Clean Water Network Florida

Clean Water Network of Florida, Inc.

The Clean Water Network of Florida is a Coalition of more than 155 groups that are committed to full implementation, enforcement and strengthening of the Clean Water Act and other safeguards of our water resources.

It includes a variety of organizations representing environmentalists, family farmers, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, surfers, boaters, faith communities, neighborhood associations, environmental justice advocates, and civic associations.

July 20, 2010: 07/20/10

By  Linda Young

Dear Friends of Florida’s waters:
I’m sure that each of you are doing the same thing I am, which is watching the television with bated-breath in hopes that the gushing hole in the Gulf of Mexico will soon cease to flow permanently. As we have been told, that will not be the end of this nightmare, but the end of the beginning. There is a tremendous amount of information available now, but the main problem that I have on a regular basis is figuring out what is credible and what is not. The news and information spans the spectrum between pure PR spin on the one hand to wild speculation on the other. This leaves many of us confused, discouraged and/or scared. What are we supposed to think?

Here’s what I have learned since our last update:


STATE AND FEDERAL RESPONSE EFFORTS - Local governments are reporting that coordination with the state has improved in recent weeks. Escambia County finally got reimbursed for the millions of dollars that they have spent up through the end of June and the state is in the process of taking over the private contract that Escambia County had negotiated to protect its coast and resources. The problem that was created for local governments when the state was changing its policies and procedures on a daily basis sometimes, has improved.

Another recent change is that BP now has a representative at several Panhandle local response sites. Early in the process, Escambia County offered its Emergency Operations Center as a central coordination site, but BP declined the offer. An operation center is now established at Bayou Chico and serves Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. Other similar centers are established in counties to the east.

HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES:

Air quality – The DEP and EPA websites have air quality data from their monitoring stations but they are averaging the data over 24 hours or longer (maybe up to a week as far as I can tell), so that data is not helpful in my opinion. Lately the air quality in the western panhandle has been much better in terms of not smelling the oil like we have in previous weeks and months. However, our members in Panama City and Port St. Joe reported strong oil odors last week. They contacted the local health department who told them that the air was fine and that they were imagining the odors. Whatever.

Water quality – If you visit the FL DEP website, you will find air and water quality data. The problem is that they only have two basic findings: non-detect or detected but not believed to be related to the BP oil disaster. Hmmmmm . . . Just across the Florida/Alabama line, the water and sand were tested by the local TV station WKRG and they found high levels of oil in the beach and sand where children were swimming and playing.

There has been less oil coming ashore in the Panhandle over the past week or two and that seems to be mostly by the graces of Mother Nature, more than a great improvement in the mechanical efforts to keep the oil at bay. The NOAA website and others shows the concentration of surface oil to be about 80 to 90 miles off the coast of Pensacola today. There is essentially no way to keep the oil out of Pensacola Pass due to the depth and swift currents. The only thing that is being done is to try to clean it up after it enters the pass. It has moved at times as far as the Bob Sikes Bridge.

To track oil, the Coast Guard is using a hot-air blimp that cruises back and forth along the coast, which is actually quite impressive. They report that the oil is visible from above but is impossible to see from down in the water until late in the afternoon. They often see swimmers in the water with oil and they are completely unaware of its presence. All of the Florida beaches are open and ready for business.

At Perdido Pass, booms are being used with marginal success apparently. Destin Pass has a different technology in place, which is apparently being somewhat successful as well. The lengths of coastline that have no passes cut or maintained (for natural passes) seem to be getting a lot less oil on the beaches, such as Navarre Beach. I have no scientific information to support this observation, but it makes sense when you think about it.

Methane – http://204.90.20.174/oilspill/documents/methane_fact_sheet.pdf

This is DEP’s fact sheet on the concern that has been raised regarding the possibility of a tsunami that would be induced by a methane explosion under the floor of the Gulf at the well site. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. I truly don’t know what to think about this.

