Gulf spill pushes ‘thick, black cake-mix type oil’ into Barataria Bay

By Allen Powell II, The Times Picayune
June 03, 2010, 7:15PM For the first time since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana 46 days ago, oil began pushing into Barataria Bay in thick, heavy concentrations, prompting local officials to put out a call for more absorbant boom to combat its spread. Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts said that the oil, in some places several inches thick, had been spotted Thursday by several people and that fishers were working hard to get boom into place to protect the marshes and wildlife. “It’s no longer sheen or tar balls,” Roberts said from Lafitte on Thursday evening. “It is thick black cake-mix type oil.” Ted Jackson, a photographer for The Times-Picayune, said he hadn’t seen oil of such a heavy volume in Barataria Bay. “I’ve flown out there before, and you were looking for oil and you’d find it in small streaks when you caught the light just right,” Jackson said. “Today when you flew into Barataria Bay from the north, you said ‘Oh my God.’ It was streaking everywhere.” Jackson said the consistency of the oil was heavier than he has seen off-shore. “As you got closer to it it was clumps, black and brown. You’d see big, black blobs in the sheen.”… U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who was in Lafitte for a tour and news conference, said she looked into the eyes of the area’s fishers Thursday and saw generations of Louisiana residents desperate for a solution. “They were visibly shaken by what they were seeing and scared for their futures,” Landrieu said. …