Biden' Time: Tuesday June 29 BP Oil Spill Update

1. Alex.

The National Hurricane Center still is predicting tropical storm Alex will make landfall considerably to the west of Pensacola Beach, somewhere along the Texas-Mexico border. It likely will arrive there at the start of the Fourth of July weekend. The storm reached near hurricane strength, as of 10 am EDT Tuesday.

2. Buffett Concert Delayed.

Jimmy Buffett's free Alabama beach concert has been postponed to Sunday, July 11. The expressed concern is that soon-to-be Hurricane Alex may cause "large and destructive waves" which might swamp the temporary beach stage planned for Orange Beach.

Although the storm likely will make landfall well to the West of Orange Beach, Alabama, it has a large and growing wind field which also could dump a fair amount of rain as far east as the central Gulf Coast. Country Music Television, which had planned to cable-cast and net-cast a 90-minute portion of the event, says it is still working on a revised schedule.

3. Joe Biden in Pensacola today.

Vice-president Joe Biden will be in Pensacola today. He is scheduled to "speak to the media" at Pensacola Naval Air Station (NAS).

Accompanying the vice-president, the Mobile Register reports, will be Biden will be joined by NationalIncident Commander Admiral Thad Allen and NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco. Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who is now running as an Independent for the vacant U.S. Senate seat, changed his plans yesterday and will accompany the vice-president, the St. Petersburg Times "Buzz" blog reports.

A personal visit to Pensacola Beach is not precluded, but for now such a thing isn't on the announced schedule.

Current weather conditions may govern whether he makes any other local stops. It's overcast this morning and chances of rain in Pensacola are pegged at 60% today.

According to the original White House announcement, Biden is here to "assess efforts to counter the BP oil spill." The most recent issue of GOSPORT, the local Navy base newspaper, reported "little new oil" was found near N.A.S. last week and "the oil has been kept away from the delicate ecosystem around the base."

[O]il operations within sight of the base continue. BP has hired hundreds of contract workers in response to the April 20 drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people.

For the past week some of those BP workers have been seen around the base, either skimming out in the waters or picking up pieces of oil from the shore.

The oil recovery process around the base has been going as good as can be expected, Fenters said. During a recent three to four-day period, BP contract skimmers were able to pick up only about two barrels of oil after skimming an area three miles out from the base [Emergency Manager Burt] Fenters said. There was not a lot of the thick oil out there or closer to the base, but tar balls can still be found, Fenters said.

4. Pensacola Beach Health Warning.

Dr. John Lanza's county health department at long last yesterday issued a health advisory that warns beach goers "immediately" not enter the water along an eight mile stretch from "the Pensacola Beach Fishing Pier west to Pensacola Pass," including all of Ft. Pickens.

The warning came "in response to a report by the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center of extensive oil sheen, oil mousse and tar balls." Click here for the full advisory.

There's no telling how they got that one by "Dr." Buck Lee. But, as another quack doctor, Moliere's woodcutter, says:

The dead always keep a civil tongue, they are very decent, indeed. You will never hear them make a complaint against the doctor who killed them.

What's peculiar about this is that the county health department warning is not based on any water quality testing of its own. Instead, the health department says it is relying on visual reports from the local Emergency Operations Center. So, what's the human health basis for stopping at the Fishing Pier?

It is true that surfboards are confined to an area west of the fishing bridge. But it's not at all clear the water there is qualitatively any different than on the east side. Certainly, the county health department has not yet publicly released any reliable water sampling that would demonstrate a substantial difference.

If you're going to have a county health department, wouldn't it be better to have one that bases its decisions on what is revealed by medical and environmental science rather than a game of "telephone" with other agencies?

5.Volunteering.

While we were gone, Peter Greenberg published a useful, clear-eyed article for those who feel the urge to volunteer to clean up the oil mess along the Gulf Coast. Some highlights:

• Don’t plan a trip to the Gulf Coast solely to volunteer.
• Volunteer positions with local non-profit organizations "tend to be administrative, like data entry and research." And, we might add, they're mostly clerical and gopher, unless you bring special skills to the Gulf Coast.
• The BP oil catastrophe is "evolving" so there will be plenty of opportunities later. Indeed, unless we miss our guess today's ten year olds may well be filling volunteer needs when they're twenty-five.
• Volunteers assigned to clean-up or animal sanctuary work will face serious health hazards Consult a physician before putting yourself into situations your body will hate you for.
  
• Locally, "The Gulf Islands National Seashore Visitor Information Center is accepting volunteers who can make a three-hour commitment once a week for three months:

Volunteers work in four different locations, including three beaches: Johnson Beach, Langdon Beach, and Opal Beach, and around the piers in the Fort Pickens area. Prospective volunteers attend a training session with the park service to learn how to communicate with visitors.

• Never, ever "pay for so-called 'spill training' of any kind -- scammers will charge a fee for non-existent training on how to clean wildlife.
• Avoid solicitations for donations to purchase items such as liquid soap, towels and money; BP is picking up that tab.

