Can a massive sand-cleaning machine ‘save Grand Isle

For the first time in a while, feelings of optimism coursed through Grand Isle, Louisiana, this weekend. And not just because local waters were once again open for recreational fishing (although one local told The Upshot that he hauled in a catch with just about every cast).

Though some recent highly touted oil-cleanup mechanisms have fallen flat (anyone remember the giant Taiwanese skimming ship?), a mysterious sand-cleaning machine recently transported to an area of the beach across the street from the Starfish diner had many locals — and the employees of the company that made it — talking.

Over beers at a local watering hole where many of the oil-spill workers gather, employees of M-I SWACO discussed the job they were dispatched to the seven-mile-long island to do.

“We’re going to save Grand Isle,” one M-I SWACO worker boldly predicted. “Book it.”

Even employees of rival oilfield services companies The Upshot spoke to expressed optimism that the machine would help get things on the island back to normal. So what is it and how does it work?

According to the approved emergency-permit request M-I SWACO filed with the Army Corps of Engineers last week, the machine sits on a 120-by-120-foot platform and uses no chemicals to clean oil-fouled sand. Instead, roughly 600 barrels of heated local tap water will wash the sand and then be transported to a Department of Environmental Quality-approved disposal facility.

“It’s basically the biggest washing machine the world has ever seen,” one M-I SWACO employee told us.

Dump trucks will transport the tons of sand on Grand Isle to the machine. After being sifted and funneled into a water stream, the sand will be sent through two cleaning tanks. Once the sand is clean, dump trucks will transport it out where it’ll once again be spread across the beach.

The machine, which can purportedly process 50 tons of sand per hour, is run by diesel generators, and the water is heated by 4-million-BTU propane tanks. Each load of sand takes 20 minutes to wash.

The M-I SWACO sand-cleaning machine is just one of many previously unknown devices that have been brought in to help the people of the Gulf coast salvage their homeland and livelihoods. Included among them: Kevin Costner’s oil-separating centrifuge, a Zamboni-like sand-surface cleaner, and the MZ-3A, a blimp being used to scout for oil slicks and oiled mammals from the sky.

If it works, the machine could calm concerns about oil trapped below the surface of the beach. Teams of cleanup workers have been patrolling, scooping oil-fouled sand into white plastic bags, but researchers believe Mother Nature has been burying much of the oil by washing fresh sand over it. Deeper dredging would allow for a deeper cleaning and lower long-term environmental risks.

Still, at least one local is skeptical that the machine will do much to help.

“Everybody and their brother-in-law’s popping up with ideas right now so that they can get BP’s money,” local seafood wholesaler Dean Blanchard told us.