Environment

Ten teams are working the shorelines from Terrebone Parish to the west, along the coastal bays and up into Lake Pontchartrain. BP is paying environmental consulting firm Entrix to look for underwater oil. Clumps of white material resembling pompoms are suspended in the water. Staff scientist Chelsea Murphy explains the process it calls the "Sentinel" program, while on board a boat following teams motoring between buoys.

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency say lower levels are probably caused by microbes eating the oil. Testing at 33-hundred to 43-hundred feet showed a 20 percent decline in oxygen levels. NOAA spokesman Steve Murawski says it's not a major concern.

"To date the decrease in oxygen has not been significant enough to cause hypoxia at depth - that is, the dead zone - - nor is it likely to going forward."

By Eileen Fleming

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – National Incident Commander Thad Allen says the 300-ton device was clogged with icy slush as it was slowly lifted off the sea floor a mile under the surface. Crews have been making sure the equipment subpoenaed as evidence is flushed out and preserved. Allen says the well remains plugged from the top with mud and cement, and the new blowout preventer is secured.

By Eileen Fleming

By Eileen Fleming

By Eileen Fleming

By Eileen Fleming