[kingu]

From further down the article: [company spokeshole] Being a newly developed tool to battle oil slicks, the A Whale, a 10-story-tall, 350-yard-long vessel, requires testing and adjustments before moving into action, he said.

This isn't EPA testing, or Coast Guard, it is testing by the company to see if the skimmer can pick up emulsified tars without clogging the openings, the filters and the ejection ports. They are likely going to attempt to keep the craft on the 'sheen' areas to avoid the tar mats which are nearly impossible to skim with a craft like this.

[Talisker]

This isn't EPA testing, or Coast Guard, it is testing by the company to see if the skimmer can pick up emulsified tars without clogging the openings, the filters and the ejection ports. They are likely going to attempt to keep the craft on the 'sheen' areas to avoid the tar mats which are nearly impossible to skim with a craft like this.

You are so full of it. The "company testing" is being done at the command of the EPA. And the idea that a thousand foot long ship designed to suck up a half-million gallons of spilled oil a day hasn't been thought through thoroughly by engineers, is absurd.

"Sheen areas"? "Tar mats"? "Nearly impossible to skim"? Your terms are as bogus as your implied experience and knowledge.

"A craft like this"? Biggest lie of all - "a craft like this" is DESIGNED for a problem LIKE THIS.

Go back to your government bunker and get more training.