New data has been released showing that the massive BP oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is already contaminating one major protected North American Marine Ecoregion, containing more than 60-percent of America's tidal marshes, and is threatening at least two more.

The site of the initial explosion that resulted in the BP oil disaster is within the boundaries of the Northern Gulf of Mexico Ecoregion which as described by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation as a marine protected area that:

"... contains over 60 percent of the tidal marshes of the United States, freshwater inputs from thirty-seven major rivers, numerous nursery habitats for fish and the Flower Gardens Banks." [ HuffPost ]