A month in, outrage over Gulf oil spill grows
By KEVIN McGILL and VICKI SMITH
Associated Press Writers
May 21, 11:35 AM EDT GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) — Thick, sticky oil crept deeper into delicate marshes of the Mississippi Delta, an arrival dreaded for a month since the crude started spewing into the Gulf, as anger and frustration mounted over efforts to plug the gusher from a blown-out well and contain the spill. Up to now, only tar balls and a sheen of oil had come ashore. But chocolate brown and vivid orange globs and sheets of foul-smelling oil the consistency of latex paint have begun coating the reeds and grasses of Louisiana’s wetlands, home to rare birds, mammals and a rich variety of marine life. A deep, stagnant ooze sat in the middle of a particularly devastated marsh off the Louisiana coast where Emily Guidry Schatzel of the National Wildlife Federation was examining stained reeds. “This is just heartbreaking,” she said with a sigh. “I can’t believe it.” … “It’s anger at the people who are supposed to be driving the ship don’t have any idea what’s going on,” said E.J. Boles, 55, a musician from Big Pine Key, Fla. “Why wouldn’t they have any contingency plan? I’m not a genius and even I would have thought of that.” … “We’re now looking at a scenario where response plans include lighting the ocean on fire, pouring potent chemicals into the water, and using trash and human hair to stop the flow of oil,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, in a letter to President Barack Obama calling for a formal moratorium on new offshore drilling permits. “If this is the backup plan, we need to rethink taking the risk in the first place.” Patience was wearing thin among state and local officials who called on Obama to take a larger role in the fight against oil invading the Louisiana coast. “We’ve given BP enough time,” said Jefferson Parish Councilman John Young. “Everything in that marsh is dead as we speak,” Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said after touring the clogged marshes. “Had you fallen off that boat yesterday and come up breathing that stuff, you probably wouldn’t be here, either.”