Greenberg also provides some useful phone numbers and addresses for those who simply can't bide their time and insist on volunteering.

Obama Monday: June 14 BP Oil Spill Update

1. Oilcast.

That large oil sheen that's been hanging around anywhere from a few miles to half a mile off Pensacola Beach is bound to come ashore, and probably sooner rather than later. What we don't need is yet another BP storage tank washing up on Pensacola Beach.

2. Obama in Pensacola Tuesday.

Details are still sketchy and conflicting about President Obama's fourth trip to the Gulf Coast. He will be in Pensacola Tuesday, the PNJ says. And he will address the nation Tuesday night. That much seems certain.

CNN and the Associated Press separately are reporting this morning that he will return to Washington Tuesday night to "address the nation..." There are a few scattered reports that he will stay in Pensacola. The PNJ is reporting late this morning that traffic on Highway 98 through Gulf Breeze and across 3-mile Bridge will be closed Tuesday morning from 8 to 11 am.

If the president does stay in the Pensacola area it probably would be Monday night but it's anyone's guess where. We'd like to think it would be somewhere along Pensacola Beach. With just two road entrances to the island, security to protect the president from all the right-wing nuts around here would be easier.

And we have tarballs. If there aren't enough for mind-numbing TV visuals, maybe Orange Beach, Alabama, would lend us some oily pancakes.

Whadda ya think? If you were President Obama, would you rather stay in Julian MacQueen's Hilton Hotel with room service from its very fine H2O restaurant, or Republican Robert Rinke's Portofino condo complex where $10,000-a-week units now are so cheap you could put up the entire White House press corps for peanuts, or Jimmy Buffett's brand-spanking new, almost-ready-to-open Margaritaville Beach Hotel? (See left) The staff might be a little green, but the view of the oil slick should be breath-taking.

We'd be happy to offer President Obama the guest room in our humble home, but the BP oil catastrophe has She Who Must be Obeyed feeling stressed out lately. And, it might undermine her recent vow to follow Erma Bombeck's advice, which a friend says she imparted as she was dying, to "entertain more and clean less."

Actually, that's not an accurate quote and the late Ms. Bombeck didn't write it as she was dying. But shsh! Don't tell her. Life has been good lately as we entertain our friends, even if "the carpet is stained or the sofa is faded."

3. Shrimp Boats Are A-Skimming, They're Skimming Today.

The BP oil spill is giving new life to the very first, truly terrible Country-Western tune we can remember hearing as a child. "Shrimp Boats Are A-Coming" is a classic of this dubious genre. But it sounds a lot better if you slightly alter the idea to include the "collection of heavy, thick, dispersant-treated oil," as Rick Outzen reports an oil spill subcontractor has done:

The crew of one of the thousands of Vessels of Opportunity (VOO) working in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill recently recovered approximately two tons of tarball material in the Gulf of Mexico.

The recovery was the result of the kind of creative thought and innovation at work among the more than 27,000 people working around the clock in the Gulf of Mexico in the largest oil spill response in U.S. history.

Designed by Gerry Matherne, a BP contractor and nearshore task force leader, the idea is simple. A shrimp boat with outriggers on each side drags mesh oil-collection bags made of perforated webbing near the ocean surface. As the boat trawls to collect oil patches, the bags, attached to an aluminum frame, collect oil. When filled, the bags are disconnected from the frame by crew on support vessels, and then towed to a lift barge for hoisting into a collection barge.

Apparently, praise is pouring in: "creative" ... "efficient"... "effective"... "a great example of the heart and soul of the response." Rick has more, including a photo of showing some of the collected oil.

4. Florida Fishing Closed.

Late Sunday afternoon, state agencies "issued an executive order" temporarily closing about 27 miles of coastal state waters "offshore of Escambia County." The harvesting of "saltwater fish, crabs and shrimp" is banned, although "catch and release" is permitted.

A map has been issued showing the extent of the fishing ban (see above). Locally, the Pensacola Beach Fishing Pier (left) remains open for sight seeing and catch-and-release fishing.


5. Hurricane Watch.

A tropical wave of interest to hurricane watchers has formed about 1,400 miles East-Southeast of the Windward Islands. The National Hurricane Center said this morning that conditions are thought to be "conducive for development during the next day or so."

Computer spaghetti forecast models at this point are, so to speak, all over the map:

In addition to the National Hurricane Center, a useful web site for those who want to keep abreast of tropical developments is Jim Williams' HurricaneCity.com. Another is Central Florida Hurricane Center. Both have been at it for over a decade. We've found them essential resources in tropical times like these: reliable, responsible, and well informed.

Jim also maintains "Cane Talk," a message board where quite a few storm chasers, hurricane gurus, and others (including some Pensacola Beach residents) share storm information, answer questions from readers, and hash out where they think storms are headed. Spend a little time there and you'll soon figure out who has a good crystal ball and who is in need of serious counseling.