The cleanup will take at least three months, and authorities have forced hundreds of thousands of people on an annual Roman Catholic pilgrimage to change their route to avoid the pollutedarea.
The most far-reaching: revitalization of the area around the hopelessly polluted Inner Harbor, a one-mile-long channel that runs from Onondaga Lake to within a few blocks of downtown.
Officials say an area of ocean covering 430 sq km (165 sq miles) is now polluted - oil-eating bacteria and oil-skimming vessels are being deployed to remove the slick, which Greenpeace says is China's worst in recent memory.
Others are spooked by stories of housing shortages, towns overrun with strangers, torn-up roads and claims of polluted water and worry that drilling would forever alter the serenity, beauty and very character of an area they consider special.