Environment

Oil Spill Gulf of Mexico April 30 Update: Oil Reaches Shore, Map

by Amy Judd | April 30, 2010 at 07:43 am

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The Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico Has Reached the Shore on April 30 and Photos Show Extent of Spill

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has reached the shores of Louisiana and according to WWLTV, the oil has started to spread on to the wetlands located at the shore. Crews are having trouble dealing with the spread as the weather is not cooperating and officials are not able to perform the protection methods they had planned on.

There are boat patrols going up and down the coast keeping an eye on where the oil has touched land or affected the marshes. However, due to the threat of high winds and waves from now until Sunday this could mean that more oil could be pushed towards the shoreline and in to ponds and lakes. Thunderstorms are expected in the area on April 30 according to the National Weather Service.

What is concerning is that a national wildlife refuge is located on the Chandeleur Islands and while booms have been set up to stop oil spreading to the islands, if the waves are so high they will just wash the oil right over the booms and the oil will affect the ecological system of the wildlife refuge.

Crews are unable to skim oil from the surface or burn it off for the next couple of days because of the weather, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Sally Brice-O'Hara said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

President Obama and the White House have decided that there will be no more offshore drilling until this disaster is under control. It is still not known what caused the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig. The leak is now five times bigger than what was first believed and the military has sent two Air Force C-130s to the region and they are ready to dump chemicals on the oil spill.

This could become the worst environmental disaster in the past few decades, and could even be more devastating than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.

"It is of grave concern," David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press about the spill. "I am frightened. This is a very, very big thing. And the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling."

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michael Jones (not verified)

at 19:33 on April 30th, 2010

Drilling for archaic forms of energy such as oil has obviously become dangerous for life on planet earth. There are new and more powerful forms of energy available to us. We have got to put a stop to these liars that say we have to drill, drill, drill, for power. The only power being advanced is their dollar power. That is going down the tubes and far too many people are suffering because of their greed. These are not christian or any other faiths champions. They just want more. More power, more stuff, more LAND, more everything. They are filled up with gain, like when a moon wants to become a planet.

zubulus (not verified)

at 09:57 on May 1st, 2010

dude do you not drive a car or use lights then does that mean your not a christian sounds to me like your a tree hugger who lives in a fake world with the rest of the enviroposers get real grow up and shut up this is life shit happens and sometimes its bad shit