"Crude Still Coats Marshes and Wetlands Along Gulf"

"ON THE GULF OF MEXICO -- Much of the crude still in the Gulf and coastal areas more than three months after BP's blowout has permeated deep into marshes and wetlands, complicating cleanup.

Crews are still finding plenty of crude in those interior areas, even as government officials say spotting oil from the air on the Gulf's surface is taking longer on each trip.

'The good news is people are seeing less oil, but the bad news is the oil trapped in the marshes is moving out with the tides and sticking on the marsh cane,' said Maura Wood, an oceanographer with the National Wildlife Foundation, on a boat trip to the marshes of Pass-A-Loutre, La. 'And that could kill it.'

The sometimes frustrating search for oil underscores the difficulties facing the small army of federal officials and cleanup crews tasked with purging what remains. Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, the government's on-scene coordinator, said he's had to spend a growing amount of his time taking flights over the Gulf to search for the remaining crude."

Jason Dearen and Greg Bluestein report for the Associated Press August 6, 2010.