All of the hard containment boom deployed as part of the response to the BP oil spill along the shorelines in Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has now been recovered.
The Incident Command Post at Mobile said that more than 1.6 million feet of hard boom has been removed from those state waters.
Crews are currently in the process of removing the remaining fragments of storm-damaged hard boom from areas where it was stranded.
Removed boom is being inspected, cleaned, repaired and stored at sites along the Gulf Coast for redeployment should the need arise.
Damaged boom that cannot be repaired is recycled or reused to the fullest extent possible.
Officials say the hard boom is no longer needed for the oil spill response due to the fact that no visible oil has been spotted on the surface of the Gulf and with the height of hurricane season, the boom could damage environmentally sensitive lands or become a hazard during high winds or seas of a hurricane or tropical storm.
During the oil spill response, a total of more than 3.7 million feet of hard boom was placed at critical points to protect wildlife refuges, estuaries, beaches, marshes and other environmentally sensitive lands throughout the Gulf Coast.
Surveillance of the waters and shoreline in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida continues and current response efforts throughout the Gulf Coast also include an expanded and enhanced subsurface monitoring program for oil or dispersants in the water column or on the bottom.
Teams are systematically and methodically conducting surveys in the bays, surf zone, near-shore and offshore waters to determine whether recoverable oil is present beneath the water's surface.
To date more than 28,000 sites have been sampled.
http://www.oysterradio.com e-mail manager@oysterradio.com with comments
No comments:
Post a Comment