The 11-foot-tall machine weighs 35,000 pounds

The 11-foot-tall machine weighs 35,000 pounds "The federal government requires that, but the federal government doesn't know that it requires that," Lee said, exasperated by what he regards as bureaucratic bungling in response to the oil spill.

Jason Bragg, who is directing BP's mechanical removal of tar balls from Panhandle beaches, said the Sand Shark isn't a "rocket ship." But it's thorough, removing all objects larger than 3 millimeters -- about the width of three pinheads, he said.

The 11-foot-tall machine weighs 35,000 pounds, moves at up to two miles an hour, requires a crew of six to 10 people, and in a pair of 10-hour shifts can clean a strip of sand 8 feet wide and 1.5 miles long, Bragg said.