Oil Slick Near Venice, Louisiana – Federal Officials Stumped?
We hope not, since we’ve provided plain-as-day photos of a leaking platform not far from where the slick off Venice, Louisiana was first reported. Maybe the Venice slick had another as-yet unidentified source, but the slick encountered by our Gulf Monitoring Consortium partners from a well likely owned by Saratoga Resources, Inc. clearly indicates a problem at this precise location: 29°31’29.40″N / 89°19’60.00″W.
What’s not clear: what – if any – action will be taken by state and federal officials to address that spill?

Oily sheen spotted from Coast Guard aircraft near Venice, Louisiana on June 9, 2011. US Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Stephen Lehmann, courtesy gCaptain.
At any rate, the Coast Guard has declared the cleanup of the slick off Venice “complete,” even though no oil was actually cleaned up – apparently it all dissipated before coming ashore.
We’ll let you know when as learn more about this unresolved incident.