PENSACOLA BAY, Fla. — Florida has actually gotten a break for the past week because the wind was pushing the oil toward Louisiana and Mississippi, but now the winds are changing and the oil is starting to move toward the Panhandle again.
VIDEO REPORT: Onboard Panhandle Skimmer
WFTV reporter Jason Allen went out on a boat Tuesday that'll help skim the oil out of our waters. They are the skimmers operating in the bays and offshore. They suck up anything that floats, including bits of seaweed, debris and large weathered chunks of oil. It's not efficient by any means, but right now it's the best way to keep oil from getting to the shoreline.
A shuttle boat took WFTV out across Pensacola Bay to the Captain Joe. One of the most recognizable shrimp boats in the bay a week ago has been turned into a skimmer boat. WFTV boarded, and joined a half-dozen members of the Coast Guard training to use the machines pulling oil out of the Gulf.
"How much training is still going on at this point?" Allen asked Clayton McBeth with the U.S. Coast Guard.
"Quite a bit, because all the individuals, depending on whether they're active or reserve, they come and go at different intervals," McBeth said.
Putting out a skimmer is labor intensive. A three-foot tall boom is dropped over the side of the boat. It's dragged into a hook shape that will corral ribbons of oil. Then the heavy skimmer is lowered into place in the middle of a slick.
"Current wise, the boat will do half to three quarters of a knot, and then this will naturally drift back," McBeth said.
From the back of the boom, the skimmer sucks an oil water mix pumped off to a waiting tank or barge. The machines can pull 22 gallons a minute, but the peanut butter-like consistency of the oil often cuts that number substantially.
"This skimmer, the way it's set up, can only handle a ribbon of oil maybe 20 or 30 feet wide, but the bigger the boat, the equipment can be bigger and they can handle more oil," McBeth said.
Some boats have picked up as much as 1,700 gallons in a day, but they're working on a slick that extends miles out into the Gulf.
The local boat crews are the ones who ended up running the machine, with the Coast Guard just available to help if needed. With the way the current is moving, there will likely be less training and more skimming happening in Florida in the next few days.
Even if the containment cap works, oil will still be spoiling Gulf coast beaches for months. Experts say the sloppiest of the oil will continue to float ashore for several months, with the volume decreasing over time. Then, they expect tar balls to keep littering beaches and marshes every time a major storm rolls through.
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