Crews to set fire to oil leaking in Gulf of Mexico

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Crews geared up to set fire to oil leaking from the site of an exploded drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico today, a last-ditch effort to get rid of it before it reaches environmentally sensitive marshlands on the coast.

A 500-foot boom will be used to corral several thousand gallons of the thickest oil on the surface, which will then be towed to a more remote area, set on fire, and allowed to burn for about an hour, the Coast Guard said. Such burns will continue throughout the day if they are working.

The slick was about 20 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

About 42,000 gallons of oil a day are leaking into the Gulf from the blown-out well where the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank last week. Eleven workers are missing and presumed dead. The cause of the explosion has not been determined.

Greg Pollock, head of the oil spill division of the Texas General Land Office, which is providing equipment for crews in the Gulf, said he is not aware of a similar burn ever being done off the U.S. coast. The last time crews with his agency used fire booms to burn oil was a 1995 spill on the San Jacinto River.