Deep cleaning

BP contractors to collect oil buried beneath sand

PENSACOLA -- BP cleanup contractors say they will step up efforts in coming weeks to collect tons of buried oil and tar beneath the surface of beaches and waterways in Escambia County.

During a boat tour of Pensacola Bay and Perdido Key on Sunday, Joe Waller, BP's Pensacola division supervisor for oil-spill cleanup, said cleanup contractors are facing new challenges while determining how best to collect deposits of oil and tar that were found submerged at Pensacola Pass near Fort McRee last month.

The previously undiscovered deposits are believed to be the source of about 17,000 pounds of oil a month that continues to wash ashore on beaches at Pensacola Naval Air Station, BP officials said.

BP deep-cleaning Gulf coast beaches amid new worries

Workers have dug down about 30 inches so far to find oil, and officials say the dozers can dig as deep as needed to get the worst of the oil deposits. Different, gentler cleaning methods will be used in more delicate areas like Mississippi's coastal islands and the marshlands of Louisiana, the company says.

BP spokesman Ray Melick says the major work should be done by mid-February, before the weather turns warm and visitors begin heading back. Natural processes should finish cleaning tourist areas once the big machines have dug up all the oil they can.

I can't imagine what the "different gentler cleaning methods" planned for Louisiana might entail since we're still pretty sure the magic microbes got all of ours anyway.

Remember, at one time, the idea that BP was burying oil on the beaches was a controversial conspiracy theory. Now that the PR emergency is over with it's okay to do the dirtier work. At least until tourist season starts back up. I hope they don't forget the fancy towels.