Today the first of the four R. Marley folks arrived at about 7:30 and focused on using shovels to remove sediment and tar material, and using the screen stands to sift through shovelled sediment. Through this operation 29 bags of sediment with asphalt were retrieved; we estimate that asphalt comprised less than 10% of the total retrieved today (i.e., over 90% of the retrieved material was sediment). The on-site coordinator also conducted his daily inspection and maintenance of the check dams, which were functioning as designed. The water in the drainage has significantly receded in recent days. As in previous days, nothing appears to have breached the uppermost check dam since October 8.

Cleanup in the immediate release site area (i.e., the top 30 yards or so) is largely complete, with the work today concentrated in the drainage between 30 and 60 yards from the release site. Tomorrow and Monday (a full laborer crew is expected Monday) we're focusing on completing the shovel and screening operations, retrieving rocks, cobbles, and boulders with tar smeared on them, picking up visible bits of tar, and returning screened sediment to where it was extracted.

Agency observers, including a spill response expert from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), were on-site at various times throughout the day. The EPA representative opined that the cleanup activities appear to be effective and efficient, a position consistent with NMED's assessment, at least as it was stated in its press release yesterday.

Also today R. Marley and NMED collected duplicate samples of the product from the tanker involved in the accident. R. Marley will have its sample analyzed for the same constituents as is NMED: Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (that includes separate analyses of light, medium, and heavy fractions), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (the main constituent of concern in asphalt and tar-like substances made with petroleum distillates), and a suite of metals as directed by NMED.