HURRICANES - Everyone on the Florida Gulf Coast should think about how a hurricane in the Gulf might affect their property and/or their ability to return home after a major hurricane. I have inquired of state Emergency officials if there will be a statewide policy regarding whether homeowners would be able to return home after a hurricane, if there was land contamination from oil/chemicals. I have been told that state emergency officials are discussing this issue but all decisions will be made on a county level.

In discussing this with NW Florida emergency operations officials, I was told that in the event that a storm washes oil/chemicals onto the land and/or into residences and businesses, there would be several factors to consider. If it is fresh oil that has not weathered and contains high levels of VOCs (volatile organic compounds), then that would be the worse case scenario as that would likely pose a health concern. If there is a health risk, then people will not be allowed to return to their homes as long as that risk is present.

If the debris is contaminated, or the roads are contaminated with oil/chemicals then that will dramatically slow down the removal and recovery process and time. In advance of a storm scenario, officials have no way of knowing if the oil would come ashore, how much oil could come ashore, where it would appear or whose property would be impacted. The prudent thing to do would be to remove anything that is important to you from your home or business that you aren’t willing to part with permanently.

There are many unknown answers to questions concerning liability in the event of a hurricane. You should definitely check with your insurance agent about what your coverage will offer you in terms of protection. One thing for sure is that federal flood insurance does not offer loss of use coverage. So, if there is a storm surge that deposits oil/chemicals on your property, making it unusable for a period of time and that is the only damage you have (meaning there is no wind damage that would trigger a wind policy claim) then even if you are prohibited from returning to your home by local authorities, you will have no loss of use coverage from your flood policy.

If there is wind and oil damage then the answers will vary depending on whom you have wind insurance with. Most wind policies exclude pollutants in the definition of damaged. Like I said, there are many unanswered questions at this point. As I find out more, I will pass the information on to you. There is a meeting of state Emergency Operations directors next week and this is one of the many discussions that will happen there.

Any liability that BP should assume will likely be addressed in a court setting and will probably not be settled quickly. I’m trying to think positively that the hurricanes are going to miss all of us for the next couple of years (at least).

Financial impact – one final bit of unwelcome news that I learned today from my insurance agent is that in the past week, he personally knows of two different mortgage companies that are refusing to write mortgages for homes on Pensacola Beach because of the oil. This is very troubling news and I’ll let you know when and if I learn more about it.


That’s probably enough information for one update. Much of this is not water quality related per se, but as we are seeing, the quality of our water can affect many aspects of our lives. We have seen in previous hurricanes that contaminants do get washed on shore and into peoples homes when storm surges occur. For instance, during hurricane Ivan, dioxin and arsenic contaminated sludge was dislodged from the bottom of Perdido Bay and washed into the yards and homes of hundreds of families living around the Bay. In that case the state and local governments couldn’t have cared less that a discharge from the International Paper Company mill in Pensacola had caused thousands of people to be at risk from exposure to these toxic chemicals. Local residents had to get the sludge tested to determine their risk level.

It is impossible to know how a similar situation involving BP’s oil will be handled. As individuals, we have little or no control over BP’s oil right now. But, facilities that are willfully discharging toxic chemicals into our coastal waters (many without current permits) while the FL DEP looks the other way, are putting us at risk and this lax implementation and enforcement of the Clean Water Act should end. These polluting industries include papermills, phosphate mines, coal-fired power plants, chemical plants, sewage plants, and others. If you live within 50 miles of any of these types of facilities, then you may want to check into your exposure risk in the event of a storm surge.

In closing, if you live anywhere along the Gulf Coast, I want to still urge you to make sure that your local government is ready to protect your local beaches and waters in the event that the oil makes its way to your area. It is better to be prepared and never have to use the plan than to suddenly find yourself facing oil contamination and have no precautions in place.

