BP Oil Spill: Tar Balls In Louisiana Wildlife Refuge

Mother Jones:

Lots has changed on Elmer's Island. Nearly a year after the great oilpocalypse of 2010, this Louisiana wildlife refuge about 50 miles south of New Orleans isn't crawling with teams of cleanup workers raking big black pools of crude off the sand; there's no cleanup machinery or equipment; the only immediately visible remnants of the BP/Deepwater Horizon spill are the occasional tarballs, big as a kid's head, that wash onto the shore.

Not that I can just waltz onto this public beach to see all that--not everything has changed. Like some lame iteration of Groundhog Day, the hundredth time I try to pull onto the Elmer's Island access road from Highway 1 in southern Louisiana--some 200 days after the last time I tried it--I am, once again, stopped. Last year, it was cops blocking the road. Now it's private security hired by BP.

Read the whole story: Mother Jones

Comments

[rdk70816]

10:31 PM on 04/06/2011

Check out the beaches in Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. The beaches are clean and white and beautiful. The edges of the marshes in Louisiana are more difficult to clean without doing more damage than the tar balls. The cleaning will occur with care and sensitivity and will rely somewhat on mother nature but WILL BE guided by BP. Check out Alabama for the whitest beaches anywhere.

[harrisd]

03:43 PM on 04/04/2011

It's really sad. BP is attempting to drill in the Gulf again, even when the remnants of last year spill haven't been cleaned up yet.
How can this happen? The Government definitely has to stop them.

[dbrett480]

02:21 PM on 04/01/2011

I have more of a problem with the giant condos in a Louisiana Wildlife Refuge than the tar balls.

[Grumpy Man]

02:33 PM on 04/01/2011

Relax. That photo is NOT anywhere near Elmer's Island. There are no condos like that within fifty miles of Elmer's Island.

While we're at it, the security guard does NOT work for BP. Those guards are contracted by the state and BP reimburses the state for the expenditure since BP's leak made it necessary to hire them. They answer to the state, not BP.

The article is disingenuous at best.

[dbrett480]

03:03 PM on 04/01/2011

I was making a joke about how the photo clearly has nothing to do with the article.

[independentamerica]

02:10 PM on 03/31/2011

Bp does not want more bad publicity. that is the whole purpose of putting up the 20 billion at the GCCF. Get your BP Oil Spill News, updated daily, here: http://www.bpandfeinbergbankruptedus.com

[lowery2008]

05:58 PM on 03/30/2011

Just what is BP trying to hide?

[snowballinhell]

04:06 AM on 03/31/2011

Their money.

[had-enough]

03:11 PM on 03/30/2011

BP=BRITISH PUNKS

[Core-Sample]

02:59 PM on 03/30/2011

BP is a tar ball, so good luck with that one.

[broui]

02:53 PM on 03/30/2011

Is it me or is there a HUGE disconnect here?

Since when can a foreign company deny anyone from a PUBLIC beach?

[Grumpy Man]

02:35 PM on 04/01/2011

The security guard does NOT work for BP. Those guards are contracted by the state and BP reimburses the state for the expenditur­e since BP's leak made it necessary to hire them. They guards answer to the state, not to BP.

[The last sane American]

02:42 PM on 03/30/2011

Can somebody tell me when they built all those condominium towers on Grand Isle? And why is the sand a different color than the drab off-white photos posted just days ago, stamped Grand Isle?

Good one, yet again.

[pbjack]

03:06 PM on 03/30/2011

Just a guess here, but I'd say profit.

[The last sane American]

05:46 PM on 03/30/2011

You obviously do not sell condominiums. For Profit? Heard of a housing bubble recently? (exit right crying with laughter)

[Grumpy Man]

06:17 AM on 04/01/2011

LOL... Good catch TLSA!!! I was there less than a week ago. No such condos exist within fifty miles of Grand Isle or Elmer's Isle. That is NOT a beach near Grand Isle or Elmer's Isle.

Semantics here but the security isn't "hired by BP." They're employed through the state via contract. BP is reimbursing the state for all cleanup related costs which includes the cost of the security guards.

I had friends camping on the Grand Isle beach last weekend. The reported no sightings of tar balls etc... We had 176 of us plying the nearby marshes from Grand Isle, to Port Fourchon and all over the southern part of Lafourche Parish. No one reported any sighting of oil.

Also of note... if you look at the picture at the top of the story on the Mother Jones site... those are NOT tar balls that the workers are walking near. Those are naturally occurring vegetative remnants that are ALWAYS found on local beaches.

Me thinks Mr. McLelland may have been reporting with preconceived notions.

[The last sane American]

08:10 AM on 04/01/2011

Thank you. Sad that some posters feel it is right to stretch the truth because they feel their cause is just.

[gorgol]

02:36 PM on 03/30/2011

You think OBAMA doesn't know about this?? HA....He was in bed with BP from the beginning...
just like he's in bed with Big Banks, Wall Street, Goldman Sachs, Military Industrial Complex, etc etc...bought and paid for...

[April22]

02:28 PM on 03/30/2011

America and the UK are close partners in more than one venue.

As an empire of the past and a empire in the works, the US and the UK are top trading partners with each other, as well as being the founders of the United Nations, NATO, World Trade Organization and the G8.

US and the Uk are also two of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members.

http://usforeignpolicy.about.com/od/countryprofil2/p/usuk.htm

[had-enough]

03:09 PM on 03/30/2011

FRENEMIES! The Brits only like us Yanks for one reason $$$$$$$$$$$!

[truthfulman]

02:21 PM on 03/30/2011

If BP doesn't want to show you theirs, I'd be willing to show you mine. Anyone? Would anyone like to see my tarballs?

[pbjack]

02:13 PM on 03/30/2011

What? Did BP buy the beach? Do they own it? How can a foreign company do that with American soil? Something is very wrong here.

[April22]

02:29 PM on 03/30/2011

Too much is wrong here, in America!

[April22]

02:10 PM on 03/30/2011

BP holds some powerful sway with local and federal governments, even after all that has happened.

Let's keep this a secret, too.

Out of sight, out of mind. Can't hurt you, if you don't know about it. Right?!

Our government leaders do not want their citizens even getting a hinting of what they are doing or not doing. For the most part, the case is not doing.

[SmotPoker]

02:05 PM on 03/30/2011

Why aren't the people of that area storming the beaches? This is why nothing changes, Americans are nothing more than sheep.

[Mondieu]

02:27 PM on 03/30/2011

They ate too many Bic Macs and now are too lethargic to move. Sorry, but maybe if you give them a *diet* Coke, it will perk them up. Cheers.

[had-enough]

03:10 PM on 03/30/2011

complacent sheep! Fanned & faved!