>> reporter: in lands south of new orleans, water is life. >> this is jimmy on the fringe. >> reporter: on the surface, life might seem back to normal. no slick of crude oil, no skimmer boats or emergency crews in the delicate wetlands, the disaster could have happened yesterday. this is one of the sensitive marsh islands in an area known as bay jimmy. you can see there is an inch of oil over here. if you give it a scrape, ten months later it's become coming up almost liquid. the oil is killing the marsh grass. this is what holds the islands together. when it's gone, you get wave action from the storms. feet of the islands are disappearing every month. >> this is all oil. this keeps getting pushed further and further with the tide movement up here to the marsh. >> reporter: p.j. is the