For all of Florida’s waters,
Linda Young
Director

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July 9, 2010 weekly update on BP oil disaster: 07/20/10

By  Linda Young

Dear Friends of Florida waters:

It has been two weeks since I sent you an update on the oil disaster as perceived through my eyes, ears and nose. I have learned a lot in that time period and much has happened in terms of government action/inaction and of course to our waters and wildlife. It’s hard to know where to start, so I’ll just start and hope that it flows in a direction that makes sense to you.

First for some good news: There is definitely more information about what is happening to clean up the oil, now available on the internet. There are numerous links that you can follow, but the two that I find most helpful are these:

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/news.htm

http://map.floridadisaster.org/gator/

They both have further links inside of them, so if you are acutely interested in this situation, I would suggest that you spend time looking over these sites. The CERT-GATOR site is pretty amazing. As I have followed these sites over the past couple of weeks, one thing that really jumps out to me is the fact that there are so many boats and resources being committed to Destin and Panama City as compared to, for instance, Pensacola. But when you look at the oil recovered, the amount at Pensacola is enormously higher. Some oil has been getting over as far as Walton and Bay Counties, but relatively small amounts. Yet, the effort to protect these areas is remarkable. While I don’t know the reason for this seeming inequity, I would guess that its political, as in St. Joe Development Corporation put in a phone call to Tallahassee and said something like, “Don’t you dare let that oil get to the beaches where we own resorts and rental properties, etc.” For those of you who are not familiar with the incredible power of St. Joe, just take my word for it, when they demand something from the state or federal government . . . They get it. Other possible reasons could be that St. Andrews Bay is a very high quality estuary (or was before the state and federal government donated $400 million to build a new airport which has trashed a large part of the bay) and should be protected; there is a US Fish & Wildlife office and a National Marine Fisheries office there and so the federal government is more concerned; or the tax dollars that are generated by Panama City Beach are so high that the state doesn’t want to lose that income. Anyway, the important thing about this information is that your coastline may get more or less money, resources and protection, depending on who you know and how well politically connected you are.

Early last week, I sent some questions to the folks in Tallahassee who are intricately involved in the management of the state’s resources and decisions. Below is an excerpt from the email and the questions that I sent. My primary questions centered around threats to public health and information that has been circulating about the potential for the methane under the blown-out pipe to explode and possibly cause a tsunami along the Gulf Coast. I had requested the state’s position on this previously and was given a canned response from the DEP expert on the subject. What you will read here is my response to the state’s statement:

. . . . .There is an article on Huffington Post that explains the threat very succinctly and plainly and leads to more questions. One thing that the DEP expert said that didn’t sound right to me, was that the live video feed from the ocean floor around the busted well head does not show any leaking from the ocean floor.

“ I’ve watched the leaking wellhead and BP’s robots trying to plug it the last few weeks and it looks to me like all the leaking fluids go straight upward. If hydrates or an ultra high pressure bubble were forming, I would think it would be visible from one of the many robot cameras views we’ve seen on the live webcasts. We’ve seen the substrate near the leaking well. It’s muddy and turbulent, but all we’ve seen drifting by is what looks like white shell fragments and an occasional eel.”

He said that on June 17th and maybe it was after that, that we started seeing the video of oil and gas clearly bubbling up from the ocean floor around the wellhead. In any case, it clearly is happening. Senator Nelson made a big issue of it in his press conference two weeks ago. This may need to be revisited by DEP.

Also, in the transcript of the press conference given by Thad Allen on June 25th which was sent to me in the Deepwater Horizon memo, he completely dismisses any notion of a methane bubble. That in my opinion is irresponsible and worrisome. There is clearly a lot of methane down in that reserve and the government needs to be paying attention to it. We the taxpayers deserve an honest and full explanation of their findings.

