Flying Over Gulf Marshes: The Spill Is Vast, the Booms Are Small

[Robbien]

I learned a new word on my first day on the Louisiana Gulf Coast: marshballs. Flying over what used to be vast stretches of marshland, our pilot said that after decades of blocking the Mississippi River from releasing more sediment into the wetlands and years of dredging canals for oil exploration, thousands of acres of marshes had eroded and been transformed into broken marsh or open water.

Then Hurricane Katrina came along and rolled the remaining pieces into marshballs—tiny little islands of grass that barely rise above the surface.

Looking down at the so-called marshballs, I realized just how damaged and vulnerable the coast was—even before the BP blowout sent millions of gallons of oil flowing into the Gulf.

Now the area is being pounded by the worst environmental disaster in history. And yet the primary line of defense being used for the remaining marshlands—booms to block the oil—hardly seem up to the critical task of protecting this fragile ecosystem.

There’s nothing like seeing it firsthand to drive these realities home.

We started our day by meeting with a representative from SEEDCO, a nonprofit that helps finance businesses and other nonprofits in distressed areas, such as post-Katrina Louisiana. She told us about the energy fishermen have to rebuild their businesses—if they are given the chance.

We then boarded a seaplane for a flyover of the spill, but thunderstorms had rolled in and we were unable to get all the way out to the drill site.

But visiting the region in stormy conditions was revealing. Most of the images we see of the spill show placid waters. Today we saw fairly big waves even in the protected waters of Barataria Bay, and we were told there were seven-foot swells out in the Gulf. When even just one- to two-foot waves hit the booms, the oil jumped right over them and headed toward the marshes. Later we heard that, to make matters worse, the dispersants being used kept much of the oil below the surface so that it went right under the booms onto the marsh shores.

From the airplane window, I was struck by how vast the oil spill is and how thin the boom is.

much more . . .

http://www.greenandsave.com/green_news/green-blog/flying-over-gulf-marshes-spill-vast-booms-are-small-6791


The headline says it all, the spill is vast and the booms are so small.

[Angry Dragon]

1. It is not often one gets to see

the criminal and the protector holding hands
as they watch together the destruction of
part of a country.

[Mimosa]

2. Booms are nearly useless, rock and sand berms would be helpful.

Robbien, the people who live in the area know booms aren't that useful. They fear the Fed gov doesn't understand the ecosystem or are willing to let it go.