Oil barrier booms lie in place as the cl

Oil barrier booms lie in place as the clean-up operation from the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster continues in the wetlands at the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana on May 1, 2010. A giant oil slick threatened economic and environmental devastation as it closed in on Louisiana's vulnerable coast, prompting the US government to declare a national disaster. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency and called for urgent help to prevent fragile wetlands and vital fishing communities along the coast from pollution on a massive scale. The wind started to strengthen and blow the 600-square-mile (1,550-square-kilometer) slick directly onto the coast, where a rich variety of wildlife were at risk in the maze of marshes that amounts to 40 percent of the US wetlands. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)