I would ask that the Governor’s office immediately set up a panel of experts that have credibility with the public (so for instance if you had five experts, then no more than one would work for DEP) to review the pros and cons on this issue and to come out with a finding that will be public. If the scientists who are concerned are right and there were to be a catastrophic event(s) it seems that Florida would take the brunt of it. I don’t see how the state can not want to know all that it can possibly know about this and share it with the public. If you truly believe that we are not in danger, then you need to get that out to people.

DISPERSANTS – Would you please request from your contacts at BP or the Coast Guard, a complete list of dates, locations and amounts of dispersants that have been released? GPS coordinates would be fine for locations. I know this information must be available and the state has a right to know how close it is getting to Florida waters. If you would pass it on to me I would greatly appreciate it. Also, I would like to request that DEP contract with a reputable lab to do daily sampling of Florida waters for dispersants. If this is already being done then please advise me as to where I can review it. We need to have our state waters line sampled in several locations, as well as beaches and inland waters. Since DEP is apparently doing extensive data collection to document damages in the future, then it may be relatively easy for them to add dispersants to the list of samples that they take from inland and near shore waters. I repeat that it would be ideal to have our state water line that is 9.5 miles offshore, also sampled daily in several locations.

AIR QUALITY – As I understand what you have told me, so far the DEP has only sampled air quality for oil related pollutants in Apalachicola and Wakulla? Is this correct? I would like to request that air monitors be set up on Perdido Key, Pensacola Beach, Navarre Beach, and Okaloosa Island this week. As the storm blows the oil closer and we are likely to have winds from the south and southwest, it is critical that people have information about air quality to make informed decisions. You can’t advertise for people to come here and visit and then not make this important information available. Plus, permanent residents have a right to know if they are breathing toxic air on a regular basis. I would like the air tested either twice a day (early morning and just after dark) or constantly for such pollutants as: benzene, methane, hydrogen sulfide,and methylene chloride and any other suspected pollutants that could be expected. As I have said before, the air is often bad enough that you can’t be outside for any length of time. Surely the state wants to know if it’s residents are in danger and give us the option of making informed decisions about the risk we assume by staying in our homes for an extended period of time.

STORMS – The news stations tell us to expect more oil to get blown to shore by the TS Alex which is entering the lower Gulf of Mexico. That makes sense. Would you please make sure that larger booms are deployed to the greatest extent possible? The little sausage booms that are so popular in this disaster response are barely effective in calm seas and will be totally worthless in larger waves.

In closing, I want to thank you for all you efforts to effectively communicate what the Governor’s office and your agencies are doing to address this disaster. I’m hoping that all of your efforts will be successful. I continue to request that you secure more and better technology out in the Gulf to stop the oil from coming to shore. This would include boats and skimmers, booms and other devices that you find to be effective. I would also ask that when local governments request money for local protective measures, if you choose to deny their requests that you simultaneously provide some alternative protection that is demonstrated (or believed for good reason) to be equally or more protective. It is unhelpful for the state to deny our local governments the money to do the best that they can to protect their local resources and then not provide any sort of solution to the growing contamination that is occurring in our local waters. Our estuaries, marshes, streams, grassbeds, oysterbeds, etc MUST BE PROTECTED. I know that the state is concerned about scam-artists, bogus devices, etc. that will surely surface during this crisis situation, but it will be better to err on the side of making a few mistakes than to do nothing.

I look forward to hearing from you on the above questions and requests. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I will pass on your information to the members of my organization and all the people that they share my updates with, which is growing every day. Thank you again for all your efforts and assistance.”

That is the end of my letter. Here is what I have learned since then from the state and from EPA in Atlanta:


DISPERSANTS - The US EPA is only testing for dispersants in waters around Louisiana. There is apparently no testing for dispersants being done off the coast of Florida, on the theory that dispersants are not being sprayed in Florida waters, so therefore there is no need. Even though DEP is taking hundreds of water quality samples that will be used to build a case for damages from BP down the road, they are not testing for dispersants at all.

