FIS - Worldnews - BP's reservoir continues to leak oil into Mexican Gulf: scientists
The Gulf Coast is reeling from reports that fresh oil rising from BP's Macondo Reservoir – ground zero of last year's massive spill – is coming ashore, again. Scientists have confirmed the existence of a "second wave" of BP oil fouling Gulf waters and beaches, poisoning marine life and wildlife, and posing a grave public health risk, New Orleans-based environmental attorney Stuart H Smith said.
While federal officials fail to acknowledge the problem, the situation in the Gulf worsens by the day. "It's deja vu all over again, in the very worst way," says Smith. "We have fresh oil surfacing again at the Deepwater Horizon site.'
Through rigorous "fingerprint" testing, Louisiana State University (LSU) chemist Ed Overton confirmed that slicks sweeping across the Macondo Prospect since mid-August are made up of BP oil. "It is a dead-ringer match," Professor Overton said. "I was amazed that the ratios matched as good as they did."
Based on lab-certified test results of oil samples taken last month on Horn Island – a narrow strip of federally protected land just 12 mi off the Mississippi coast –researchers believe that fresh BP oil from the Macondo Prospect has made landfall more than 100 mi north of its origin.
More bad news for the Gulf Coast.
