NEW ORLEANS, June 20 (UPI) -- A state authority in Louisiana said there was still oil left to be cleaned from coastal areas affected by the BP oil spill in 2010.
The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority said in its monthly report for June the U.S. Coast Guard and BP were downplaying their remaining operations along the state coast.
Drue Banta Winters, a state lawyer in charge of BP environmental complaints, said 200 miles of the state's coast were still polluted by oil left over from the 2010 spill.
BP spokesman Jason Ryan was quoted by The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune as saying significant progress was made in cleanup around the barrier islands off the state's coast.
"Over the past six months we have drilled over 14,000 auger holes and found that about 3 percent of the locations required any clean-up," he said in a report published Wednesday. "Recovery of the material is nearly complete."
Winters said 2.2 million pounds of oily residue was recovered from Louisiana's coast during a two-month period that ended in May. Neighboring states collected 4,112 pounds during the same period, she said.
Ryan said in a statement "significant progress" was made in cleanup activities in Louisiana.
"Our operations in Louisiana will continue until the Coast Guard determines that active cleanup is complete," he said.
