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NEWSCASTER: An oil spill that threatens to become the Americas' worst environmental disaster in decades
has started washing ashore along the Gulf Coast. As fishermen rush to scoop up shrimp and conservation crews spread floating barriers around marshes to try to protect them.
The spill is bigger than first imagined. Five times more than first estimated in fact,
and much closer.
[dramatic music]
JAK: I found this story through my good friend, Ocean.
And then I saw that Monty made a quick video, uh, about it.
And I really just felt kind of compelled to come on really fast and try to get this story,
um, to go viral.
You know I'd like to see this, I'd like to see this going everywhere.
Um, take it to your news, take it to your... ah, to your
mayors, your governors. Take it anywhere you can, ah, because this, when I saw this video I was blown away.
Um, it's in regards to cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf. This is ah Walton County, ah, where they are buying, and so I'm scanning through this news story again,
where they're buying, um bails and bails and bails of hay. And they plan to use this hay, ah, to clean up the oil.
And when you see this demonstration...
you're gonna be as, hopefully as amazed as I was.
This is a green way to clean up the environment.
ADKINSON: Working conjunction with CW Robert Construction and the Walton County Sheriff's Office we've devised a plan whereby
large barges filled with bahaya type hay
will be used to spread out on an oil slick
once the slick is spotted.
[music]
DARRYL: I called, this is, that's Mort Goodson, he's, he's, he does a lot of our erosion control stuff.
So I calls him and I said I'm thinking about some ways to stoak up the oil; what do you think about this?
So, I said you go get this and try it, and see how it works and call me back,
so, it, he said you ain't goin believe how good it works.
Uh... we think this is a good idea. And we're pitching this idea, but we would like to be able to do the work, so...
that's kind of where we're at with this here, so just keep that in mind.
But what we've got...e, m, d-doot, obviously got clean water here, w'goin poor some oil in it, and then we're goin put some this hay in it and let you see how it soaks up, soaks oil up.
And we got a couple other things we want to look at too, sa' along the same lines.
This is just some burnd oil that that-that he's got.
MORT: It's just burnd oil the viscosity's out of it, so crude oil would have more viscosity, and
stick to something like this even more than burnd oil would.
There's two types of hay in the Southeast United States,
uh, and one of 'ems Coastal Bemooda, it's main component, this is it, bemooda grass, and the other is a bahaya grass.
Show you both examples...
If you just simulate wave, 'n, this is, m'only goin do this just a few seconds whereas it could stay in the water for hours 'n hours 'n hours, maybe days, the hay won't sink, uh period.
I mean, uh, lah I been erosion control 20, 25 years 'n it'll just float, float to the edge, 'n stay un the edge ya know so, uh we put out hay bail forever, so...
DARRYL: Got, got two scenarios with this, we think first of all you could actually disperse it on the spill that's out there now
It'll soak up the oil that's out there now, and you got skimmers that come along and skim up the hay or you could use the shrimp boats out there with their nets to pick it back up or somethin' along that line,
or if it washes up on shore it's goin' be just like seaweed an' then you take conventional beach cleanin' equipment and you just pick it up.
MORT: Yep, have...
DARRYL: dumpsters on the beach with liners or whatever and then put 'em in those dumpsters, and then as far as disposing it, I d
an' and dispose of it like that I don't know
what the DPP implications would be of that or whatever
but th-that would...
MORT: As far as gettin' it out of the water, this is, I-I've drownded all kinds of stuff in the last few days.
This right here is about as green 'n about as as simple as it gets. Now this is just in a few minutes.
Now pay no attention to what's around the edge, there ain't no bowl out there 'n the ocean, there ain't no edges so this stuff's goin' float, an-an' mix around, plop around in the waves.
Get that bubba bis hay right thur. Look what's attached to it
Loo' 'ight this.
With, uh, a quarter of a pound of dry hay.
This is bermooda grass. This is what commonly farmers will have everywhere, bahaya grass and mamooda grass.
And that's what... that's jus' what they'll have.
Now, there's uh, there's one other type hay, straw, there's wheat straw oat straw it don't have any kinda seed, wild nothin', you can't come up, ah that's goin' be here in season in about two to three more weeks.
And that would be a-a massive ready to supply in about two or three weeks.
But if you've got this, if you've got this known all over the Southeast you could have a lot of hay coming to go on barges to go out to blow in the middle of that.
Just blow it out dur in da wind,
it can't screw up 'cause it's gon float around and float into da oil.
And it'll, it'll attach itself to it.
That's a lot different 'n when I poured it in there.
Now I can take a little bit more hay and clean it right on up.
Well it look bad around the edges, but, but there ain't,
there's no pan edges out there in the ocean of course.
And really you look inside there, there's a lot of hay, look inside here that hadn't yet grabbed any oil.
So the hay's scattered out...
DARRYL: ... hay in the way that you know it's goin' blow.
MORT: Nu, you-you want, you want it more way, that's right the more you blow it, the more you scattered it, each one of 'em can
I done it so fast you got some pieces there, some's like it should be right there. I got some that ain't even hardly got any oil on it,
'cause I haven't left it in there long enough.
REPORTER: So you had mentioned it forming a hard cement-like, but when I look at this it looks like, it's, it's hay with oil on
it seems that...
What am I trying to say is...
it's not re-really it's not really being absorbed in the hay, it's just on the hay.. on the hay.
DARRYL: It will stick itself, attach itself to it...
MORT: And that's all you wanna do is attach it to sump'n, so you can get it. If it makes it to the beach, worst case scenario, i
it's gonna be, that's where it's gonna be sittin'. And it'll stabilize right there and be in the hay. So you take this beach seaweed 'quipment that pretty readily available...
DARRYL: ... just, there's equipment now that lets you do...
MORT: ...that run along there and just roll it, pick it up, go right in, the oil's comin' up. If it washes up there without bein
REPORTER: Ya...
MORT: to get it...
REPORTER: So, skim it more off the top of the sand as opposed to removing more of the sand?
MORT: That's right, that's right. You just skim it, and sand jiggles down it just like gettin' seewead stuff when seewead's on t
But, but, you don't start there. You preemptiv'y go deep out there where it's at, with barges 'n stuff and blow this into it, and it'll be mixin' and churnin' 'n then you have... you can put the't with nets...
DARRYL: We've got... we've got the big round bails of hay you put in a blower,
and it actually chops it up and blows it out there, in, this form.
MORT: You still, you got a lot of hay here that's still clean 'cause there's no more oil left thur.