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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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Gov. Haley Barbour will give his annual State of the State address tonight. File Photo

A five- to six-mile stretch of large tar mats washed up on Long Beach Harbor late last night, reports The Sun Herald.

Some tar mats in the water Wednesday were “the size of school buses,” Long Beach Fire Chief George Bass told The Sun Herald.

Yesterday, Gov. Haley Barbour announced that his office is partnering with several state agencies to conduct a year long economic-impact study on the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster on the Gulf Coast. The agencies include the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, the departments of Employment Security and Environmental Quality and Marine Resources, the Mississippi Development Authority and the Gulf Coast Business Council.

BP and the U.S. Economic Development Administration will fund the $600,000 study that will collect employment data, tax revenues and socio-economic information.

“We need a clear grasp on how this oil spill will impact the State of
 Mississippi and local communities for years to come,” Barbour
 said in a July 7 statement. “We want a picture of exactly how this spill will effect
 Mississippi businesses, families and communities. This study will help
 as state leaders, agencies and local governments create long-term
 coastal restoration plans.”



Previous Comments

…and as the study begins, ROME continues TO BURN!

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.