Red flags were erected on Pensacola Beach, warning swimmers to stay out of the water, as workers grabbed fist-sized tar balls of oil from the white sand.
The sludge resembled pudding and covered three miles of Pensacola Beach, according to the Miami Herald. One visitor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said he witnessed quart to half-gallon size pools of oil.
Since then, 1,300 people workers have made progress cleaning up the beach on the 66th day since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and subsequent contamination of the Gulf of Mexico.
The oil is being seen far west in Walton and Escambia counties in the Florida Panhandle, and beach-goers are warned not to touch the oil and any dead or dying wildlife that may be smothered with the gooey mess.
Gulf Coast counties say they are incredibly frustrated with BP because the check isn’t in the mail. Residents there pulled permits to erect barriers to stop the oil from coming onto the Destin beaches, specifically the Destin Pass waterway, an area treasured by boaters and beach-lovers.
But it has been costly. The county had planned on using a containment boom, an air net, and barges to stop the flow of crude. At the same time, expectations were that BP was financing the clean-up equipment with $2 million, but the check hasn’t materialized. BP says there is a process in place and it’s working on getting the funds.
Out in the water, strips of oil are now floating between Pensacola and Destin, drifting away from Louisiana and Mississippi. The most western county of Florida, Escambia County, has double red flags flying on the beach, a sign to stay out of contaminated waters.
For animal lovers, a beached dolphin, rescued Wednesday and taken to be rehabilitated in Panama City, died on Thursday.
As Florida oil spill lawyers who are currently investigating claims of injury and loss associated with this environmental tragedy, we will meet with you for a complimentary consultation of your situation if you have experienced economic loss or other calamities due to the oil spill.
