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Gulf Oil Spill: Recent PHOTOS Show Disaster Is Far From Cleaned Up

The Huffington Post     First Posted: 11/04/10 09:04 AM ET   Updated: 05/25/11 07:10 PM ET

With over six months having passed since BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, tragically taking the lives of 11 men and leading to an estimated 205 million gallons or more spewing into the ocean and onto nearby coasts, it would seem that much of the mainstream media has moved on from the plight caused by America's worst environmental disaster in history.

Although BP plugged the well and it was declared "effectively dead" in mid-September, even having scaled back their clean-up efforts prior to that, the catastrophe is far from over for the Gulf residents impacted from the spill and the natural environment likewise devastated in the aftermath.

Recent reports that surfaced alongside images of dark streaks in Gulf waters have been discounted by some scientists as a common algae outbreak, The New York Times reports. But they also report that -- despite 11,000 people still at work cleaning up the crude mess -- delicate marshlands remain coated and tarballs continue to wash up on beaches that have been previously cleaned. Additionally, a CNN reporter recently discovered that thick layers of tar linger underneath the sand, well below the level at which beaches are being cleaned.

Below are new photos from the Gulf of Mexico -- some as recent as last Friday -- confirming that BP's disaster is far from cleaned up. Although the media may have moved on, things aren't so easy for the Gulf residents and wildlife adversely affected as oil continues to wash ashore for an unforeseeable time to come.

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Exposed marsh grass roots are seen in an oil-impacted area of marshland in Bay Jimmy near the Louisiana coast Friday, Oct. 29, 2010. There is no comprehensive calculation for how much marshland was oiled by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but estimates range from less than a square mile to a handful of square miles. Regardless, Louisiana loses roughly 25 square miles of marsh each year due to a host of environmental and manmade causes. The state is the site of one of the most ferocious rates of land loss in the world. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
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With over six months having passed since BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, tragically taking the lives of 11 men and leading to an estimated 205 million gallons or more sp...
With over six months having passed since BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, tragically taking the lives of 11 men and leading to an estimated 205 million gallons or more sp...
 
 
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01:48 AM on 11/18/2010
There is almost just no believing witout seeing. There is disaster leakage all over the Gulf Coast, and Grand Isle is the delta's Chernobyl. Look here to see where the oil has been hidden and lurks ominously out of sight, tainting the environment and all who live: Oil on Grand Isle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtMQ44L7R40
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john frodo
armchair expert
09:46 AM on 11/08/2010
People are so stupid. We could manage food stocks, and have fish basically for free. However the future is fish farms with lots of expense and bad side effects and bottom line, fish that dont taste as good.
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08:51 PM on 11/05/2010
The largest marine oil ''spill" in the world, and we're surprised there's still some showing up? What is in our kool-aid, anyway? By the way, BP trolls, your comments on every HuffPo article which mirror the Fed/BP story to a T ("oil is actually algae, it's almost over - you know that because BP's cleanup crews are almost gone, it wasn't that big of a deal", etc) stick out as obviously as the latest NOAA/EPA lie. Give it a rest.

The damage to local's health is another catastrophe which is just beginning - and luckily for BP the corporate owned media has no intention of telling anyone.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/11/201011465847225269.html
http://www.alternet.org/environment/148737/bp_stock_rebounds,_media_moves_on,_but_gulf_residents_are_bracing_for_a_mammoth_health_crisis_from_the_spill

And the seafood is not safe just because the feds say so:
http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/epa-employee-fda-noaa-revealed-doing-cover-when-testing-corexit
http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/noaas-lead-public-affairs-officer-demanded-website-withdraw-story
05:08 PM on 11/05/2010
Sometimes, I'm ashamed to be a Liberal. This is a one-sided report, that while trying to do a good thing, I guess, is very shabbily done. I would be a lot more inclined to take this report to heart, if the people providing it were to give us all the facts. Like for instance, how very small Bay Jimmy is, down there in the salt marsh. Don't take my word for it, just go to Google Maps and type Bay Jimmy, La into the search block. You'll see for yourself. Bay Jimmy was one of the earliest spots hit by the oil, and it was bad in there. But it was also an exception. Looking at the map of the area, does anybody think that if Greenpeace would have found oiled marsh anywhere around there besides Bay Jimmy, that they wouldn't have included photos of that as well?

