Massive stretches of weathered oil spotted in Gulf of Mexico

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Sat Oct-23-10 11:47 AM
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Massive stretches of weathered oil spotted in Gulf of Mexico

Edited on Sat Oct-23-10 12:07 PM by Generic Other

Source: Times-Picyune

Massive stretches of weathered oil spotted in Gulf of Mexico

Just three days after the U.S. Coast Guard admiral in charge of the BP oil spill cleanup declared little recoverable surface oil remained in the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana fishers Friday found miles-long strings of weathered oil floating toward fragile marshes on the Mississippi River delta.

The discovery, which comes as millions of birds begin moving toward the region in the fall migration, gave ammunition to groups that have insisted the government has overstated clean-up progress, and could force reclosure of key fishing areas only recently reopened.

The oil was sighted in West Bay, which covers approximately 35 square miles of open water between Southwest Pass, the main shipping channel of the river, and Tiger Pass near Venice. Boat captains working the BP clean-up effort said they have been reporting large areas of surface oil off the delta for more than a week but have seen little response from BP or the Coast Guard, which is in charge of the clean-up. The captains said most of their sightings have occurred during stretches of calm weather, similar to what the area has experienced most of this week.

On Friday reports included accounts of strips of the heavily weathered orange oil that became a signature image of the spill during the summer. One captain said some strips were as much as 400 feet wide and a mile long.

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Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/10/massive_stretches_of_weathered.html

On the same day they print this story, they print the following one!!!! Hello? Where are the reporters? Too busy lacquering their hair and plucking their eyebrows? Cognitive Dissonance meet Deliberate Cover-up!!!

NOAA reopens 7,000 more square miles for fishing in the Gulf

The federal government has reopened an additional 7,000 square miles of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico to commercial and recreational fishing.

That means 96 percent of all federal waters are now open, after a series of closures this summer as oil gushed into the Gulf following the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the reopening of waters 60 miles east of the Macondo well site, off the coast Florida between the Florida-Alabama state line and Cape San Blas, Fla.

Today marks the tenth reopening of fishing areas in the Gulf since July 22. The decision came after NOAA and the federal Food and Drug Administration sampled numerous finfish in the area and conducted smell tests and a chemical analysis for oil.

Expert trained sensory analysts for NOAA sampled 155 samples of finfish from the area, and the agency sent 156 fish samples done in 22 separate composite tests for analysis in NOAA's labs. The smell testing indicated no oil or dispersant taint, and the chemical analysis found that no levels of hydrocarbons anywhere near the level of concern for humans.

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/10/noaa_reopens_7000_more_square.html