On Sunday October 10, we traveled to Ship Island, on the western end of the Gulf Shores National Seashore. Here we witnessed the oil clean-up process first hand. Our students had the opportunity to talk with clean-up workers, and watched the process. Simple kitchen tools were the most effective in digging out the tar balls and sifting through the contaminated sand. Although very labor intensive, crews on this stretch of beach were successful in collecting an average of some 750 pounds of oil per day (as much as 1200 pounds on bad (?) days, or as little as 500 on good (?) days). Much of this oil was between 6 and 8" below the surface, but as noted by the clean-up crew, the beach changes so dynamically that they personally saw the beach grow as much as 6 feet in just a week's time - thus burying the oil for even deeper. Upon our return home (see link), we learned about the possibility of a new, motorized method for removing oil from below the surface of the sand. Will it work? Is it going to be effective given what we learned about how this beach behaves/moves each day? Will the clean-up impact the organisms that live on/under the beach? What do you think?
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