METHANE BUBBLE – See above. I also received a fact sheet from the state regarding methane related to offshore drilling. It was unhelpful. I was told that the state is looking into the question that I posed in the email above, but I have received no further helpful information regarding my concern about the methane gas issue.

Air Quality – Below is what I got from the state. After talking to many people in government, I don’t see any evidence that they want to know if the air is safe or not. Or the water for that matter.

Four VOC monitors have been established in Florida at: Naval Air Station Pensacola, Panama City Beach, Ft. Walton, and Eastpoint. Two of the monitors are run by EPA (with state assistance) and two are run entirely by the state. Both EPA and DEP monitors are sited according to EPA criteria established for this purpose.
The monitors are located where populations are more concentrated and better represent the air quality most local citizens are breathing; the locations are also adequate to assess ambient air quality at the coast. Direct placement of the monitors on or adjacent to the beach would not be considered the most ideal location. In this case, though, the Naval Air Station monitor is actually located just off the beach, so we have at least one location this is located adjacent to the beach. Also very important to note, the sites have to be in secured locations to protect the equipment. We believe that all four sites adequately balance all the considerations that need to be made in placing the monitors. [MY NOTE: the Naval Air Station is not located just off the beach].

We characterize the air monitoring effort for the oil spill as EPA’s effort. Florida is assisting EPA in this effort. To improve and augment coverage for Florida citizens, the state has added the two sites for VOC monitoring. In addition to the DEP monitoring results, we will soon be posting the EPA VOC monitoring results on the DEP air monitoring web page (http://www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/air.htm).

EPA's website:
www.epa.gov/bpspill/air.html <http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/air.html>

CLEAN UP TECHNOLOGY: Numerous people have sent me questions about who to contact to share clean-up technology. Here’s what I got from the state:

Below are links to be used by citizens who wish to submit for evaluation, or bring to the attention of decision-makers, technologies for use in connection with the oil contamination.

Innovative.Technology@dep.state.fl.us <mailto:Innovative.Technology@dep.state.fl.us>

Innovative Technology Evaluation Sheet <http://www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/files/inno_tech_evaluation.pdf>

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/546759/

http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/techsolution.html

I hope this information will be helpful to you. As always, there is so much to tell, and I know it can be overwhelming. Many of you have written me with specific questions and that’s great. I’ll try to answer each one as they come in. You’ll hear from me again next week.

For all of Florida’s waters,

Linda Young
Director

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June 21, 2010 weekly update on BP oil disaster: 07/20/10

By  Linda Young

Dear friends – we’re now into the 9th week of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and I’m learning more every day and as the scope of this heart-breaking nightmare grows daily, so does my general sense of understanding what’s happening on both micro and macro levels. Please know that while my impressions are formed by facts that I piece together from my own research and conversations with local, state and federal officials, and from information that I get from other sources, there are many gaps in information and sometimes I just have to guess, assume or theorize what may be happening.

Also, our normal work on getting Florida’s polluted waters cleaned up (Impaired Waters Rule litigation, TMDLs, nutrient criteria, Buckeye, etc.) and trying to keep our healthy waters from getting destroyed (water quality standards, designated uses, etc) must continue. There are still grant reports and proposals to write, media work to do, phone calls and emails to respond to, web-sites to upkeep, etc. so every day, all day long cannot be dedicated to the oil emergency. So, thank you for your understanding and for all of the membership donations and extra contributions that many of you are sending. We are putting every penny you send to work for the protection of Florida’s waters.

Thank you to everyone who is sharing my updates and op-eds with your members, friends and colleagues. The op-ed from last week was published in the Tampa Tribune and the Palm Beach Post in the past few days. I’m always looking for the time to capture and summarize events and my impressions of them in a way that may be helpful to the general public. So expect more soon.

Last week was a busy week here in the Florida panhandle. The President came to Pensacola Beach and the NAS in Pensacola to talk to local and state officials. Senator Nelson was in Pensacola for a press conference last Monday. As reported to you earlier in the week, his report to the media on Monday was the best over all information that we have received thus far from an elected official. More about this in a few minutes.

