Posted by Unknown
15 Juni 2010
Over one month after  the initial explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig,  crude oil continues to flow into the Gulf of Mexico, and oil slicks have  slowly reached as far as 12 miles into Louisiana's marshes. According  to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, more than 65 miles of Louisiana's  shoreline has now been oiled. BP said it will be at least Wednesday  before they will try using heavy mud and cement to plug the leak, a  maneuver called a "top kill" that represents their best hope of stopping  the oil after several failed attempts. Based on low estimates, at least  6 million gallons of crude have spewed into the Gulf so far - though  some scientists have said they believe the spill already surpasses the  11 million-gallon 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska as the worst in  U.S. history. (39  photos total) 
A dragonfly tries to clean itself as it is stuck to  marsh grass covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in  Garden Island Bay on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana near Venice on Tuesday,  May 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) 
    
A  Greenpeace activist steps through oil on a beach along the Gulf of  Mexico on May 20, 2010 near Venice, Louisiana. (John Moore/Getty Images)  # 
A  ship's wake cuts through a pattern of oil near the site of the  Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Monday, May 17, 2010.  (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) # 
Oil  reaches the marshlands on the northeast pass of the Mississippi Delta  May 23, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace) # 
A  dead Northern Gannet covered in oil lies along Grand Isle Beach in  Grand Isle, Louisiana May 21, 2010. A member of Tri-State Bird Rescue  and Research tagged the spot of the location of the incident.  (REUTERS/Sean Gardner) # 
A  BP cleanup worker rakes oil from the beach on May 22, 2010 on Elmer's  Island, Louisiana. Authorities closed the popular tourist beach to the  public and media wishing to visit the beach must be escorted by a BP  official. (John Moore/Getty Images) # 
Oil  cleanup workers bring in a load of contaminated oil-absorbent booms  from the Gulf of Mexico on May 20, 2010 near Venice, Louisiana. (John  Moore/Getty Images) # 
Bridget  Hargrove of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, her four-year-old son Ayden and  one-year-old daughter, Emma, wade in baby pools away from the oil  contaminated Gulf of Mexico on Grand Isle beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana  on May 21, 2010. Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle said the town has  closed its beach effective from noon Friday due to the presence of oil  on the beach. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner) # 
Specks  of oil stick onto the foot of Maggie Grace Hurdle, 8, of Rosedale,  Louisiana, as she walks along a beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana May 21,  2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner) # 
A  reddish egret, its legs and tail feathers coated with oil, flies above  the water in Grand Isle, Louisiana, May 20, 2010. (U.S. Coast Guard  photo/Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley) # 
Natural  gas siphoned from the BP oil leak burns off on the Discover Enterprise  on May 21, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast.  Ultra-deepwater rigs and other equipment are being assembled at the  site, preparing for a procedure called a "top kill" that BP hopes will  stop the flow of oil from the well. (John Moore/Getty Images) # 
Natural  gas from the damaged Deepwater Horizon wellhead is burned off by the  drillship Discoverer Enterprise May 16, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico off  the coast Louisiana. (Patrick Kelley/U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images) # 
Collected  oil burns on the water in this aerial view seven miles northeast of the  Deepwater Horizon site over the Gulf of Mexico, May 18, 2010.  (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace) # 
Oil  is seen on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico about six miles southeast  of Grand Isle, Louisiana May 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner) # 
Protective  booms surround islands near mouth of the Mississippi River south of  Venice, Louisiana from an oil spill Monday, May 17, 2010. (AP  Photo/Charlie Riedel) # 
Oil  floats around booms and through marshlands of the Mississippi Delta on  May 23, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace) # 
Maura  Wood, Senior Program Manager of Coastal Louisiana Restoration for the  National Wildlife Federation takes a sample of water in a heavily oiled  marsh near Pass a Loutre, Louisiana on May 20, 2010. (REUTERS/Lee  Celano) # 
