<P> The oil clean - up itself caused damage to the fragile environment . Environmentalists and oil spill veterans warned that the various rushed, sometimes untested and unnecessary methods being used in the clean - up was "wreaking havoc". "Absolutely nothing you do to respond to an oil spill is without impacts of its own," said the EPA's Lisa P. Jackson . </P> <P> In Orange Beach Alabama, beach erosion and disruption of plant and animal life - cycles continued into 2011, despite repeated requests by the Mayor and other local officials to leave the area . Clean - up crews deterred tourists from visiting local hotels and beaches due to an increase in criminal activity caused by the influx of clean - up workers . </P> <P> Studies of vegetation death and accelerated marsh erosion following Deepwater Horizon oil spill have shown that both of these impacts (or "injuries," when assessing natural resource damages) can be related to the percent of oiling on the stems of marsh vegetation . Spatial quantification of these injuries thus relies on estimates of how many kilometers of shoreline fell into each of the four stem oiling categories on which these injury determinations were based (0 - 10%, 10 - 50%, 50 - 90%, 90 - 100%). The total length of the Louisiana coastline under mainland herbaceous marsh that was oiled was estimated to be 1,161 km, with 29% (334 km) falling into the two upper classes of stem oiling (i.e.> 50% stem oiling). </P> <P> In August 2010, scientists had determined as up to 79% of the spilled oil remained in the Gulf of Mexico, under the surface . In March 2011, it was reported that thousands of pounds of oil and dispersant were collected each day from highly visible resort areas and that 17,000 lb (7,700 kg) were collected from a beach in Alabama after a winter storm . </P>

Gulf of mexico oil spill effects on environment