Pitching Their Oil-Slick Solutions--to No Avail : Sales: Businesses pushing new products to disperse or soak up the goo find that cleanup crews are sticking with tried-and-true methods.
Want to tame an oil slick?
Just spray on Oil Spill Eater, an enzyme solution with such common ingredients as yeast, molasses, malt and sugar. Faster than you can say “American Trading Transportation Co.”--well, in about three days, its makers say--naturally created bacteria will eat right through the goo.
Is that slick headed for the beach?
It’s time for Wollastic Fiber, something its manufacturer calls a “a simple solution to the complicated problem of oil spill cleanup.” Just lay out the latex-backed coconut-fiber mats at the surf line like so many beach blankets. The mats will sop up the oil before it reaches the sand, a company executive said.
For some companies, Orange County’s oil disaster would seem to hold the promise of a big business opportunity. But this small army of entrepreneurs, sales representatives and inventors has had a tough time pitching products to stop the slick and clean the beaches.
“It’s the worst time to try to present something when you have a serious situation like this,” said John Kearns, sales manager of Nickey Petroleum Co. in Santa Ana, who has been trying in vain to persuade officials to try his company’s BioSolve oil solvent. “They are so busy trying to resolve this situation they don’t have time to look as closely at things that need to be looked at.”
Both British Petroleum, whose oil is involved and which is directing the cleanup, and the California Department of Fish and Game, which is involved in wildlife rescue efforts, report they have been flooded with ideas and sales pitches since the tanker American Trader leaked nearly 400,000 gallons of oil into the waters off Huntington Beach last week.
“We’ve been receiving a fair number of calls,” said BP spokesman Peter Necarsulmer in Long Beach. “They are all evaluated fully and not dismissed; but as you can imagine, we’ve had some out-of-this-world suggestions.”
One man proposed using a fleet of outdoor vacuum cleaners that could be rolled along the beach. “There’s a lot more beach (sand) and oil than can fill those bags,” Necarsulmer lamented.
Another caller suggested spreading sawdust along the surf line to absorb the oil.
Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Moore said his office, too, has received its share of novel ideas. One balloon company representative called to inquire whether tankers could be required to carry large balloons that could be filled with oil in the event of a spill.
Cleanup crews, however, have been sticking to the tried-and-true--skimmers at sea and beach workers armed with absorbent pads and booms.
Further, officials have specifically decided against using any kind of dispersant, which could break up the oil on the water’s surface but pose a threat to wildlife.
The adherence to traditional methods comes as a tough break for the legitimate entrepreneurs who see the oily waters off Orange County as an ideal proving ground for their products.
A Phoenix-based salesman armed with swatches of Wollastic Fiber walked up and down Huntington Beach in vain last weekend trying to demonstrate the product’s oil-absorbing qualities for any official who would watch.
“I could do a better job than those little diapers they’re using down there,” said Jeff Nickum, who represents Envirocology Inc.
F.P. Woll & Co. of Philadelphia developed the coconut-fiber material as padding for seat cushions. Company officials say the material has tremendous potential for cleaning up oil spills--if only officials would be willing to give it a try.
“We have done everything we can think of,” said Fred Woll II, the company’s president, about trying to get his product considered. “We have been to everyone we can think of.”
The makers of Oil Spill Eater have not had much luck either. Executives of Sky Blue Chems of Dallas said they believe that had their product had been sprayed onto the oily seas soon after the spill, the petroleum would have been neutralized within 72 hours.
“We’ve got 100 drums (of the solution) in Las Vegas that could mitigate 275,000 gallons of crude,” Sky Blue Chairman Steve Pedigo said. “We could have it there in four hours. We had enough to do the entire job when it first happened. That oil would have never come ashore.”
Nickey Petroleum executives didn’t lose any time in letting officials know they were ready with their BioSolve oil neutralizer. Kearns said he called British Petroleum the night of spill but that “they indicated they had everything well under control.”
Kearns said, however, that the skimmers were able to collect only a small percentage of the oil before it came ashore. BioChem, a dispersant that encapsulates the broken oil molecules before they sink, could have safely stopped the slick, he said.
