Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
Mississippi Department of Marine Resources
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2010 UPDATE ON OIL MATERIAL NEAR PETIT BOIS ISLAND AND HORN ISLAND
BILOXI, Miss. – Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality staff through aerial surveillance and Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Teams (SCAT) on the ground Friday morning and also a flight Friday afternoon have observed the following near Petit Bois and Horn Islands:
- Approximately 1,000 tar balls one-tenth of a mile south of Horn Island have broken up in a 500 foot area. They are being turned so they can be skimmed;
- A line of orange mousse and tar patties approximately twenty feet wide narrowing to three feet (northwest to southeast) was seen one-quarter of a mile southeast of Petit Bois. It is being skimmed.
- Tar balls and mousse patties covering the southern length of Petit Bois and approximately one-third of the eastern side along the south of Horn Island with a sporadic five to ten percent coverage;
- Emulsified oil seen a couple miles south of Petit Bois Island has broken up into sheen;
- An emulsified oil streak four feet wide and twenty feet long 1.4 miles north of Petit Bois was skimmed and removed.
Tar balls and mousse patties on land are removed with shovels and rakes. The patches of tar balls and weathered oil are being skimmed and corralled by Vessels of Opportunity and BP contractors to keep them out of the passes and out of the Mississippi Sound. Skimming is used to remove streams of emulsified oil, tar balls, and tar patties. Other boat owners are performing Sentinel Duty patrolling the passes into the Mississippi Sound and the areas southward to observe and to report any materials.
“The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Marine Resources, in conjunction with the Governor’s Office and all the other state agencies, are working diligently to ensure that intrusions of any material into Mississippi waters will be met with all available resources. We should expect materials for the next two days. MDEQ and the Department of Marine Resources will continue to monitor by aerial surveillance, on the water, and on shore the movement of materials and the clean up activities to ensure every possible action is being taken to guard the passes and keep any oil out of the Mississippi Sound,” said MDEQ Executive Director Trudy Fisher.
(attached is a photo taken by MDEQ staff on Petit Bois)
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