Thursday, July 1, 2010

Massive oil-skimmer latest weapon in fight

NEW ORLEANS — With hurricane-whipped waves pushing more oil onto the Gulf of Mexico’s once-white beaches, the government pinned its latest cleanup hopes yesterday on a huge new piece of equipment: the world’s largest oil-skimming vessel.

The Taiwanese-flagged former tanker named A Whale is the length of 3 1/2 football fields and stands 10 stories high. It just emerged from an extensive retrofitting to prepare it specifically for the gulf, where officials hope it will be able to suck up as much as 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water per day

read more   http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2010/07/01/massive_oil_skimmer_latest_weapon_in_fight/

Story courtesy of The Associated Press by Tom Breen and Jay Reeves