So why now?

It's drilling Jim, but not as we know it.

Oil spill dispersant-spraying drill took place without notice, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser complains
[link to www.bayoubuzz.com]

Gulf fishermen, coastal officials weren't told of oil-dispersing spray drill
[link to www.thetowntalk.com]

"P.J. Hahn, the parish's director of coastal zone management, said Tuesday that fishermen working off of Venice called him and Nungesser on June 13, saying low-flying planes were spraying something that turned to foam on the water and made their skin itch or burn.

Hahn said the fishermen told him that "whatever it was was burning their skin, causing like a rash to their skin when they were out there pulling in their nets."

Hahn said he called the Coast Guard and was told it had no reports of any activity in the area. When he relayed that to the fishermen, he said, they -- and the crew of a plane looking for menhaden -- sent him photographs which he forwarded to the Coast Guard. The photos show long white streaks covering an expanse of water, interrupted by blue Vs where boats or other objects are at the surface.

That was when he was told that planes flying out of Kiln, Miss., were spraying water during an oil spill dispersant drill for the Marine Spill Response Corp., a petroleum industry nonprofit for spill cleanup, Hahn said."




Everything old is new again...