"Oil From Gulf of Mexico Spill Reaches Chandeleur Island Chain"

"Orange-colored oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has washed up on the western side of North Island, the northernmost sliver of the Chandeleur and Breton Island chain, and officials with BP and federal and state agency say they have drafted a strategy to begin cleaning it up.

'On a small section of the northernmost island, we could see a pretty significant buildup of oil,' Times-Picayune photographer John McCusker said after an aerial tour of the spill on Thursday. 'It's not inundated, but oil has definitely reached the island.'

Oil was spotted at several other locations along the curved sand archipelago on Wednesday by two teams of scientists who flew over the area, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association scientist Jacqui Michel told reporters during a teleconference Thursday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro told reporters gathered at Breton Sound Marina that there was oil on Freemason Island, about a mile west from the middle of the crescent of the Chandeleur chain."

Mark Schleifstein reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune May 6, 2010.

See Also:

"Spill Raises Concerns of Health Effects" USA TODAY

Oil Beneath Gulf May Already Be Contaminating Food Chain (AP)

"BP Oil Washes Up on Louisiana's Wildlife Refuge Islands" (ENS)

"Lessons From the Exxon Valdez Disaster" (Reuters)

"After Gulf Coast Oil Spill, Scientists Envision Devastation for Region" (Washington Post)

"Gulf Oil Spill Is Bad, but How Bad?" (New York Times)

"Oil From Gulf Spill Creeps Ashore in Louisiana" (Reuters)

"Oil Spill May Endanger Human Health, Officials Say" (AP)

"Oil Spill's Economic Damage Could Be Permanent" (Los Angeles Times)