of sand and rock shore was severely contaminated on Long Island. A 

 crane-operated dragline and a bulldozer were used to remove the surface 

 of the beach down to a depth of 6 to 12 inches. A 6-cu. yd. front-end 

 loader was used to transport the accumulated spoil to a barge mounted 

 clam shell crane that transferred the spoil into a second barge for 

 transport to a dump site. The barge crane was used to compensate for 

 the extreme tidal movement in the ocean. Hot water jet was used on rock 

 outcropping to remove adhering oil. This treatment left a uniform black 

 discoloration on all the rocks. An attempt was made to burn the oil 

 off the rocks with a flame thrower but was discontinued when spalling 

 became excessive. 



These are some of the representative oil spills involving signifi- 

 cant effort of beach cleanup. They and other spills involving beach 

 cleanup operation are summarized in Table 1 and described in more 

 details in Appendix A. 



Beaches along the California coast are subject to contamination 

 from natural oil seeps. In Reference 15, a study was performed on 

 natural contamination along the Southern California coastline. The most 

 severe contamination was observed at Coal Oil Point where on one occasion 

 the measured amount of oil on the beach reached 3 oz/sq ft over a 500- 

 sq ft test area. This amount of contamination is unusual but occurs 

 under certain combinations of wind and current. 



Oil on beaches is dispersed and degraded by natural processes. 

 The natural processes found most effective in dispersal of oil from 

 contaminated beaches are wave action and biodegradation. Severe weather 

 conditions and wave action tend to remove surface oil from rocks and 

 beaches. A severe storm has been found to disperse the majority of 

 contamination from an open beach. Such processes have been found less 

 effective for protected coves and bays. 



Biodegradation of the trapped or absorbed oil accomplishes the 

 ultimate cleaning of a beach. There are many varieties of bacteria, 

 yeasts, and protozoa which consume hydrocarbon materials. These forms 

 of life perform slowly and may take years to remove the final traces 

 of oil from a heavily contaminated beach. 



Very little effort has been directed to the research of beach 

 cleanup technology. Of the methods studied, most are either too expen- 

 sive to be practical at this time or have not been proven in actual 

 field conditions. Note that most beach contamination involves very large 

 quantities of contaminated material, e.g., cleanup of a 5-mile stretch 

 of beach involved removal of 6,000 cu yd of contaminated sand. Treatment 

 of this amount of sand requires a long period of time, and the costs 

 are high. Treatment of beach sand to remove oil can be justified only 

 where beach sand is a scarce and costly commodity. Disposal is a frequent 

 problem, and some studies have been made in the on-site cleaning of 

 sand. 



An investigation into restoring beach material by incineration 

 was made by Envirogenics Company funded by the EPA [16]. Results indicate 

 that the process is technically feasible only if the sand contains more 

 than 6% oil and less than 6% water. The clean sand did not recover its 

 original color and a slightly greyish tone persisted. 



