Page 30 - Tar Balls News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The water is clean. yes there are booms out here. yes they're cleaning up some tar balls here and there but by and large everything is normal except there are no tourists here. to do this, they're spending $15 million that they were given by bp to help the mississippi coast and they're producing ads like this. >> the mississippi gulf coast -- charming towns border exciting casinos, world class golf courses around every corner, and our cuisine and culture are something we celebrate. >> reporter: those ads are playing in a broad crescent of places across the southeast. this is the target audienc...

Rob marciano is spending time along the gulf, getting a first-hand look at what crews have been facing. >> hey, i'm rob marciano. >> nice to meet you. >> you're in charge of this operation? >> yes, sir. got you a shirt here. put you to work. are you ready? >> i'm ready. >> the first thing i noticed on my trip to the clean-up site, it was hot. really hot. >> when it gets up in the middle of the day, you'll see that the heat index will be over 100. when you're out here working in heat and like these guys right here, and in rubber boots, rubber gloves, long pants, shirt, there's no shade out here...

So i want to know, where are they going to put those bags of the tar balls? how do you dispose of that? >> that's a conspiracy theory or object of debate. in the surrounding counties, there is negotiated landfills that are taking that on. and you can imagine, not all residents are happy about that. but that's for business dealings beyond my control. >> yeah, i don't think anybody is going to blame you. maybe they'll credit you a little bit for helping to keep the beach back there clean, since you did some, you know -- put in some sweat hours. >> it was some labor. i hope they appreciate that. ...

>> well, it is -- >> reporter: the oil surface footprint on the gulf is shrinking. aerial flyovers show a dramatic relief from last week after bp temporarily capped the well. >> to give you a sense, the week before we got the capping on, we saw skimming 25,000 barrels, but everyday since it is on, it has drop and yesterday we skimmed 56 barrels a. great deal of the oil on the surface has been collected or been naturally dispersed and helped from mother nature. >> reporter: some of to oil, that of a lower density naturally evaporated as it hit the surface. other material was hit with dispersant...

>> it's been more than a week now, steve, since they stopped the gush in the gulf and, tonight, some good things seem to be coming out of that. >> it is remarkable to go out with skimmer ships right here off the shore in this area and not see a drop of oil. the captain we are with today hadn't found any all day. they are waiting for their orders from the coast guard to evacuate. >> this is another one of the many homemade inventions we have seen since this crisis began. you have got two shrimp boats out there. they are holding that boom. and really funnels the oil in the water into here. right...