I finally received two responses from my public records request that was sent to seven state offices a few weeks ago. The Attorney General’s office and the Dept. of Env. Prot. (DEP) both prepared the documents that I requested. I’ll have those shortly. I have submitted a follow-up letter this week to the other offices/officers that did not respond. As I review these materials, I may find reasons to have a more positive impression of the state’s efforts, but to date, I am finding few reasons to be impressed with Florida’s efforts to help protect our state from the oil.

WHERE THINGS ARE NOW:

My overall impression is that coordination and protection is improving slowly but surely. Finally in the past weeks, several Panhandle local government entities decided to quit waiting for the state and federal government to protect them. It is a relief to see this happening as I’m not sure that our state and federal governments have the desire to challenge BP’s leadership (or lack there-of). Once the oil started getting into the passes at Perdido, Pensacola and now Destin, the local governments in these areas have gotten much more proactive in their efforts to keep the oil from moving further into our inland waters.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is using its planes to track the oil offshore now and to look for wildlife that may be in distress. This is encouraging and would be extremely helpful if there were boats available to skim the oil once it is spotted by the plane.

BP’s beach-cleaning crews seem to do a fairly good job of picking up the oil (and trash) from the beaches, although there are reports from some areas along the beach where the oil comes in and the clean-up crews are not available for an extended amount of time. I don’t know of any increase in the number of skimmer boats that are working offshore. The last report said there are three off the panhandle coast and more on the way. I hope they will order/request more because as the flow of oil continues unabated, it will continue to move toward Florida and it is critical that they intercept as much as possible before it reaches the shorelines.

There was a large fish kill last week between Panacea and Perry but I don’t think that it was known whether or not it was oil-related. The water in the Gulf is very warm this year and dissolved oxygen will be lower than normal, especially if there are algal blooms too.

An interesting phenomenon that we are witnessing is the mass exodus of marine life from further out in the Gulf to the cleaner waters along the coasts. There are more dolphins than I’ve ever seen, sea turtles galore, sharks are everywhere, menhaden by the millions, barracuda, and lots of mackerel too. We even saw a school of angel fish from the Navarre Beach fishing pier over the weekend. I had never seen angel fish in the wild before and there was a school of about 8 or 10 swimming by. Amazing!!! Also a few days ago there was a frigate bird soaring above my house, riding the wind currents above the Gulf. Another “first” for me. Usually these birds are only seen on the open oceans, I am told.

You may have heard today that there is a tropical system developing down in the Caribbean and that it could develop further over the next couple of days and become an issue for the Gulf. If this one doesn’t materialize, another one will sooner or later. I urge everyone who lives in a coastal county to check into the preparations being made in your area. It is much better to be prepared for the worst and it never happens, than to be unprepared and get oil on your beaches, and in your rivers and estuaries.

There are large booms available for purchase and they will be much more effective at keeping the oil away from our coast. I suggests that every county have some on hand and the equipment to deploy it. There are ships that could be collecting the oil from the open waters, but this is happening very little right now. Please ask your local government officials to demand this. This is not only important for the protection of our shores and the marine life that lives along the coast, but also because the oil is depleting the water of dissolved oxygen.

Florida DEP says that there is no spraying of dispersants in Florida waters. I hope that we can believe this to be true. To date BP has apparently released almost 1.5 million gallons of dispersants into the Gulf. There are ample reasons to stop this from continuing, but the EPA seems to be uninterested in taking serious actions to stop BP from discharging these toxins into our waters. As I’ve said before, if I find out that they are spraying or using dispersents in Florida waters AT ALL, then CWN-FL will go into court to get an injunction.

If the water near you is still clean and usable for fishing and/or swimming, then please enjoy it. We have no idea how this will end, what the final damage will be or how long it will take to heal (if at all possible). We all have lots of questions and there are few answers available. I’ll be meeting this week with local officials and will share any news that I learn.

