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 dispersants 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