Oil spill creates business for Pittsburgh-area cleanup, tech companies
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The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has clean-up crews and oil executives sweating and Ray Tarasi keeping long hours in Robinson. As president and chief executive of Universal Remediation, Mr. Tarasi has never seen demand like this for his company's oil-sucking containment tool, the BioBoom.
Employees are working around the clock, orders elsewhere have been curtailed and Universal Remediation already plans to rent another facility in the next three months to keep up with demand.
"This cleanup will go on for a couple years," Mr. Tarasi said.
Three weeks after an offshore well ruptured, killing 11 workers and sending crude oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, oil executives faced harsh questioning in two Senate hearings Tuesday.
At the same time, some local companies are watching the spreading crisis from the vantage point of players in the oil technology field who may either work to prevent a spill or step in once one occurs. A report by the Pittsburgh Technology Council last year counted some 300 waste remediation and management firms in the region.
The Gulf spill could keep them busy for a while.
Universal Remediation, for one, currently has a back order related to the spill for 500,000 feet of the BioBoom product, which is generally sold in 10-foot lengths costing between $150 and $200 each. In addition, about 20 tons of oil-sucking powder have been ordered for use in cleaning up the Gulf Coast mess.
The BioBoom looks like a long, snaking sock filled with a powder that breaks down hydrocarbons like oil. "When oil comes in contact with our product, they become one," Mr. Tarasi said.
The tubular tool floats on the water, soaking up the oil so that nutrients in the powder can feed microbes that break down oil "like Dawn on a greasy pan," he said.
After about three weeks in the water, the tubes -- now gray with discoloration -- are ready for pick-up, as little more than the fabric that wraps the powder remains.
Another company with offices in Robinson, SUNPRO, last week sent 7,000 feet of boom in its first shipment to Florida. Another 53-foot-long trailer filled with boom departed Monday morning as crews work to keep the oil from the coast.
First Published May 12, 2010 12:00 am
