If there were actually miles of totally oil coated marsh/beach, the media WOULD show it. The very FEW pictures I have seen that show oil are showing "spotty" deposits.
And you can bet that there are plenty of locals that have digital cameras and internet hookups.
Remember a few weeks ago when oil started washing up on shore in Louisiana? Nobody knew where it was coming from. My first thought was that it was deliberately spilled close to shore by environmentalists to make things look worse than they were, because scientists determined the oil that washed up on shore was not from BP’s gulf spill. I expect to see tv coverage of oil-coated pelicans who are covered with something from a can. (Call me a skeptic, but I don’t trust the administration, the media or the environmentalist wackos.)