Oil boom barriers that are expected to s

Oil boom barriers that are expected to stop the spread of oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster, lies washed up on the beach after heavy swells and winds hit the coast of Louisiana on April 30, 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/Getty Images)