water, a slick forms and expands, but it s all intentional. here the government creates controlled oil spills in a giant tank more than two football fields long. operators create ocean wave conditions, then they use various techniques to clean it all up. there are three primary plans of attack for cleaning oil spills in the water. burn the oil, apply chemical dispersants to break it down, or manually remove it, all three are at work in the gulf of mexico. you would try to use as many techniques as you can to remove the oil off the off the water, the surface of the water. reporter: you get out every form of artillery you ve got? yes, sir. reporter: today cleanup experts are practicing manual techniques to remove oil. taking oil off the surface of the water is kind of like peeling the filling off of an oil cookie. you re skimming it, and that s what all these various devices do, they skim the oil off the water. depending upon the grade of oil, how heavy it is, you use a
to fix that mess in the gulf of mexico. we have insights in just a couple moments ago from david mattingly s interview with the ceo of bp, tony hayward. and ines, cnn actually gained exclusive access to oil slick clean-up technology, correct? yeah, that s right. the government s oil spill research and training facility in the new jersey coast. and cnn has gained exclusive access to this. in fact, the first time that tv cameras have actually entered the facility. and this is where they test out techniques for cleaning oil spills. and allan chernoff was there. listen to this. reporter: when trying to clean up a giant oil spill how does the oil industry know exactly what to do, what techniques are going to work? the research is done right here at omset, the oil and hazardous materials simulated environmental test tank. this facility is run by the
interior department minerals management service largest of its kind in the world. oil sprays into the water, a slick forms and expands. but it s all intentional. here the government creates controlled oil spills in a giant tank more than two football fields long. operators create ocean wave conditions, then they use various techniques to clean it all up. there are three primary plans of attack for cleaning oil spills in the water. burn the oil, apply chemical dispersants to break it down or manually remove it. all three are at work in the gulf of mexico. you would try to use as many techniques as you can to remove the oil off the water, surface of the water. reporter: you get out every form of or t artillery you ve g. yes, sir. reporter: today they use these techniques. taking oil off the surface of the water is kind of like peeling the feeling off of an
there are three primary plans of attack for cleaning oil spills, burn the oil, amy chemical dispersant or manually remove it. all three are at work in the gulf of mexico. you would try to use as many techniques as you can. reporter: you get out every form of artillery you ve got? yes, sir. reporter: today they are practicing manual techniques to remove oil. taking oil of off the surface of the water is like peeling the filling off an oreo cookie, you skim it. the devices skim the oil of off the water, depending how heavy it is, you use a different types of skimmer. workers can test skimmers and various dispersants and even burning in a safe and enclosed environment that sim lats the ocean s slenty and wave pattern.