Sheila, Two farmers came up with this solution to get rid of the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. They had two large bowls of water and they poured motor oil in each bowl. The added ordinary hay/straw in one and bahia grass in the other. Stirred it around a bit like the ocean currents would do, then scooped out the hay. Whaaaalaaa and the oil was gone. It attached itself to both grasses. The water remaining in the bowl was clear and clean. Straw does not sink but would float to the beaches where it could be picked up like they do seaweed. They suggested they could go out to the slick and shoot straw out over the slick and recover most of it out there. Seems a pretty cheap way to clean up this mess.