July 8, 2010
Mississippi coast faces environmental crisis
By Leigh Coleman
WAVELAND, Mississippi (Reuters) - Coastal Mississippi is facing its biggest environmental crisis since Hurricane Katrina as oil from a leaking BP well in the Gulf of Mexico fouls its beaches and creeps onto inshore wetlands.
People watched in horror on Thursday as high tides washed oil onto beaches in the southeast of the state and in some cases the chunks of hardened oil floating offshore were as big as a school bus, said Long Beach Mayor Billy Skellie.
The previous day, oily water breached a sea wall and cascaded onto a coast road, leaving sticky patches.
It also flowed into a stretch of marsh, coating around one mile of marsh grass where it has the potential to do long-term harm to a delicate ecosystem. In one spot, fishermen pulled crab traps from the marsh bed only to discover that all the crabs were dead."
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