WWL reporting oil sheen in Gulf

[Ray]

The U.S. Coast Guard says a large patch of brown mystery substance spotted on the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana this weekend was river sediment. The Coast Guard is also investigating what it says is an unrelated incident, in which oil washed up on some parts of the coast.

A cutter was dispatched to collect samples of the mysterious brown patch Saturday, and Chief Petty Officer John Edwards of the U.S. Coast Guard says tests didn't find anything ominous.

"Basically, sediment which we believe to be from dredging operations and high water in the Mississippi River," said Edwards.

That was Saturday. a day later, an oily substance washed up on Grand Isle, Elmer's Island and Fourchon Beach.

"It looks like oil, it smells like oil, we're treating like oil," Chief Edwards said.

Chief Edwards said one thing the Coast Guard is certain about is that the two incidents aren't related.

"We did take samples to make sure," he said. "This is two separate entities altogether."

Whether the mysterious brown substance contained only trace of oil or not, Bonny Schumaker of the group On Wings of Care says she's worried what effect it may have on marine life. In flights over the Gulf this weekend, Schumaker says she saw animals that were either dead or dying.

"There were dolphins and turtles and a large bull redfish lying dead on its back," Schumaker said. She said two dolphin were trying to keep a third afloat.

"They worked for a full 20 minutes trying to push this other one up, and eventually I guess they gave up," said Schumaker. She said the other two mammals then swam into the mysterious substance.

Meanwhile, Chief Edwards said the Coast Guard is trying to make sure Sunday's oil doesn't wash into more sensitive areas, while they try and figure out where it came from: "We're going to be looking at some of the currents, the way the currents have ran over the last couple of days."