Fla. Tourism Playground Braces for Oil Slick's Arrival

(June 2) -- With oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill now floating less than a dozen miles from one of Florida's most popular seaside destinations, the Sunshine State is gearing up to defend its pristine beaches as well as its mammoth tourism industry.

A slick has been spotted about eight miles off the coast of Escambia County in the northwest part of the state, Sandy Jennings, chief of the county's Division of Solid Waste Management, told AOL News. The county is home to tourist favorite Pensacola Beach, among other lively vacation spots.

"I think the beaches will probably see some impact," Jennings said in a phone interview. "Hopefully, it will [just] be a light sheen and tar balls."

A task force of more than 500 workers is standing by to clear away any tar balls that wash up, Jennings said.

Florida is braced to become the fourth state fouled by oil from the broken BP well off the Louisiana coast, which has been gushing ever since an April 20 explosion damaged the rig and killed 11 workers. It's now the worst oil spill in American history.

Winds are forecast to blow across the Gulf of Mexico from the south and west for the remainder of the week, meaning that Florida residents may already be able to smell the oil.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is conducting daily overflights of the coastline to try to spot oil slicks and warn residents before they reach shore. Officials started laying boom -- huge, floating synthetic barriers -- on Tuesday, and about 60 boats with skimmer equipment are hovering offshore, the Pensacola News Journal reported.

Resorts like the Island Empress in Pensacola Beach have set up beach webcams in an attempt to reassure tourists that the beaches are still crowded and oil-free -- for now.

Still, Bonnie Robertson, who runs the five-room Noble Manor bed-and-breakfast in Pensacola, says the oil slick has hurt her business at a time of year when it's normally booming.

"The phones have stopped ringing," Robertson told AOL News. The oil slick "will ruin everything -- tourism, the beaches, our income."

Earlier today, an attempt to stop the flow of oil gushing from the underwater well into the gulf stalled when a saw blade got stuck in a pipe, the Coast Guard said.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said at a news conference that one sheer cut was made overnight to the riser pipe, but the diamond blade got stuck during an attempt at a second cut.

The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a criminal probe into the spill, and Attorney General Eric Holder said that if there's "evidence of illegal behavior, we will be extremely forceful in our response."

The patch of oil off the coast of Pensacola is not the main mass, which remains 55 miles away, the Pensacola News Journal reported. Escambia County may start sending out daily beach reports as soon as this week and warned that weather conditions are slowing down the crews trying to spot the location of the oil.

With the oil still at sea rather than washing up on the coast, tourism in Escambia County is busy today, Jennings told AOL News.

"Right now we're saying, 'Go to the beach, it's beautiful,'" Jennings said.