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By Holbrook Mohr and Cain Burdeau, Associated Press Writers


      NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Coast Guard is considering setting fire
to a large oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to keep the mess away
from shore as efforts to cap a spewing well fail.

      Crews have been unable to stop thousands of barrels of oil from
fouling gulf waters since an April 20 explosion sank the Deepwater
Horizon, which was drilling 50 miles off the Louisiana coast.
Eleven workers are missing and presumed dead, and the cause of the
blast has not been determined.

      Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said the controlled burns
would be done during the day far from shore. Crews would make sure
marine life and people were protected and that work on other oil
rigs would not be interrupted.


      The burning could start as early as Wednesday afternoon, but
whether it will work is unclear. Officials would be considering
weather conditions including wind and waves in deciding whether to
go ahead with the burn, BP spokesman Neil Chapman said Wednesday.

      Ed Overton, a professor emeritus of environmental sciences at
Louisiana State University, questioned the method.

      "It can be effective in calm water, not much wind, in a
protected area," he said. "When you're out in the middle of the
ocean, with wave actions and currents pushing you around, it's not
easy."

      He has another concern: The oil samples from the spill he's
looked at shows it to be a sticky substance similar to roofing tar.

      "I'm not super optimistic. This is tarry crude that lies down
in the water," he said. "But it's something that has got to be
tried."

      According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, birds and mammals are more likely to escape a
burning area of the ocean than escape from an oil slick. The agency
said birds might be disoriented by the plumes of smoke, but they
would be at much greater risk from exposure to oil in the water.


      A similar burn off the coast of Newfoundland in 1993 eliminated
50 to 99 percent of captured oil. However, burning the oil also
creates air pollution, and the effect on marine life is unclear.

      Crews from the Texas General Land Office Oil Spill Prevention
and Response Program are bringing in equipment to help corral the
oil and burn the slick.

      Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said burning surface oil
is one of the best ways to deal with so large a slick.


      The last time crews with the agency used fire booms to burn oil
was a 1995 spill on the San Jacinto River, Patterson said.

      "When you burn it, the plume from the fire is the biggest
environmental concern, but this far out to sea it will not be as
big of a problem," Patterson said.

      Oil from the Deepwater Horizon is not expected to reach the
coast until late in the week, if at all. But longer-term forecasts
show the winds and ocean currents veering toward the coast. The
glistening sheen of sweet crude is forming long reddish-orange
ribbons of oil that, if they wash up on shore, could cover birds,
white sand beaches and marsh grasses.

      "As the days progress, the (oil) plume will migrate north,
northeast," said Gregory W. Stone, an oceanographer and head of
the Coastal Studies Institute at Louisiana State University. "That
plume will push onshore."

      Hotel owners, fishermen and restaurateurs are keeping anxious
watch.

      Louis Skrmetta, 54, runs a company called Ship Island Excursions
that takes tourists to the Gulf Islands National Seashore, where
white-sand beaches and green water create an idyllic landscape.


      "This is the worst possible thing that could happen to the
Mississippi Gulf Coast," he said. "It will wipe out the oyster
industry. Shrimping wouldn't recover for years. It would kill
family tourism. That's our livelihood."

      The last major spill in the Gulf was in June 1979, when an
offshore drilling rig in Mexican waters - the Ixtoc I - blew up,
releasing 140 million gallons. It took until March 1980 to cap the
well, and the oil contaminated U.S. waters and Texas shores.

      As of Tuesday, the spill was about 20 miles offshore, south of
Venice, La. It covered an expanding area about 48 miles long and 80
miles wide, but with uneven borders, making it difficult to
calculate its area in square miles.

      "I understand there's got to be industry, but it's so sad for
our kids. We don't have a lot of beaches left," Bonnie Bethel, 66,
said as she watched her grandchildren splash in the water on a
Mississippi beach. "Can you imagine these poor birds in oil?"

      Thousands of birds such as egrets and brown pelicans are nesting
on barrier islands close to the rig's wreckage. If the oil gets to
them, rescuers would need to reach their remote islands, wash them
down and release them back into the wild.

      Michael Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network
affiliated with the University of California at Davis, said he is
standing by to clean up Gulf Coast birds.

      "Just about any petroleum can cause problems for birds because
they lose their waterproofing, and that's what keeps them dry and
warm," Ziccardi said. "It's a really difficult time, and we're
close to the peak of migration."

      The spill also threatens billions of fish eggs and larvae
coating the Gulf's surface this time of year.


      If the well cannot be closed, almost 100,000 barrels of oil, or
4.2 million gallons, could spill into the Gulf before crews can
drill a relief well to alleviate the pressure. By comparison, the
Exxon Valdez, the worst oil spill in U.S. history, leaked 11
million gallons into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.

      BP said Tuesday that it planned to begin drilling a relief well
to redirect the leaking oil in a $100 million effort to take the
pressure off the blown-out well.

      The company said it would begin the drilling by Thursday even if
crews can shut off oil leaking from the pipe 5,000 feet
underground. Robot subs have tried to activate a shut-off device,
but so far that has not worked.

      Chapman said 49 vessels - oil skimmers, tugboats barges and
special recovery boats that separate oil from water - are working
to round up oil.

      In Washington, meanwhile, the Obama administration launched a
full investigation of the explosion, promising every available
resource.

      Mohr reported from Biloxi, Miss. Associated Press writers Alan
Sayre and Kevin McGill in New Orleans, Melissa Nelson in Pensacola,
Fla., and Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston contributed to this
report.

Gallery

Environmental News

The Coast Guard is considering setting fire
to a large oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to keep the mess away
from shore as efforts to cap a spewing well fail.

Coast Guard considers lighting oil spill on fire

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