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PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - The geyser of oil spewing from the
sea floor is tapering off day by day, but there's no quick fix for
containing much of the sticky mess spreading across the Gulf of
Mexico, defiling wildlife and beaches normally teeming with
sunbathers and swimmers.

      A cap over the ruptured wellhead is now collecting more than
460,000 gallons of oil a day, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said
Monday in Washington. But whether that's a majority of the leaking
oil or not even half is anyone's guess.

      The battle against the oil already in the Gulf now involves
"hundreds of thousands" of individual patches, said Allen, the
government's point man for the spill response. Small vessels in the
area have been enlisted to help capture those patches using
skimmers.

      The patchy oil slick from the ruptured pipe off Louisiana has
stained beaches and marshes in spots along more than 100 miles of
coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, and a sheen on the
surface was spotted as far as about 150 miles west of Tampa, Fla.

      The tourist hotspot of Panama City Beach, in the middle of the
Panhandle, expected oil to reach its famous beaches within 72
hours, which would mark a new easternmost point for the oil washing
ashore.


      "We have just entered the area of uncertainty for about half or
our beach," said Dan Rowe, president of the city's convention and
visitors bureau. "We are still hoping tar balls don't show up
here, but we are putting the contingency plans in place and
everyone is out there looking at the beach and inspecting it."

      Tar balls continued to roll onto shore Monday morning farther
west at Pensacola Beach, leaving a distinct line in the sand from
the high-rise condos above as the sun rose. Beach walkers had to
stay between the line of dime- and quarter-size tar balls and the
retreating surf or risk getting the gummy, rust-staining gunk stuck
to their feet.


      Jody Haas, a tourist from Aurora, Ill., was among the few
walking the beach early Monday after a crowded weekend here. Haas,
who had visited the beach before, said it was not the same.

      "It was pristine, gorgeous, white sand," she said. "This spot
is light compared to some of the other spots farther down and (the
tar) is just everywhere here. It's just devastating, awful."


      At Barataria Bay, La., just west of the mouth of the Mississippi
River, large patches of oil the consistency of pancake batter in
the still waters Monday. A dead sea turtle caked in brownish-red
oil lay splayed out with dragonflies buzzing by.


      The Barataria estuary, which has become one of the hardest-hit
areas, was busy with shrimp boats skimming up oil and officials in
boats and helicopters patrolling the islands and bays to assess the
state of wildlife and the movement of oil.

      On remote islands, oil visibly tainted pelicans, gulls, terns
and herons.


      President Barack Obama sought to reassure Americans on Monday by
saying that "we will get through this crisis" but that it would
take dedication.


      "This will be contained," Obama said. "It may take some time,
and it's going to take a whole lot of effort. There is going to be
damage done to the Gulf Coast, and there is going to be economic
damages that we've got to make sure BP is responsible for and
compensates people for."


      Among those people are Gulf Coast residents who make their
living by fishing or operating tourist traps along the region's
white-sand beaches. Allen said Monday that BP needs to make
improvements on getting money to individuals and businesses harmed
by the spill.

      "It's not a core competency of BP so we're trying to get them
some help," Allen said.

      In Panama City Beach, which just opened a major airport to
capture fly-in tourists, officials were fighting to keep their
traditional drive-in customers while they still could, Rowe said.


      "The folks here are very concerned about the oil out there,"
Rowe said. "We are working so diligently to get the word out there
to the public that are beaches are clean right now."


      Allen elaborated Monday on comments over the weekend that the
spill cleanup would last into fall, acknowledging the full cleanup
would take much longer.

      "Dealing with the oil spill on the surface will take a couple
of months," he said, but the process of getting oil out of
marshlands and other habitats "will be years."


      Officials put out a report late Sunday that dead, oiled birds
had been found in Texas but retracted it Monday morning. U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Nancy Brown blamed the mistake on
a clerical error.

      BP said Monday that the cost of the response has reached about
$1.25 billion. The company said the figure does not include $360
million for a project to build six sand berms meant to protect
Louisiana's wetlands from spreading oil.

      It's not clear how much oil is still escaping from the well. The
inverted funnel-like cap is being closely watched for whether it
can make a serious dent in the flow of new oil.


      BP PLC said Monday in a written statement that the cap is now
capturing 466,200 gallons a day. That's up from about 441,000
gallons on Saturday and about 250,000 on Friday. Federal
authorities have estimated the ruptured pipe is leaking between
500,000 gallons and more than 1 million gallons a day.


      More oil is being collected as more vents on the cap atop the
blown well are closed. The process is gradual because crews need to
keep water and gas from creating a slush that thwarted a previous
containment effort. The captured oil is being pumped to a ship on
the surface.


      Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Tom
Raum in Washington, Ray Henry in New Orleans, and Cain Burdeau at
Barataria Bay, La.
      
      (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Gallery

Disasters

The geyser of oil spewing from the
sea floor is tapering off day by day, but there's no quick fix.

Cap collecting more oil as slick extends its reach

Go Deeper.

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