Louisiana’s Grand Isle goes through the oil ringer

By Noelle Leavitt

Reporter Noelle Leavitt handles mousse July 6, 2010 at Grand Isle Beach. Mousse is characterized as brown, red or orange in color with a pudding-like sticky consistency by Deepwater Horizon Response. Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency

Sticky blobs of oil lay upon the shoreline of Grand Isle, LA that is usually cluttered with children playing in the crisp ocean this time of year.

As the laughing gulls walk along the beaches, their webbed feet occasionally touch the polluting, pudding-like mousse that was breached from a broken oil rig nearly a mile deep off the Gulf Coast of Louisiana.

A portion of the contaminated shoreline is what’s called the “hot zone,” where tar balls and sticky oil pollute the beach.

Protective booms are spread along the shorefront, as well as signs posted warning the public to stay out of the effected areas.

Local residents now rely on BP for their income, said Grand Isle resident and home builder Wesley Bland, who has received two payments of $5,000 dollars in the last couple of months for lost work.

“This year was supposed to be a big year for me, better than last year. I have built 25 homes right here in Grand Isle,” Bland said. “I employ 17 people. Since the oil hit, I have six workers, and next month I may not have any.”

The father of four young children, Bland said $5,000 isn’t enough to pay his bills.

“You know, I put a sign out and I basically told (BP) to go to hell, but BP has came in and handed checks to all the local people, and continue to do so every month,” Bland said.

A sign just outside Grand Isle shows the discontent businessman Wesley Bland has about the BP oil spill. After speaking with Bland, his disappointment with the handling of the incident over the last 78 days has shifted from BP to the U.S. Government.
Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency

The beach is closed July 6, 2010 near zone 10 of Grand Isle Beach.
Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency

The plastic barrier to prevent unauthorized persons from entering the contaminated beach is about 60 feet before the large inflated black and orange boom that demarkates the hot zone seen here July 6, 2010 near zone ten of Grand Isle Beach. The surf at zone ten is much darker in color the crest of the waves a dark brown in color. The beach is closed and there are plastic net fences set up to keep all unauthorized personnel away from the inflatable containment barrier which demarkates the hot zone. Nobody is allowed in the hot zone without the appropriate hazmat gear and equipment including facemasks and tyvek suits where the oil is the worst. There are “decon” crews whose primary job is to make sure none of the oil and chemical contaminants pass the barrier of the hot zone, cleaning the crews who clean the beach. They are the last defense between the oil and the public.
Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency

A laughing gull stands on the Grand Isle beach surrounded by blobs of oil mousse. Mousse is characterized as brown, rust or orange in color with a pudding-like sticky consistency by Deepwater Horizon Response.
Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency

A dark brown tide is seen July 6, 2010 near zone ten of Grand Isle Beach. The surf at zone ten is much darker in color than the surf at zone five, the crest of the waves a dark brown in color.
Photo by: Jenn LeBlanc/Iris Photo Agency