For all of Florida’s waters,

Linda Young
Director

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Photos of Oil on Pensacola Beach: 07/09/10

By  Webmaster

For captions please visit our Gulf of Mexico page.

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Pensacola Pass: Update on Oil Disaster: 06/14/10

By  Linda Young

This morning I attended the press conference at the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) where Senator Bill Nelson gave the briefing.  It was refreshing to hear a politician talk straight and tell the truth about what is happening (for a change).  There is bad news and there is some encouraging news to share.  I’ll mix it up a bit, so you don’t get too overwhelmed with the bad news.

First of all, the oil came into Pensacola Pass yesterday and has been found in grapefruit-sized globs all the way to the Pensacola Beach bridge.  A scientist at the EPA lab on Pensacola Beach (west of the bridge) reported that they have a little string of boom along their shore (I call it sausage boom, which is what you see everywhere and it is completely unhelpful as it’s only about one foot in diameter. It is the stuff they use on construction sites) and the waves are going right over it. The oil is all along the shore at the EPA lab, which is very disheartening to the scientists who work there, but don’t you think that the EPA could muster up a little bit better protection for their own real-estate?

We are told that we can expect to have oil coming ashore for at least the next few days. There is a huge island of oil right offshore, about 40 miles long and almost 2 miles wide and at least a foot thick that is rolling our way.  The heat index is between 105 and 109 degrees, which at least helps to volatilize some of the oil.  Escambia has finally received the heavy equipment that it requested from BP, which will be used to clean up the oil on the shoreline.  It has been 7 weeks since the equipment was requested.

Senator Nelson said that he has been very critical of the command and control structure for the oil disaster.  The Coast Guard has had 51% of the control and BP the rest.  The Coast Guard (CG) has essentially been dysfunctional and has frustrated everyone.  He feels that the structure is changing and that Escambia County at least is getting better communication from the CG over the past couple of days.  He said the situation reached crisis level last week when the oil entered Perdido Pass and none of the local governments were given any warning. This means that the CG was not even watching the oil from helicopters and reporting its proximity to shore.  Since then, a representative from Escambia County is working from the Incident Command Center in Mobile, AL and will hopefully facilitate communications.  An upper level Escambia County administrator told me that the county has not received one penny from the state or federal government, or BP to date to pay for protecting their shores or waters or to cover the cost of dealing with this disaster.

Senator Nelson said that we can expect this situation to continue for many months if not years and that a well coordinated command center is critical. AMEN!!!

Senator Nelson reported that Congressional reps from the oil states are making it difficult to change the limit on BP’s liability to cover the damages.  President Obama is expected to announce tomorrow that he is expecting BP to set up a $20 Billion trust fund to cover damages.  He said it could be like a “New Deal” type of economic plan for the Gulf Coast and Nelson said the President would be telling us more about it this week.  The immediate goal is to get claims paid quicker, either by a third party or by the government.  The claims cannot continue to be administered by BP.  Resources are not being deployed!!!  He will also announce that the first steps will be taken to wean the US from oil.  Nelson said the disaster is giving the President the political muscle he needs to move our country toward a more sustainable energy policy.

As I sit here typing this report, wave after wave of oil is washing ashore in Orange Beach, AL and there is not one skimmer boat in site.  Nelson said this is because command and control at the CG is not working.  They had no idea if there were any skimmer boats available when asked.  Fortunately the Dutch government is sending their skimmer boats to us but they will not arrive until next month.  They keep boats and booms (big ones, 8 ft in diameter) on hand in case of an accident.  Isn’t that a novel idea?

