There are lots of ways. Let's discount "ignore it until it goes away on its own" and "wait until it washes up on a beach and can be scrubbed off by hand."
Five of the ways left are:
- Suck up the oil after you contain it with floating oil booms
- Absorb free oil with absorbent pillows or fibers then clean them up
- Emulsify it into the water column
- Use an endless belt of absorbent or hydrophobic material to draw the oil up into a scraper
- Burn it off with wicking ceramic balls
Answer:
Invite Kevin Kosner's scientist brother to place all his equipment in areas not already being busily cleaned up by BP. One centrifuge-machine can clean up to 200,000 gallons of sea water per day. As long as he is not hampering on-going operations why not "turn him loose" and let him "show us what his technology can do"?
Answer
- Notify local authorities as necessary.
- Contain the spill using the appropriate equipment (i. e. dams etc. on land, booms on water)
- Use absorbent material to soak up oil.
- Dispose of this material appropriately.
- Absorbent materials include Oil-Dry, SpillFix, spill kits, various pads, etc.
- Consider eco-friendly oil absorbent products you can find online that are much more effective than clay-based absorbents and don't have related health risks.
- Remove contaminated soil for disposal (on land)
- Replace removed soil with clean material (on land)
