Gulf Oil Spill (PHOTOS): Horrifying Aerial Images Of Oil Reaching Louisiana Marshes

The Gulf Restoration Network captured some truly haunting images of the Gulf oil spill during a flyover of Redfish Bay, in Louisiana's bird's foot delta on May 27. The aerial shots show oil seeping past containment booms and into the Louisiana marsh.

SEE the aerial images:

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PHOTO CREDIT: Gulf Restoration Network (healthygulf.org)

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Comments

[hollybork]

02:18 PM on 06/17/2010

Looks like they laid the booms a little LATE. Now they can hold the oil in to the shore. Great.

[isabella100]

03:03 PM on 06/04/2010

Someone needs to force the people responsible for oil spill to swim in that oil infested water with the brown pelicans and other animals and birds like sum lords having to live in conditions they deem suitable for others.

[TigerRose]

10:23 AM on 06/04/2010

This is sickeningly appalling! Need any more reasons for no more drilling? I didn't think so. How many eons will it take for our planet to recover from man's inhumanity to our earth?

[Doug F]

02:56 PM on 06/01/2010

They are drilling 4 relief wells simutainiosly.
The plan i would go with , cut off the old riser pipe,run a new one down to the top of the B.O.P. stack. connect the top of the riser pipe to a manifold ship that can load 4 or 6 tanker ships
at the same time.
the % of oil recovered will depend on how good the seal is between the riser pipe and the B.O.P. stack
B.P. is saying august, but once hurricane season runs its coarse it will probably be december.

[Christopher Carr]

11:45 AM on 06/01/2010

Oil spills happen, both naturally and otherwise. We know this, and we have known this for many years. But we still need to drive our cars to work, and make plastic, and heat our homes. No one is willing to give that up, no matter how many dead manatees make it onto the news. And so any reactionary measures are likely to cause more harm than good. The best we can do is minimize oil spills by imposing rigorous standards of procedure, multiple layers of oversight, and trying to reduce overall consumption of oil as much as possible.

How to continue meeting our energy needs without oil is a difficult problem, and the solution is a widespread and gradual switch to nuclear power in as many areas as current technologies allow, with investments in other renewable energy forms as they pertain to various locations (for example, thermal energy for the ring of fire, solar power in the southwest, hydroelectric power for the Mississippi, and wind farms up and down the East Coast). Such a switch could provide jobs and incentives for science and technology training, both of which would have positive residual effects. We should put such a system in place in as minimally-invasive a way as possible: encourage the free market to take up the mantle, pass the torch from federal to state and local governments…

Read more: http://www.theinductive.com/blog/2010/5/7/our-visceral-energy-policy.html

[ellyndra]

01:56 PM on 06/01/2010

Yes, it must be minimally invasive because anything otherwise would be unamerican.

[mRfung]

07:05 PM on 06/03/2010

Your a selfish fool who "needs" to drive everywhere and "needs" to make so much plastic that we "need" so much oil for. People like you are why we are not changing things and will die because we dont "feel" like changing our lives. Your selfish laughable single digit percentage of the world population is bringing everyone down. Sick.

This world we live in and take for granted thinking its the way things are is brand spanking new, 150-200 years old. Silly humans' memory is too short, theres too muych TV to watch and credit to pay back. Everyone is disconnected from real real life, not this percieved resigned and cynical "reality".

[Karen Nichols]

06:04 PM on 05/31/2010

This oil disaster tops everything that I have ever been shocked at in my life. Im horrified at the total lack of any control since this started six weeks ago. Don/t even compare this to Katrina, a natural disaster.....this was man made. Out of control with damages yet to come for many years A total wipe out of something God made so beautiful. Life as we know it will change forever and all most of us can do is watch in disbelief. I really hate what we have become in the greed for money so a few can live in luxery while wiping out the hard workers livelyhood. What a shame BP ever existed. All this oil spilling into our Ocean was going to go in someones pocket.

