Carolinas contingency plans to deal with oil spill

Officials from North Carolina and South Carolina said today that chances are remote that oil from a leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico could make it to the beaches of the Carolinas and it would likely be weeks from now if it did.

"We think there will be a minimal impact, if any," Ricky Platt, director of the S.C. Emergency Management Division, told The Associated Press. "But having said that, we're still in the unknown."

The worry is that the loop current in Gulf of Mexico will pull the leaking oil around the Florida peninsula and then north toward the Carolinas.

Both N.C. and S.C. have contingency plans in place to deal with the oil should it reach our shores.

• Read the S.C. plan here (PDF).
  
• Read the N.C. plan here (PDF).