believed that the plan to shift away from cleanup efforts would leave coastal beaches and wetlands vulnerable to continued oil contamination, and there is new evidence that they were right. [...] Oil is likely continue to reappear for an extended period of time."
Flickr pix: Northern Barataria Basin - March 5, 2012
Flickr pix: Oil at Middle Ground - March 27, 2012
Outside Magazine: The Gumbo Chronicles. Deepwater Horizon Aftershocks on Louisiana Seafood Excerpts:
"“Dey tellin’ everybody everything’s OK,” he said, in the region’s ubiquitous Cajun accent, which features a lot of dis and dat. “And it’s not. The crabs are not getting fat. A lot of dem are dying right when dey shed. The biologists say everything’s normal. Well, shit. We out here on the water almost every day of our lives. We know what changes from one day to the next. Where the little crabs? Before BP hit, they’d be all over this boat. Where dey at? We screwed.”"
"Melancon had no oysters for us. He took us out to his leases in his 23-foot flat-bottomed boat to show us why. For an hour we motored gently through the calm, flat water, passing flocks of ibises and pelicans, until we moored the boat and Melancon winched up a cage. It surfaced dripping black slime. The oysters were coated in shiny goop. Melancon plunged his tongs into the water and pulled up a jiggling mound of black pudding. “What the hell is that?” I asked. Melancon scooped some up with his hand. It held like shaving cream. “I think it’s oil,” he said. “Look how it stains your hand. Dat’s carbon.”"
National Geographic: BP Oil Spill’s Sticky Remnants Wash Up Sporadically On Gulf Beaches
Aljazeera: Gulf fisheries in decline after oil disaster. Nearly two years after BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, fishermen and scientists say things are getting worse.
Food Safety News: No Sign of Oyster Recovery Two Years After BP Oil Spill