Wildlife rescuers prepare for the worst as Gulf oil creeps onshore

April 30, 2010

by The Associated Press
Friday, April 30, 2010

MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER -- Concern is growing over the wildlife that inhabits the Gulf Coast as a massive oil slick moves into shore.

Already, a rescue operation about 70 miles southeast of New Orleans received its first patient, a young bird found offshore covered in thick, black oil. Workers with Delaware-based Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research are using blue dishwashing soap to scrub down any oil-tainted creatures.

Down the coast, at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss., scientists, veterinarians and researchers are frantically preparing for the possible arrival of hundreds of oily sea mammals in the coming days.

The nonprofit facility's director, Dr. Moby Solangi, says the site will be ground zero for injured marine mammals from Texas to Florida.

Pools have been freshly cleaned and prepared to handle sea turtles, manatees and dolphins. There are as many as 5,000 dolphins in the Gulf area between the Mississippi and Louisiana coasts and the oil rig, many giving birth right now.

Solangi says "We're going to have a lot of babies here. We're looking at a colossal tragedy."

Meanwhile, lawsuits related to the leak are already piling up.

Although no cause has been determined, oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. says it finished cementing operation 20 hours before a Gulf of Mexico rig went up in flames.

Halliburton is named as a defendant in most of the more than two dozen lawsuits filed by Gulf Coast people and businesses claiming the oil spill could ruin them financially. In one lawsuit, two Louisiana shrimpers claim cementing contributed to the explosion.

Halliburton said Friday it had four workers stationed on the rig, performing several tasks, including cementing -- a process of applying cement and water to a pipe used to prevent the wall of the hole from caving in during drilling.

According to a 2007 study by Minerals Management Service, cementing was a factor 18 of 39 rig blowouts in the gulf between 1992 and 2006.

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