Seen those commercials from Florida tourism advertising miles of pristine beaches on which to play? Not so much.
Pensacola Beach in Florida's panhandle got hit with the crude escaping from the blowout near the Mississippi River delta on Wednesday. Eight miles of goo stained the white sands. Local officials say the response so far has been inadequate. Perdido Key is particularly hard hit. Workers cleared 8 tons of oil waste from a barrier island. But the stuff is everywhere and the longer it sits in the sun and sinks into the sand, the harder it is to remove the contamination. Residents of Pensacola Beach said it took four hours to clean 60 feet of beach. Yesterday, a remote control submersible knocked into a venting system which caused oil workers to take the containment cap off the wellhead to prevent a buildup of pressure reaching a drillship collecting crude. The well spewed oil at full force for 11 hours. Current containment capacity on site is 20,000 to 28,000 barrels per day. The revised figure used by the Coast Guard for the well flow rate ranges from
35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day.
