Police Block Cameras from Oil Spill Zone

Despite repeated statements from BP executives that they have given no orders to block media access to the spill zone, some citizen reporters are still being ordered to stay away, as the video below appears to show. In this clip, a YouTube user is told by an Alabama State Trooper that cameras are not allowed in the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, a federally protected beach that serves as a resting and feeding ground for migratory birds.



User name: hccreekkeeper
Location: Bon Secour National Wildlife Refgue, Alabama
Date uploaded: July 7
Views: 2,679
Click here to watch this video on YouTube.

Spilled Oil Reaches Lake Pontchartrain

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill site has reached the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, and the eastern edges of the lake are now closed to fishing. A YouTube user recorded what appears to be oil in the water. The city of New Orleans wraps around the southern shore of the lake.



User name: gs3772
Location: Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana
Date uploaded: July 4
Views: 12,347
Click here to watch this video on YouTube.

Mississippi Coast Launches PR Campaign for the Holiday Weekend

In a new video uploaded today, a Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitor's Bureau representative assures vacationers that the beaches are safe in Biloxi for the holiday weekend in spite of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In the clip, a woman named Janice shows off a deserted beach, insisting vacationers can swim in the ocean.

"You may want to know, 'Does it smell like gasoline or does it stink?'" she says. "No. It doesn't." (0:38).

User name: MSGulfCoastCVB
Location: Biloxi, Mississippi
Date uploaded: July 2
Views: 16
User notes: Janice from the CVB talks about the oil spill cleanup efforts and the 4th of July events, area attractions, golfing, shopping and much more!
Click here to watch this video on YouTube.