Oil still washing up on Louisiana coast

BATON ROUGE, La., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Tar balls are washing up on shore and sections of beach along the Louisiana coast are still closed nine months after the gulf oil disaster, a group says.

The Deepwater Horizon oil platform caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April, spewing thousands of barrels of oil into the water and along the southern U.S. coast for months.

David Muth, the Louisiana state director for the National Wildlife Foundation, confirmed the presence of so-called tar balls on the shore of Grand Isle, La., last week, more than nine months after the disaster and more than five months since the leaking well was capped.

NWF said it needed an escort from British energy company and Deepwater Horizon operator BP to reach some parks on the Louisiana coast. Many, Muth said, were closed because of cleanup operations.

Muth said oil residue formed a mass in the shallow waters of the gulf and breaks into smaller pieces during stormy weather. He said that tar balls are becoming part of the regional ecosystem.

NWF said about 113 miles of coastline in Louisiana remain closed. Muth added that there isn't a "perfect solution" to cleaning up, noting oil residue could linger in the environment for decades.