Ala. city prepared to launch oil skimmers

Published 10:50 pm Monday, July 5, 2010

Work also was continuing on Monday to complete a 3,200-foot-long barrier of floating pipe across Perdido Pass.

Orange Beach Coastal Resources Manager Phillip West said that at least one of the boats, which utilize absorbent pads, should be in the water by Tuesday morning and as many as five could be working by the end of the week to pick up oil from the massive Gulf spill.

West says as many as 30 of the boats eventually could ply the area’s inshore waters.

He says the vessels were developed and are being built by a Baldwin County company.