susano
06-15-2010, 12:10 PM
June 14, 2010 — Unprotected and vulnerable, the small strip island of Grand Isle, Louisiana has been dealt the most devastating blow so far from the BP Oil Spill.
Chris Hernandez, a dedicated city employee for 30 years takes us on a tour of the 7 mile beach, which normally would be a very popular spot in the summer heat.
But on this day, 48 Days into this ever growing environmental disaster, the beaches are empty. About 30 feet in from the surf a long continuous orange boom has been installed, a "Tiger Dam," which runs pretty much down the entire 7 miles of beach. Although its intent is to keep oil from encroaching further up the beach, it appears as if it isn't being monitored; oil has washed over it during high tide about 12 hours before our visit - now the entire beach and many areas outside the Tiger Dam are covered in several inches of a mixture of crude oil and the highly toxic dispersant Corexit. This cocktail pretty much kills anything it touches.
Keep in mind the tally for dead wildlife doesn't include the large number of animals killed sight unseen. Nor do the number of animals and birds and turtles cleaned reflect any great success: it has been suggested to BP by several Humane services and wildlife experts that animals recovered from the oil be euthanized. This is primarily based on data which indicates the survival rate of de-oiled and cleaned bird is 1%.
YouTube - GRANDE ISLE BEACH-desktop.m4v (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vYi_Ic9U3E)
Chris Hernandez, a dedicated city employee for 30 years takes us on a tour of the 7 mile beach, which normally would be a very popular spot in the summer heat.
But on this day, 48 Days into this ever growing environmental disaster, the beaches are empty. About 30 feet in from the surf a long continuous orange boom has been installed, a "Tiger Dam," which runs pretty much down the entire 7 miles of beach. Although its intent is to keep oil from encroaching further up the beach, it appears as if it isn't being monitored; oil has washed over it during high tide about 12 hours before our visit - now the entire beach and many areas outside the Tiger Dam are covered in several inches of a mixture of crude oil and the highly toxic dispersant Corexit. This cocktail pretty much kills anything it touches.
Keep in mind the tally for dead wildlife doesn't include the large number of animals killed sight unseen. Nor do the number of animals and birds and turtles cleaned reflect any great success: it has been suggested to BP by several Humane services and wildlife experts that animals recovered from the oil be euthanized. This is primarily based on data which indicates the survival rate of de-oiled and cleaned bird is 1%.
YouTube - GRANDE ISLE BEACH-desktop.m4v (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vYi_Ic9U3E)