GULF SHORES, Alabama – “Alright Steph, you ready?”
Todd Farrar is on the hunt. Armed with snorkle gear, GPS coordinates and a shovel, he and his team head out in search of buried oil.
“We did areas around Pensacola Beach, Pensacola Bay, the naval air station and then we’ve been working target areas along Gulf Shores – Orange Beach.”
Now they are diving off the Fort Morgan peninsula between Kiva Dunes and the Plantation Resort.
“I could barely see the bottom yesterday, today is not too bad,” says Farrar. It didn’t take long to find what they were looking for. “See you got two different layers one there and one there, different storm events.”
Farrar says the sand bars along Alabama’s coast helped trap the oil. “The oil came over in higher tides and then when it is lowered and less wave action basically acted to catch the oil and make more mats.”
“I’m glad they’re doing it.” John Steaner has vacationed on this same stretch of beach for the last 25 years. “I guess its important that they try to figure out what’s what and what we can do about it.”
Farrar will take what he learns underwater and report back to BP who will then decide how to clean it up.
See video here: http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/underwater-oil-off-baldwin-county-coast/933035/Sep-20-2010_7-53-pm/
