Just as the Obama administration is stepping up its response to the rapidly spreading oil spill from an exploded BP-run drilling site in the Gulf of Mexico, some unofficial accounts claim that tentacles of the pollutants have reached the American shore. Local and national officials have been fearing that the slick would reach Louisiana’s fragile coastal marshlands, where it would be incredibly difficult to clean, and could very easily cause catastrophic damage. The Times reports that the Navy has provided “50 contractors, 7 skimming systems and 66,000 feet of inflatable containment boom” to protect the shoreline. In all, 210,000 feet of protective boom line have been laid out.
