This weathered oil was encountered in the Mississippi Sound near Biloxi on August 9. Scientific sampling revealed the presence of three of the primary ingredients of the Corexit dispersant applied to oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Federal officials report that no dispersants have been used since July 19, and have maintained throughout the spill that none of the chemicals were used in Alabama or Mississippi state waters. Jerry Moran / Native Orleanian / al.com

By Ben Raines, Press-Register
Tuesday, August 31, 2010, 5:00 AM Lumpy, degraded oil collected in the Mississippi Sound has tested positive for several of the main ingredients in the Corexit dispersant used in connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to scientists working for a New Orleans-based lawyer. Officials with the federal government and BP PLC have maintained throughout the oil spill that no dispersant products have been used near shorelines in Alabama or Mississippi.  … Marco Kaltofen, part of the group of scientists who found the oil in Mississippi Sound, said it was impossible to determine when the dispersant had been applied to the oil. Results from the tests, which were conducted in a Colorado laboratory, indicated the oil was from the Deepwater Horizon well, he said. “I consider this to be very interesting scientifically, as few samples detect dispersant, much less three of their major ingredients in the same sample,” said Kaltofen. … Jerry Moran, a New Orleans-based photographer who accompanied the group to document the sampling effort, said that the material looked unlike anything he’d seen during months of photographing the spill. “We saw birds diving over a patch of oil. I’d never seen it that thick before. It looked like cauliflower. I had never seen it that texture before,” Moran said. “There was a rainbow sheen around us, a really thick, colorful sheen.” …

Degraded oil in Mississippi Sound tests positive for dispersants, says lawyer