I just spent 2 days fishing the marsh, out of Lafitte, La. We didn't go as far as Bay Jimmy, but we were all over the area west of that spot and up to the northern end of Little Lake. In 2 days, I didn't see one spot that was oiled, and I didn't see any boom in the water. We were fishing Redfish, so we were right up on the banks. It was pristine.

It was a disaster, and one that was completely unnecessary as well. But it wasn't as bad as Greenpeace and this blog would have you believe.
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08:39 PM on 11/05/2010
You were fishing? For fish that you or someone you care about will ingest? Please think again. http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/epa-employee-fda-noaa-revealed-doing-cover-when-testing-corexit
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
redsoxr4
08:21 AM on 11/05/2010
George Bush hates Raccoons!
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Equinator
Shovels manure daily
07:03 AM on 11/05/2010
Now it is reported that the BP is allowing the Alaskan pipeline to deteriorate to the point that is may rupture.

I wonder how much BP contributed to political funds this year? Do you think it is enough to get them what they want?
04:40 AM on 11/05/2010
You cannot believe anything that Greenpeace says. The streaks on the sea are not oil but algae.

The picture of someone walking on the marsh is worrying as this drives any oil underground where it will remain for many years. BP will then get the blame.

New machines are cleaning the beaches deeply, but this will take time.

No picture here of the regrowth that is occurring in the marshes, nor that the area oiled is only a few metres wide. That would spoil the story

Lets have the truth. Greenpeace do this only to get more funds from the gullible.
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03:04 AM on 11/05/2010
New story on Google says that the coral beds are dying there. We can't be surprised. So when I hear that the clean-up is proceeding well, I wonder - are they dredging up the coral beds?
About all of this, my heart aches.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Joffan
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
01:27 AM on 11/05/2010
I've got to say, the front page tag for this article uses "devastated" in a way that stretches its meaning way beyond the bounds of prior usage, and the article generally plays fast and loose with the truth in a number of disturbing ways.

First. The well was stopped in July, not September. Second. The clean-up was massive and the scaling back was only a reflection of the reduced work to do after the well capping in July.
Third. An algae outbreak is not oil, no matter how many people are mistaken about it. The presence of algae does not mean there is no oil; it just means that people are wrong about that particular instance. Fourth. No-one that I'm aware of has claimed that there was no impact from the oil gush. So a margin of oiled marshlands do not demonstrate anything except there is still clean-up to do.

Altogether, your photos demonstrate to me that the oil effects are being reduced and contained and are on the way to being a minor pollution effect in the Gulf. Which, fifth, shows that the "America's worst environmental disaster in history" tag is misplaced. It was an environmental disaster - but it is well on the way to being reasonably recovered.
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Smoking and Starving
In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.
06:38 PM on 11/04/2010
Yet Joe 'shakedown' Barton is going to chair the Dept of Energy and Commerce????
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
TedEjr
How can they be Right when they are wrong so much
10:40 PM on 11/04/2010
I wonder if his first order of business will be to draft an apology letter from the committee?
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Smoking and Starving
In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.
10:08 AM on 11/05/2010
You could be right =(
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Smoking and Starving
In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.
06:36 PM on 11/04/2010
What of it Boehner?
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06:17 PM on 11/04/2010
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/11/201011465847225269.html

Great article on dispersants and health concerns out today on Al Jazeera.
09:21 PM on 11/04/2010
I love their journalism, so thorough. I wish HP would link to their articles more.
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10:14 AM on 11/05/2010
They really do have great coverage, maybe the best world news coverage out there, and their journalism has integrity.

I think the HP gets linky dollars for all the WP, Politico, NYT, LAT and various other media links to re-posted articles. Still HP has some good staff writers too and that fills in the credibility gap some from just relinking MSM propaganda.

Still this is in our backyard and I don't think anyone is covering this but Al Jazeera, how sad is that?
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tobynsaunders
Vegan (& so should you!), Progressive (join us!),
03:49 PM on 11/04/2010
An apparently fundamentalist Christian Conservative wrote in my local, Christian Conservative newspaper (it's the only local newspaper) that 'the Creator' cleaned up the mess with 'His' bacteria & that we, thus, "shouldn't worry about damaging Earth". Post Modernist to wind, Conservative ideology is stupid & misinformed, objectively that is.
01:48 PM on 11/04/2010
Not surprised about this at all, but it is very very sad. Just like New Orleans and Katrina, also very very sad...sigh.....
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sabelmouse
i love to tumble , ask me why .
12:55 PM on 11/04/2010
is anybody surprised by that? it's oil.