The task of cleaning up the Gulf oil spill is no small task. Thousands of specialists and trained volunteers have descended on the Gulf of Mexico to make a dent in this generation's worst environmental disaster.

 

This 1-ton mass of tarball material sums up the enormity of the problem. The giant blob was presented on June 11 by the crew of the Sailfish, a Vessels of Opportunity boat contracted by BP to assist in the largest oil spill response in U.S. history. Lisa Novak, a civilian employee of the Coast Guard, clarified on Monday that the tarball was not found intact, as initially believed. It is an aggregation of material. A press release from the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command, "Innovation Improves Tar Ball Removal Capability," describes the process.