Notes From 500 Feet Above Sea Level, Barataria Bay
The French-born helicopter pilot zooming low over the Gulf is focused on two things: Whether he can find more fuel in Venice and whether or not the brown streaking we’re seeing north of the Chandeleur Islands is oil or just the transition of muddy Mississippi River water mixing with salt water.
Barataria Bay from 500 feet
It’s his first day flying out of Plaquemines Parish and, with maps piled on his lap, he admits to being a bit confused by both the landscape zipping past below at 100 mph – over solitary oil rigs, marsh and sand islands and a half-dozen shrimp boats trailing skimmers — and just how deeply the oil has penetrated up the mouth of the Mississippi.
From five hundred feet above sea level, with a mid-afternoon sun streaking in the window, it is admittedly hard to distinguish oil from muddy water. But when veteran Gulf photographer Gerald Herbert, riding shotgun, points worriedly below it’s clear we are seeing a new stain heading inland, which we estimate to be about 12 miles long.
(For the rest of my dispatch from Barataria Bay, go to takepart.com.)
Tags: Barataria Bay, Chandeleur Islands, Gerald Herbert, Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill, Mississippi River, Oil Rigs, Plaquemines Parish, Shrimp Boats, TakePart.com, Venice
oil spills should be controlled as soon as possible to prevent environmental damage;**