An  oil-stained pelican leaves its nest as oil washes ashore on an island  that is home to hundreds of brown pelican nests as well at terns, gulls  and roseated spoonbills in Barataria Bay just inside the the coast of  Louisiana, Saturday, May 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) # 
A  Plaquemines Parish employee lays oil absorbent boom as pelicans leave  their nests on an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, Saturday, May 22,  2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) # 
A  Louisiana Fish and Wildlife officer unsuccessfully pursues an oil  soaked pelican in Barataria Bay, Louisiana on Sunday, May 23, 2010. (AP  Photo/Gerald Herbert) # 
An  oil-soaked pelican takes flight after Louisiana Fish and Wildlife  employees tried to corral him on an island in Barataria Bay on Sunday,  May 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) # 
Oil  is scooped out of a marsh impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill  in Redfish Bay along the coast of Louisiana, Saturday, May 22, 2010. (AP  Photo/Gerald Herbert) # 
A  sheen of oil sits on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico close to the  site of the BP oil spill as a boat uses a containment boom to gather the  oil to be burned off approximately 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana  May 18, 2010  (REUTERS/Hans Deryk) # 
Crews  try to clean an island covered in oil on the south part of East Bay May  23, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace) # 
A  BP cleanup crew removes oil from a beach on May 23, 2010 at Port  Fourchon, Louisiana. (John Moore/Getty Images) # 
An  oil-covered crab crawls past a blob of oil on the beach on May 22, 2010  on Grand Isle, Louisiana.  (John Moore/Getty Images) # 
A  boat travels between marsh and oil-stained boom near the mouth of the  Mississippi River south of Venice, Louisiana Wednesday, May 19, 2010.  (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) # 
Oil  from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is seen clumped on roseau cane in  the Northeast Pass of the Mississippi River on the coast of Louisiana  near Venice, Tuesday, May 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) # 
A  ship maneuvers and sprays water near a rig in heavy surface oil in this  aerial view over the Gulf of Mexico May 18, 2010, as oil continues to  leak from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. (REUTERS/Daniel  Beltra/Greenpeace) # 
These  Kemp's Ridley turtles, photographed on May 23rd, 2010, are considered  the smallest marine turtles in the world and are being held at the New  England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts because they cannot be  released in the wild, due in part to the Gulf Coast oil spill. (Dina  Rudick/Boston Globe) # 
The  sun rises over an oil-soaked beach on May 23, 2010 on Grand Isle,  Louisiana. (John Moore/Getty Images) # 
Greenpeace  Senior Campaigner Lindsey Allen attempts to save a small crab covered  in oil walking along the shore of the breakwater in the mouth of the  Mississippi River where it meets the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana, May  18, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner/Greenpeace) # 
An  outboard boat motor breaks up a thick layer of oil as Louisiana  Governor Bobby Jindal and Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser  toured the oil-impacted marsh of Pass a Loutre on Wednesday, May 19,  2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) # 
A  shrimp boat is used to collect oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig  explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in the waters of Chandeleur Sound,  Louisiana on May 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) # 
Volunteers  from the Grassroots Mapping  project made a trip in a small boat (upper left) to the the Chandeleur  Islands near Louisiana's Misissippi Delta on May 9th, 2010, taking with  them a balloon (green tether seen at left) and photo equipment to help  document the impact of the oil spill. Public domain photo provided by Jeff Warren and Grassroots Mapping project. # 
Dr.  Erica Miller, a member of the Louisiana State Wildlife Response Team,  cleans a pelican of oil at the Clean Gulf Associates Mobile Wildlife  Rehabilitation Station on Ft. Jackson in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana,  May 15, 2010. (REUTERS/U.S. Navy/Justin Stumberg) # 
A  helicopter flies over surface oil in this aerial view over the Gulf of  Mexico, May 18, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace) # 
A  young heron sits dying amidst oil splattering underneath mangrove on an  island impacted by oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in  Barataria Bay, along the the coast of Louisiana on Sunday, May 23, 2010.  (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) # 
Boat  captain Preston Morris shows the oil on his hands while collecting  surface samples from the marsh of Pass a Loutre, Louisiana on Wednesday,  May 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) # http://anaxmuda.tk