[cbinfusion]

04:03 PM on 05/31/2010

This has been circulating via email...perhaps you've seen it.

Here is an unbelievably simple solution to the Gulf Oil Spill Clean Up. No joke. It's real and they demonstrate before your eyes...a must watch at,
http://www.wimp.com/solutionoil/ .

The U.S. has all the brain power in the world to solve problems, but it only takes two good ole boys from the South to come up with a real, workable solution.

My heart goes out to all life and to those affected economically by this disaster.

[dwolfram]

01:20 PM on 05/31/2010

Let's keep it simple. Simple fixes are always the best. Here's my idea to fix the oil gusher in 140 character format so it can be Tweeted and Retweeted.

"Oil spill: Attach a manifold with multiple hoses attached which lead to tankers. Clamp to gushing pipe. Valves in man. can close, cap leak."

I will be starting a blog for people to post their ideas for capping the leak. It will be called "Your ideas to fix the oil spill (leak) blog". Let's all pull together to find solutions to the problem and not play the blame game while the environment suffers. There will be time for that after we find the solution. After all, we are Americans and there is nothing we cannot do when we work together for good.

http://twitter.com/dwolfram

“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”
—Gandhi

[Jessie Guillen]

12:41 PM on 05/31/2010

Where is the all mighty US government now??!!!! This is a an event of biblical proportion and we may lose EVERYTHING! This could be it. I love my country and I owe my freedom to those who protect it, but I have NEVER been more ashamed of this country! Like Michael Jackson said.. " I cant believe this is the land from witch I came." I have lost my faith in Obama and my government.

[Timea]

05:32 AM on 06/04/2010

I lost faith in Obama too. I thought he was different ... and could stand against the greedy power holders by representing us, the majority. How naive!

The money men have a strong hold on us. They have the most insidious ways beside the obvious ($$$$$$) in their hand for controlling the population. The first and most painful for me to watch is the psychological warfare of the minds (the propaganda machinery), that drugs some of us into the state of ablivion at best, or shroud the minds with blind hatred (justified for killings) againts each other at worst.

Then those who cannot be brainwashed, or I should say cannot be "drugged", and have any means to raise aweraness, and could unite us against them are SILENCED by different means.

How cruel theses human beings are? (I bet whatever happening to us, is the brainwork of not more than a couple of dozen humans.)
What are they planning to do or capable to do in the relentess pursue of money/power trap?


Do they need us to be their slave, or we worth more by being dead, and send us to wars to kill each other for more profit/power to them?

Can anyone identify them, or stop them? They are not public figures, obviously. They hide behind government officials.

They are the invisible hand that rules and does not stopp at anything until they achieve global supremacy.

[novictim]

04:40 PM on 05/30/2010

Mother Earth now has a plastic bag pulled snuggly over her face...while the BP president gang-r's her with Obama.

[slodis5]

09:33 PM on 06/03/2010

your image is so disturbing you should be investigated by theFBI you sound like one of the serial killers they're hunting!!!!!! Who else uses that kind of discription YOU FREAK

[protectourenvironment]

01:23 PM on 05/30/2010

The two representatives on face the nation this morning said they thought BP was incompetent or protecting their liability. How about both?

[Chocolate2008]

03:39 PM on 05/30/2010

Both

[Bonnie Towles]

11:58 AM on 05/30/2010

BP's failure to cap the spill is outrageous, and compounded by their failure to prevent the spill from reaching shore, plunging to the ocean depths, and otherwise fouling the water and earth. The dispersants are deadly; the booms ineffective. Other cleanup methods are primative ... shovels? Why, at least, have they not employed every fishing boat out of service because of the spill (and any others from elsewhere in the country) to help with the cleanup? Only 3 small boats were shown in recent aerial photos of vast, oil soaked barrier islands & wetlands. The booms seem more effective in trapping oil once it reaches land, then in containing it. The individuals and corporations who contributed to this catastrophe, including the worthless "regulators" ... should be fined and jailed.

