In La

[Galactic]

Here's bit of the story about the signs of regrowth that has seen in oiled marshes after the math of oil spill.

By CAIN BURDEAU and JEFFREY COLLINS, Associated Press Writers Cain Burdeau And Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press Writers – 37 mins ago

BARATARIA BAY, La. – Shoots of marsh grass and bushes of mangrove trees already are starting to grow back in the bay where just months ago photographers shot startling images of dying pelicans coated in oil from the massive Gulf oil spill.

More than a dozen scientists interviewed by The Associated Press say the marsh here and across the Louisiana coast is healing itself, giving them hope delicate wetlands might weather the worst offshore spill in U.S. history better than they had feared. Some marshland could be lost, but the amount appears to be small compared with what the coast loses every year through human development.

On Tuesday, a cruise through the Barataria Bay marsh revealed thin shoots growing up out of the oiled mass of grass. Elsewhere, there were still gray, dead mangrove shrubs, likely killed by the oil, but even there new green growth was coming up.

"These are areas that were black with oil," said Matt Boasso, a temporary worker with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

As crude from a blown-out BP well oozed toward the marshes after an April oil-rig explosion, experts had feared it would kill roots in marsh grass, smother the mangroves and ultimately dissolve wetlands that plant life was holding together. State, federal and BP cleanup efforts were focused on preventing that from happening by burning and skimming the oil, blocking it with booms and sand berms and breaking it up with chemical dispersants

more in this story is here.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill_healing_marsh

[Travelling Man]

I've been down here in Louisiana for almost three months, in response to the spill. I've been appalled at the horrible media coverage that is using the exact same footage from right after the oil made landfall and saying that it was from yesterday or today.

As part of the SCAT program, the Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Team, we are getting daily reports of new vegetative growth from all around the toe of Louisiana. We are in the process of getting ready for the final stage of the cleanup... and we are very excited about it. Now, before people jump up and down that we're pulling out - the INITIAL part of Stage III is set to be re-reviewed SEPTEMBER of 2011. Odds are we'll be down here until fall of 2012 - just in time for the end of the world. (it's a joke!)