by Chase Lowenstein

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that new Deepwater Horizon oil was in the Gulf. An oil sheen, first reported Sept. 16, has been lingering for almost a month now with still no details on size or exact content.

The oil was directly in the vicinity of where the Deepwater Horizon drill rig exploded 50 miles offshore. Samples of the oil sheen were taken Sept. 26th and sent to the Coast Guard Marine Safety Lab in New London, Conneticut. Ryan Tippits of the U.S. Coast Guard told NOLA Defender, "The samples correlated to the oil from the BP Macondo well".

On Tuesday, Coast Guard Captain Duke Walker issued a Federal Notice of Interest for BP and Transocean. Either of the parties will be responsible, if not both of them, for any cost associated with further assessments or operations related to this sheen. Although the sheen is reported as "not feasible to recover", the Federal On-Scene Coordinators (FOSC) will continue response activities in a technilogically sound and safe maner.

The size of the sheen is still unknown due to changes in shift and current. The exact cause is also still uncertain but is suspected to be related to residual oil on the seafloor leftover from the explosion two years ago. It has been reported that nearby shorelines face no risk involed with the recent spillage.

Despite origin-tracing lab work, specific content in the spillage could not be confirmed with the USCG either. When asked if anything else has been leaked along with the oil, NOLA Defender was told that those results had not yet been released.

The public is reminded to contact the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802 to report all pollution incidents or the Coast Guard 8th District command center at 504-589-6225 in the event of any marine emergencies.