[Lefty Illuminate]

01:03 AM on 05/30/2010

The problem we're dealing with is two-fold. 1) we've hit peak oil production. and 2) the market based system is incapable of doing anything that isn't "profit" oriented. Even "industry insiders" have concluded that we "toped out" oil production in 2007. It's downhill from here. Declining oil reserves mean higher prices per barel, which translates to higher prices at the pump. We havn't even started to see the result of this on the consumer end, but we're seeing the result in BP attempting to salvage the oil, rather than trying to kill the well.


The market is also at fault. Adhering to Friedman's "conventionsl wisdom", the market is incapable of doing anything that doesn't directly generate profit for stockholders. Alternative Energy technologies aren't "profitable" at this time, so nothing is being done. Never mind that current conditions dictate that we're going to have to kick the oil habit eventualy. Another reason for the "recovery" option, rather than the "Top Kill" option.

[Lefty Illuminate]

12:45 AM on 05/30/2010

What I'm seeing from BP and the Govt at this point is Hubris worthy of a Greek Tragedy, coupled with incompetence piled on stupidity. And this debacle is just getting started. The questions we should be asking ourselves are:

1) why didn't BP have a back-up plan (and a back-up plan for the back-up plan)? Can anyone say: "way out of their league..." They were drilling at a depth that made any response to an accident difficult at best. Add in the fact that they had no experience dealing with accidents at this depth (something they seem to love to yammer on about on the news). What we have here is a massive failure of reason and comon sense.

2) Why didn't they try the "Top Kill" option right from the start? Their agenda has been to attempt to "recover" the oil from the start. As a result, we've got an even worse mess than the drunken tanker captain caused in Alaska. Stupidity, piled on incompetence, and driven by greed...

[Jack Crack]

09:00 PM on 06/04/2010

Louisiana electors will answer your first question. Money and outrageous fortunes has stunned the locals into repeating idiotic mantras that are against their interests. Whilst "Federal" in design, the regulators are good ole boys from that very state, ticking boxes avidly to keep favour with their outrageously rich benefactors so they will be invited to corporate "days out" and get cheap 4 wheel drives and other "business" opportunities.

The electorate of Louisiana would rather blame the eloquent northerner who really is trying to represent their interests. The gamble they played and the rewards they took are coming home to roost and NO ONE can stop this.

2. "top kill" could have fractured the actual rock formation and the whole reserve could have flowed destroying the chance for ever stopping the leak.

There is no quick fix to this, it is at the very edge of human ingenuity and technology. Americans brainwashed by big oil, like any crack addict is to his dealer, have allowed this risk to be taken and they lost.

They now have to pay the price and will, no matter how political and emotional the arguments become. The area is destroyed.

[Norak]

12:40 AM on 05/30/2010

The International Criminal Court, which prosecutes four crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression) is seeking to add ecocide (a crime against nature) as its fifth prosecutable crime..

Sign up and show your support at:
http://www.thisisecocide.com/thesolution/

[Bonnie Towles]

12:06 PM on 05/30/2010

The fouling of the earth ... land, water, air ... is a crime against humanity. The oil spill, which threatens an entire eco-system, including major fisheries, the livlihoods of thousands, and the food of many more ( I don't eat meat, poultry, pork, etc. so rely heavily on shrimp and fish) is a crime against humanity ... The ICC should be able to prosecute under it's current authority...at least until the addition of ecocide is completed.

[BlackWidowPilot]

03:59 PM on 05/30/2010

Seconded. Willfully exposing human beings to chemical toxins on a mass scale as the oil racketeers have done is IMHO indeed a crime against humanity, and fully prosecutable.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Jack Crack]

09:05 PM on 06/04/2010

Please don't bother reading about the ICC if you are from the United States, Russia or China, your electorates do not think it's worth the bother