I was happy to hear Sen. Nelson say the same thing that the CWN-FL has been saying for 6 weeks, which is that it’s important to keep the oil as far offshore as possible, where it can be up taken by skimmer boats, etc.  He said, as we have been saying, that it should not be allowed to reach the beaches if at all possible.  I still have not recovered from hearing Mike Sole and Charlie Crist say that our beaches are our best booms for stopping the oil.  Arghhh!!!  Nelson said that the oil should have been intercepted 25 or 50 miles offshore with skimmer boats and kept away, but unfortunately the state and federal government has had no interest in protecting our shores – AT ALL!!!

He told the reporters that the rest of the state has time to get ready before the oil reaches their shores and they should get ready.  If you are reading this and you live beyond the panhandle, then please make your local government take action.  Also, keep letting Governor Crist and DEP Sec. Mike Sole know that our beaches are not going to be Florida’s “best booms” and we expect them to wake up and get busy.  Sen. Nelson does not think that any coast in Florida is safe from the oil.  He said that the local governments need to be embedded in the nearest command center so they can be heard by the CG regarding what is needed by local governments.  He also said that the White House seems to be catching on and that he expects their response to improve once the trust fund is in place.

Nelson said the big unknown right now is what is below the surface of the ocean.  We know from the USF research that there are large plumes under the surface of the water which are moving far and wide.  Also the oil tends to float in the day time when it’s warm outside and then at night it changes and tends to sink to the bottom.

The biggest problem we have right now, that is keeping us from protecting our coasts is that there is no clear chain of command.  So therefore there has been no order for the skimmer boats to skim for instance.  Also there are only a few boats available (he said there are three off the coast of Florida).   He said that Pres. Obama has now put the CG in control.  Yesterday, Escambia County’s coastal waters were put off limits for fishing and swimming.

Last week Nelson reported in an interview with Andrea Mitchell that the oil is bubbling up from the seabed around the pipe and that this is hugely troubling.  When asked about that this morning, Nelson said that he believes that when they get down to the well and get it killed, the the oil will stop.  [I independently asked a Gulf of Mexico ship captain with over 30 years in the industry, if this is possible. It sounds impossible.  But he said that it is completely possible and that when BP gets the new wells in place that it should work just right.  This is a person that I trust to tell me the truth.  Apparently the well is some 18,000 feet below the floor of the ocean and yet they can still pump concrete down that far, with enough pressure to reverse the flow of the oil and gas and make the whole thing stop flowing.  I’m very relieved to hear this from someone that I trust.]

So – that’s what I learned this morning.  I’ll share more news as I learn more.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciated hearing a briefing from Sen. Nelson. He was honest, straight-forward, and very knowledgeable.  He confirmed everything that we have been saying for the past six weeks, which was not necessarily good news, but it tells me that the information we’ve been getting is accurate and we have been offering the correct advice to our members.

It seems to me that if our federal government, via the CG will kick into gear and get money to our local governments, then we can begin protecting our shores and waters.  The state of Florida seems to be almost totally dysfunctional, from what I can tell.  Maybe that will change.

Yesterday I went out on the Navarre Beach pier and it was teaming with marine life.  I don’t know if all the animals are being pushed this way to avoid the oil or if they were excited about the new, longest pier in Florida.  But in one hour I saw many dolphins, a huge sea turtle, thousands of fish, an enormous manta-ray, several barracudas, and lots of big fish being caught (mackerel, etc).  It was heart-warming to see all that sea life and also extremely troubling to think that they could soon all be dead.  I got into the Gulf myself and swam for about an hour and nothing bad happened to me (so far).  I was concerned that there could be dispersants in the water, but didn’t detect anything.  I may not go back in anytime soon, but I wanted to go swimming in the Gulf at least one more time.  Normally, this time of year, I would be swimming in the Gulf every day after work and on weekends, and I miss that.  However, this is not about me.  An incredible ecosystem is being destroyed and I don’t know what the chances for recovery may be.

In closing, if you live in a coastal county of Florida – PLEASE MAKE YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT GET PREPARED FOR THE OIL.  It will very likely be on your beach sooner or later.

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