How does oil spill boom protect shores?

MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) - Since the oil rig exploded, local and national agencies have been doing everything they can to contain the oil and stop it from coming ashore. The Coast Guard has been trying to block the slick, but the agency is tweaking its approach.

Since the Deepwater Horizon blast, oil has been spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, now at rates approximately 5,000 barrels a day. Agencies from Louisiana to Florida are working hard trying to contain the leak and guard the coastline. The Coast Guard is using boom as a barrier.

"Boom is essentially a fence or a gate in the water that keeps the floating oil from going any further. If you see it, it floats on the water, then there's anywhere from 18 to 48 inches hanging beneath it you can't see, that guards the oil passing by," Lt. James McKnight said.

McKnight said boom works great in calm water. But some of their recent efforts have been washed away by stormy weather. The rough waters have caused the oily water to lap over the boom, ripping it apart.

"Our estimation is we put out approximately 19,000 feet of boom yesterday and our goal today is to put out 50 percent more. One of the big goals today is to better tend the boom, figure out new ways of keeping it anchored and in place and keeping track of it. Part of what we're doing is employing local vessels to help us with this. One of the anticipations is using local vessels to keep an eye on boom and where it is," McKnight said.

The yellow and orange boom are just one of the ways the Coast Guard is protecting our shoreline. There's another safeguard for when the oil finally makes landfall.

"Absorbent boom. It kind of looks like links of sausage and it's white. It's an oil absorbent material. It attracts oil and soaks it up like a sponge. Oil is coming, it is going to get there. We want to make sure we do everything we can to guard against that," McKnight added.

The Coast Guard said it also may use barriers to help ward off the oil. The National Guard builds barriers that are made of a wire mesh with a membrane lining. They can fill it with sand, rocks or sea shells to keep it in place.