Hurricane Alex Disrupts Gulf Oil Spill Response Efforts
The first major storm of the season in the Gulf of Mexico continued to disrupt oil spill cleanup and containment work on Wednesday, officials said.
Hurricane Alex was bearing down on Mexico and the southern Texas coastline, far from the spill but generating waves big enough to hamper the cleanup effort 500 miles away. Dozens of vessels used for things like skimming and supplies were idled. Rough seas make it impossible to contain oil so that skimmers can pick it up or it can be ignited.
And the hurricane season is just beginning…