In Louisiana, questions have arisen over reports that large amounts of oil from the BP spill were spotted last week floating toward marshes on the Mississippi River delta. On Friday, the Times-Picayune newspaper first published photos of what was believed to be oil. But since then, the Coast Guard and some scientists have said the substance may be algae, not oil. Local fishermen and women have dismissed the Coast Guard’s claims. Cindy Cruikshank told the Times-Picayune, “It was brown; it was sticky; it smelled like the oil you drain from your car; and it took my husband, Bill, and friends a long time to scrub it off our boat.”