Hurricane Season Could Halt Oil Spill Cleanup

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Source: LiveScience

Hurricane Season Could Halt Oil Spill Cleanup

Emergency rescue crews in the Gulf of Mexico are in a race against nature to complete oil spill cleanup operations before the start of hurricane season, which begins June 1.

"This could go on for 60 to 90 days or more," said Doug Helton, coordinator of incident operations for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "There's a lot of things that could go on in that time period that would greatly impact our model, like the fact that hurricane season is starting in a month."

The effects a hurricane could have on the spreading oil spill are impossible to predict, but one thing is certain: Cleanup efforts would have to halt completely in the face of a big storm, said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesperson for the National Hurricane Center.

"You can't have a cleanup in a hurricane. That's kind of a no brainer," Feltgen said. "You can only try to get this cleaned up with all possible speed" before hurricane season starts.

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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100504/sc_livescience/hurricaneseasoncouldhaltoilspillcleanup