Coastguards have confirmed that oil is washing up on the US shoreline for the first time after the BP rig disaster.
Teams tackling the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico reported the presence of oil on a beach of an outlying island off Louisiana.
Oiled birds including gannets and brown pelicans have been found on the Chandeleur Islands.
"We have teams that have confirmed oil on the beach, at the south end of the Chandeleur Islands, at Freemason Island," coastguard Connie Terrell said.
"This is the first confirmation that Unified Command has received of oil on a shoreline," she added.
"It's largely just sheen, there is no evidence of medium or heavy oil," Ms Terrell said.
BP spokesman John Curry said three emergency response teams had been sent to the island, 30 miles off the mainland.
Inflatable booms to try to protect the prime marsh and wildlife area were being deployed, Mr Curry said.
"We are doing everything we can to make sure a major impact doesn't happen," Mr Curry said.
The Chandeleur Islands form the easternmost point of Louisiana and are part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge.
They are the second oldest refuge in the United States and home to countless endangered shorebirds.
19 comments:
After spending a week at the beach and learning about how much life there is all around the ocean. It makes me really sad that all of those things are in danger.
After just getting back from the aquatic science trip and learning so much about the ocean this really concerns me. I feel like more precautions should be taken to ensure that oil spills won't occur. Protecting the ocean wild life should be a top priority.
There have been so many incidents of oil spills...there has to be a safer way for oil to be transported because this is really hurting the environment.
it is awful to see that many of these birds have become effected because of this oil spill. it is good that the emergency teams are being sent out to the islands to help out. hopefully this incident can get resolved.
This is so sad to hear about and really devestating to our enviornment but what other options do we have. We depend on oil and there is plenty in the ocean. Yes this is devestating our wild life but there have been other accidents that nature has cleaned up itself and soon time and nature will clean this up. We consume so much oil that it is very necessary to drill in the ocean. This is tragic but it's better than alternative nuclear power accidents. If a nuclear plant has an explosion, the radiation will do so much harm and affect so many people in harmful ways so while an oil spill seems catostrophic, I would much prefer that over a nuclear disaster.
This oil spill should remind us that the environment is something we must strive to preserve. Although this was a freak accident, more stringent precautions should be enforced in off-shore drilling to prevent disasters like this from happening.
I can't believe something wasn't done sooner. It's a shame that another sloppily handled disaster is afflicting lousiana.
This whole situation is obserd. First it wasn't a major leak and nobody was worried about it and now it's so large that it's hitting the us coastline. There must be so
ethkng else we could be doing to try and help, expecially with soany endangered animals nesting I'm those areas.
I hope tha authorities are able to contain this spill and protec the wildlife as much as possible. Oil spills are the source of such tradgies in wildlife populations.
I was in South Padre this past summer when there was a major oil spill. It was no where near this spill though. It completely ruins a day on the beach and so many animals will die becasuse of it. That's twice that this has happened (that I know of) in the past year and thats far too many. It makes me sad for the animals and for the people going to those beaches.
Hopefully this new "box thing?" that they're going to lower over the leak will be able to capture the leaking oil to prevent further spilling.
This whole oil situation just plain sucks. Things dieing, prices rising, no shrimp. I think BP needs to get it together and get this under control. I understand that its a large job, but ive only seen the coastguard. Cudos to them.
I'm hoping that pretty soon upkeep on aging rigs so they won't cause disasters like this is going to become so expensive that energy companies will actually want to abandon oil drilling for alternative energy.
This is a really unfortunate situation. If there's any consolation, at least people had a couple of weeks to prepare for the oil to reach the shore and that more lives weren't lost. Hopefully the environment can bounce back quickly and those working to minimize the damage can be successful.
ahhhh...yahh there are birds to worry about but what about all of the other animals...hmmm? But because there are endangered animals "birds" we have to do something to save them=]And isn't this oil wash up costing us money?? We should worry more about this stuff then some of the things people have their heads in "cough" "cough" Arizona's new bill!
I think the oil starting to wash up in the coast is the worst thing that would happen with this situation. Imagine all the animals that are going to be contaminated and extinct because of this. We could be losing many species of animals. Not only are we losing animals many cannot even go on the coast anymore to enjoy a day on the beach. i believe it is truly a bad situation it is ruining the environment BIG TIME!
That's very unfortunate. =/ It started to seem like the number of oil spills was lowering but I guess not. With all the Dawn dish soap commercials about oil spills you think the industry would be a little more careful. All these "accidents" are rather embarrassing...
Fire and destruction on the of shore oil drilling rig led to the sinking of the rig and left the drilled oil well exposed and not contained. It has been pouring crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico since the accident. It is reaching the coast line and causing ecological havoc. The steps taken to control and contain the oil have not been successful. Accidents like this remind us of our dependence on crude oil and the need to find alternative energy source. It also reminds us of our reliance on the ocean and the necessity of protecting it. We do need to limit offshore drilling and make sure that proper safety precautions are taken so these types of accidents do not occur.
The oil spill is very unfortunate. I don't care what your political views are, nobody likes an oil spill to make nature look gross. I will say, however, that trying to save all of the animals effected by the spill may be a little out of the question. I read once about two sea lions that were cleaned up after an oil spill, each of the animals costing $80,000 to clean. The cleaners went to release the animals back into the ocean the day after they were cleared and just as they swam away ( with thousands of on-lookers) a killer whale jumped up and ate them both. Although I don not want for animals to be injured by oil spills, I think it is a little impractical for us to try and save them all.
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