A series of controlled burns is scheduled to begin at 16:00 today. The work boats will corral bulk oil with fire proof boom the controlled burns lasting around an hour for each batch. The EPA will monitor air quality impacts. The way I think about that: Most of this stuff gets burnt anyway in cars, trucks, ships etc - albeit in a more controlled manner and with a lot of the sulfur removed.

A lot of the spill area is 'sheen' - a thin layer that can be as little as 3 molecules thick that produces the 'rainbow sheen'.

There is a lot of effort going into shore line protection, with tens of thousands of feet of protective boom ordered and resources mobilized up and down the coast.

Chris.