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MOBILE, Ala. – As countless tar balls washed ashore on a beach along Alabama's Gulf Coast, cleanup workers sat and watched because they didn't have the proper plastic covers to protect their shoes. Elsewhere, a crew using shovels and garden rakes worked for hours on a long stretch of sand that a machine could have cleaned in minutes.
BP says it's doing all it can to keep supplies stocked and has had to turn to foreign companies for help. But with demand so high for everything from plastic gloves, to oil-blocking booms and sand-sifting machines, finding enough items to outfit workers and protect the coast is an unending task.
"There's no chain, no rope. There's a shortage of steel posts in this area," he said. "They found some in Houston."
"What really hits me the most is the lack of manpower and the lack of equipment," said Jefferson Parish Council Chairman John Young.