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This afternoon I spoke again with Chris Matthews for MSNBC's Hardball about the Gulf oil disaster, how it is affecting our community, and how both BP and the federal government need to be doing more:
I received the following letter from the Bayou Texar Foundation concerning the idea of closing Bayou Texar boat ramps:
Dear Mayor Wiggins and Council members,
I am writing to you as the Secretary of the Bayou Texar Foundation as well as a representative for several of my waterfront neighbors. We are all gravely concerned about the possibility of oil in the waters of Bayou Texar, threatening the healthy estuary and the wildlife/sea life that is present. Over the last few years, we have seen our waterfront habitat increase in productivity. Rarely do you look out that you do not see osprey, herons, pelicans, kingfishers, and hundreds of bait fish and mullet. That being said, we need smart decisions about the protection and use of the bayou.
At a recent meeting, a discussion about oil on pleasure boats returning to port prompted a suggestion to close the City-owned boat ramps - two inside the bayou, the third just outside the mouth at the 17th Ave. viaduct. This seems akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and I don't think that we should punish the many for the sins of the few. A better approach might be to educate our citizens, many of whom are very responsible, with a campaign about the sensibility of boating through oil. Signage at the ramps, an "Oil Spill 101" if you will, might inform boaters that going outside Pensacola Pass when oil has been seen offshore is not good for the boat or for the inshore environment. Numbers could be provided for the vessel cleanup station, as well as for the boom movement during incoming tide. As we enter hurricane season (with a storm brewing at this moment), our residents need access to those ramps to be able to pull boats out and take them to safe harbor. We also need them regularly for boat maintenance, and many of us have paid the annual $25 fee for boat ramp access. It is also doubtful that the small pleasure boats launching at these ramps go as far as the Gulf of Mexico.
In addition, perhaps the Coast Guard could issue "small and medium craft advisories" when oil is close to Pensacola Pass, discouraging boating in the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, there are some selfish boaters on the water, but I think most people are open to information about why it is a bad idea. We at least owe that chance to the good boaters of the area, but need to get the details about the boat cleaning need and facilities out to as many local residents as possible. This can be a joint City/County effort, as not all those using our ramps are City residents. I have spoken with Mayor Wiggins and my councilman, Larry Johnson, about further protection of the bayou, to supplement the boom strategy. The possibility of submerged oil floating under those booms is a valid concern, and it seems more and more that the best strategy is skimming both in the Gulf and in Pensacola Bay, long before any oil reaches the bayou. Please help keep the pressure on to provide more skimmers and better coordination between the eye in the sky and the skimmers on the water.
Thank you for your attention. I will be happy to discuss these ideas with any of you, or to work with Staff to design signage for the boat ramps. The Bayou Texar Foundation stands ready to assist in any way we can to protect our valuable waterway.
Sincerely,
Eleanor Godwin
Secretary, Bayou Texar Foundation
Please see the following message from Emerald Coastkeeper Chasidy Fisher Hobbs concerning the dispersants that EPA is allowing BP to use in response the oil in the Gulf:
I wrote to you yesterday about a plan to get dispersants off EPA's approved list of means of dealing with an oil spill. Write your letters TODAY! A postcard will do, just be sure it is hand written! Pass this email to everyone you know. Help us get 1 million letters to EPA by August 1st! Below is a sample letter. Feel free to modify it in any way you see fit. Definitely mail it to Lisa Jackson (address below). If you want to make more of a difference mail her the letter once per week. If you want an even greater impact, mail the letter to all you senators and representatives (don't know who yours are? Need an address? Go here: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and here: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ (click on your state and then the name to get mailing address)Read more...
Lisa Jackson
USEPA Headquarters
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.
Mail Code: 1101A
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Lisa Jackson (or the name of your legislator):
I am gravely concerned about the use of dispersants and EPA's inability to stop BP from using them in the Gulf of Mexico. I implore you to amend the National Contingency Plan Product Schedule to include a process to delist products. Further, you must use this new process to delist, effective immediately, products that contain human health hazards and proprietary compounds, first and foremost dispersants. Fast-tracking this process is essential to the health of our Gulf, the workers on the Deepwater Horizon scene and all of the Gulf Coast residents and their visitors.
Your name
Your address
SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, WE NEED HELP NOW!
Other talking points you may or may not like to add:
1) The use of dispersants has criminally escalated the mortality to marine life from the oil release in the Gulf.
2) The use of dispersants has grievously complicated the clean-up of the oil in the Gulf region.
3) The use of dispersants has shamefully magnified the intergenerational harm of this oil catastrophe.
4) The use of dispersants has injuriously impacted public health and worker safety in the region.
Chasidy Fisher Hobbs
Coastkeeper
Emerald Coastkeeper, Inc.
o: 850-429-8422
chasidy@emeraldcoastkeeper.org
www.emeraldcoastkeeper.org
Lynn Bannister, the Director of Outreach for Senator Bill Nelson, shared the following link with me about the Jones Act and how it impacts response efforts:
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/06/oil-spill-foreign-help-and-the-jones-act/
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