Oil leak threatens Louisiana's marshes

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=127159&sectionid=3510203


The BP oil leak has spread into US wetlands, prompting furious Louisiana officials to accuse the oil giant of destroying fragile marshes beyond repair.

A top local official in southern Louisiana said on Thursday that oil washing ashore has destroyed 24 miles of the state's fragile marshland.

According to Louisiana's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the threat mainly affects fish, birds and mammals.

With some of the worst fears of environmental disaster being realized in the marshlands of the Mississippi Delta, BP was also forced to admit that it had underestimated the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.

The British energy giant had always maintained that only 5,000 barrels or 210,000 gallons of crude was gushing each day from a pipe ruptured when its Deepwater Horizon rig exploded one month ago and sank.

Independent experts have warned the flow could be at least 10 times higher.