Shoddy disposal work mars Gulf oil spill cleanup from Mississippi to Florida

BP PLC's work to clean up the mess from the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history already has generated more than 1,300 tons of solid waste, and companies it hired to dispose of the material say debris is being handled professionally and carefully.


Jay Reeves / The Associated PressSoiled, oil-absorbing boom and other debris sit in an open, improperly lined waste container on June 17. The waste disposal work along the Gulf Coast is causing problems of its own, with improperly lined containers sometimes allowing spill debris to escape.
A spot check of several container sites by The Associated Press, however, found that's not always the case.
A leaky truck filled with oil-stained sand and absorbent boom soaked in crude pulls away from the beach, leaving tar balls in a public parking lot and a messy trail of sand and water on the main beach road. A few miles away, brown liquid drips out of a disposal bin filled with polluted sand.

Along the northern Gulf coast, where miles of beaches have been coated with oil intermittently for two weeks, the check showed the handling and disposal of oily materials was haphazard at best.