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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/07/02/oil.cleanup.gi.art.jpg caption="Oil cleanup workers try to remove thick oil that washed ashore on July 1, 2010 in Gulfport, Mississippi."]
With Alex fading, Gulf crews set sights on oil cleanup efforts
(CNN) – Now that former Hurricane Alex has lost nearly all of its punch, many in the Gulf states were hoping that Friday would be the day that they could get back to cleaning up the massive oil spill.
The dangerous storm had created choppy seas in the Gulf of Mexico and caused hundreds of oil skimmers to be docked.
"We had to stand down because of the storm activity. Now that oil has been spewed all over the Chandelier Islands," Craig Taffaro, the president of St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana, said Thursday. "We are going out again (Friday) to start cleaning it up. We have to go back out, basically start over."
Also in the area Friday will be Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa P. Jackson. Jackson is headed back to the Gulf Coast, a day after her agency gave BP a new directive on how to deal with the cleanup of the massive oil spill.
Jackson will hold a town hall meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, and tour areas of Pensacola, Florida, on Friday. It will be her sixth trip to the area since the April 20 oil disaster, the EPA said. Read more
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