One local official in Louisiana says there's still plenty of oil to clean up in the Gulf of Mexico, despite comments from BP's incoming chief that it's "not too soon" to scale back.
Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser took reporters on a boat tour of an inlet about an hour south of New Orleans Saturday, where fresh globs of thick oil have saturated the marshes and tar balls can still be seen. Nungesser says he'd like to take incoming BP CEO Bob Dudley water-skiing to demonstrate how much remains.
Friday, Dudley said there's relatively little oil on the surface of the Gulf, leaving less work for the thousands of oil skimmers. He also says beaches probably don't need to be cleaned by "people in hazmat suits."
But Dudley rejects claims that the impact of the spill has been overblown. He calls it a "catastrophe."'
About 70 percent of Louisiana waters are now open to some kind of commercial fishing, but state waters in Mississippi and Alabama remain closed as do nearly a quarter of federal waters in the Gulf
