I saw very little, and that was enough.

In two days, I covered over 600 miles. I drove through Lafourche, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines. I talked to waitresses, gas station attendants, executives, oil field workers and plain old every day folks. They all said the same thing- business is fine. Its the future they fear. And they should.

Where were the crabbers, shrimpers and fishermen? Where were the charter captains? Their boats were all moored up, but no one knew where they were. Well, some did. They were all being employed by BP to assist in the clean up. Some were even making money on the side taking media and tourists out to see the spill. They are happy for now.

Where was the damage from the oil? What was apparent was the only visible damage is that of Katrina, particularly the closer you get to the coast. And where is the coast? Once you get outside the hurricane protection levees, you are treated to dead trees, low lying grass patches and water. In Lafourche, thats water pretty much right up to the road. But damages I saw from the oil spill? NONE, save some floating brown gunk in the pass behind Grand Isle.

As a matter of fact, Grand Isle was the only oil boomed area I saw. And it was deserted, but for some government types, a couple of humvees and the occasional Black Hawk. The length of the beach had infrequent spray-painted "closed" sign on pieces of plywood. Out of curioustiy, I parked my car at one of the multitude of abandoned camps and walk up the large sand levee. I saw a deserted beach, pristine but for a mile long orange boom in the sand and a small sand wall behind it. The waves lapped in peacefully. The air was muggy but not oily, and save for one lone, huge pelican, I saw no birds at all. The only thing I saw less of was media. Not one truck, not one van. Not a hint that they or our political leaders had ever even been there.

Did you know Port Fourchon, just north of Grand Isle, is 1200 acres of business park in a swamp? It brags it "feeds and fuel the United States." It houses 250+ oil related companies and has its own beach. According to its workers, it services 90% of the wells in the gulf and handles billions of barrels of oil a day. Since the announcement of the moratorium on deep water drilling (the only place anyone is drilling), they silently prepare to lay off 4,000 workers. 4,000. That's 1/3 of all the oil field workers in Lafourche parish.

What I DID see, what was clear, was that this is not a micro-scale disaster like Katrina, where you could map the area hit and go block by block to observe the damage. This damage is only visible by satellite, and through the eyes of history. The most affected- the environment. Thousands of birds dead or soaked in oil. Millions of fish washing up. Thousands of acres of grasslands fouled and dying. By the fall, the loss of it will kill more animals as winter approaches. Then in the spring, fewer offspring. And on and on and on. Until the oil stops flowing and mother nature overcomes the carnage.

And when and where will the oil stop? Might it get pushed up into Lake Pontchartrain? Make its way around the Florida coast? What if it makes it up river?

The folks I met are right. We won't feel it in Louisiana for at least 6-12 months, the country- 18 to 24 months. But the damages will last a generation. Would you eat shrimp today from Valdez, where Exxon destroyed an ecosystem? No? That was 20 years ago. Louisiana provides 30% of US seafood today. Tomorrow? At least Chinese shrimp are cheap, and isn't that the most important thing?

And what if it makes it up-river somehow, and we close it for cleanup. You block the artery of America's heartland. The only other north to south passage is the TomBigBee River in Alabama, but it comes out in Mobile Bay, which is far more likely to suffer oil intrusion!

Don't worry though, the soon to be bankruptcy BP will "meet all its obligations." Like not destroying its investment in its oil well until the two relief wells are finished. As long as the oil keeps flowing they don't lose their investment.

But that's just paranoia. I blame my ongoing PST from Katrina.

At this point, we are watching one big, oily political football being tossed back and forth between the state, the feds and BP. My prediction- we will get a huge chunk of money to restore the coast. But with no grasslands, it won't stay long. And with no wild life, no one will care that much. And without seafood from the Gulf, and fishing and hunting, we won't be a Sportsman's Paradise anymore. We will be what we already are: the poster child for hollywood to make themselves feel relevant. We are "poor backwards Louisiana." We are where people love to visit and party, but not stay.

We are the state that sleeps with you on the first date, so no one respects us. Not enough to help. Just enough to feel sorry for us while we die over and over.