FORT MORGAN, Alabama – News 5 saw cleanup crews from BP working on Fort Morgan Thursday evening.
They were doing plenty of sifting, and some lifting.
BP crews said they dug about six inches under the surface at the end of Bernard Road and found congealed globs of oil.
Some were about the size of a hand.
But BP foremen said, mostly, what they found on the surface were small tar balls.
That look like chocolate chips in a big tub of vanilla ice cream.
To clean them up, workers use sifting-type devices that look like they’re panning for gold.
Foreman Kendrick Reese said, “They have a screen in them, so, you shift the sand and the sand comes back out. That leaves the little tarballs in.”
Foremen said three groups of workers were working to clean a stretch of Fort Morgan beach about 22 miles long.
They said Thursday, they’ll finish about three miles, but will be back Friday.
BP Foreman Alton McClantoc said, “We check the beach every morning where the most concentration is. That’s where we’ll go and start cleaning up.”
Reese said, “We could finish up and this area would be clean today, but, when we come out tomorrow (Friday), like the waves are now, that will push the tar balls that are up in the water at the bottom. They will push it back up on the beach.”
See video here: http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/bp-crews-clean-up-fort-morgan/913429/Aug-13-2010_12-00-am/
