Troubled Waters

To learn about volunteer opportunities related to the spill or access up to the minute updates visit the Riverkeeper at 

www.Oilspillrecovery.org

With the specter of shore contamination and economic hardship looming, as the massive pool of oil in the Gulf of Mexico grows, county officials are planning for the potential landfall.

At a meeting of the Franklin County Seafood Workers Association, (FCSWA) held on Monday night, angry watermen demanded to know how they could help and some residents warned they plan to act on their own to protect the bay. One Panama City television station aired 30 seconds of angry shouting, ignoring an hour of dialogue.

On Thursday, the Annex once again filled with seafood workers, but this time they listened to attorneies from Miami and New York who want to file claims for them seeking reparation from BP and others.

Channeling frustration into decisive action on Wednesday morning, the Apalachicola Riverkeeper’s Dave McLain gave local seafood workers their first lesson in boom placement. In his long military and business career, McLain had extensive experience in spill mitigation.

At Tuesday morning’s county commission meeting, commissioners decided to take a proactive approach of their own. They hired Calvin Giordano and Associates of West Palm Beach to act as debris monitor documenting waste disposal to the federal government during the possible spill. The firm also plans to seek grant money for oil removal and reimbursement to businesses, and to help prepare grant forms. The company would receive reimbursement only if grant money is awarded to the county.

According to his resume, Chuck Tear, a representative of Calvin Giordano has served in emergency management and response in Florida for 20 years. He has been a part of numerous presidentially declared events that have impacted Florida, such as Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Hurricane Gordon in 1994, the Florida Wildfires of 1998, Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne of 2004, as well as Hurricane Wilma in 2005.”

The commission also voted to send a letter to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) asking them to open the entire bay to oystering during the current crisis.

Taunya James, FCSWA president said she spoke to FWC on Monday and was told FWC had no plans to open the winter bars.

Franklin County Emergency Management is forming a guiding committee to advise the state on sensitive areas that need protection and to brainstorm strategies for combating the impending oil spill. Their first task will be to prepare a boom placement design for the coastline. On Thursday morning, at the emergency management center, the committee was hard at work developing an intelligent strategy to preserve our ecosystem. The atmosphere was calm and serious as member from all walks of life contributed their expertise.

Outside, seafood workers continued to train in basic boom deployment led by Joseph James who trained with McLain yesterday. 

Although word has come that BP will pay local watermen whose boats meet Coast Guard standards to aid in spill mitigation, right now the seafood workers are laboring for free.

On Monday, BP announced the availability of $25 million in grant money to reimburse Florida counties for spill cleanup. Tear said he estimated the county has a right to about $1.4 million of that money and urged them the seek it aggressively. “This is not like a hurricane. There is a responsible party here. BP caused this,” he said.

The firm is conditionally retained based on a review by County Attorney Michael Shuler.

The decision to form the guiding committee came after Gulf County commissioners Bill Williams and Warren Yeager appeared before the Franklin County commission to say that, contrary to continued reassurances, the Coast Guard has not prepared a boom placement plan for their county. They said that their contracted debris disposal agent, Ashbritt Environmental, has prepared a plan for them that they will submit to BP and the Coast Guard.

Williams said Ashbritt is prepared to tackle the spill and has hazardous materials certification and equipment including booms and skimmers in place. “We are ready to put our arms around both counties,” he said.

Carlton Jackson spoke on behalf of Crowder Excavation, Franklin County’s debris management contractor. He said his firm had limited Hazmat capability but would pursue further certification and seek to obtain necessary equipment.

The commission instructed Crowder to work with Ashbritt and pool their resources in the face of the possible shoreline contamination.

Tentatively included on the guidance committee are 28 members including all five county commissioners, representatives of Apalachicola, Carrabelle, Lanark Village, Alligator Point, Eastpoint, St. George Island, the health department, board of education, law enforcement, the Chambers of Commerce, FWC, St. George Island Plantation, FCSWA, Seafood Workers’ Task Force, the FSU Marine Lab, Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Riverkeeper, the Carrabelle Corrections Facility and possibly other organizations.

 “The less people, the quicker we can put this together and have it to the state,” said Pam Brownell, director of emergency management.

The county commission moved the guidance committee’s first meeting from 2 p.m. Wednesday to 10 a.m. after deciding to develop their own boom placement plan and not wait for a plan from the state.

Monday morning, Governor Charlie Crist extended State of Emergency declaration to include the coastal counties of Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson, Taylor, Dixie, Levy, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota. This means Franklin County is now eligible to request liaisons and aid from BP and a liaison from the Coast Guard.

Florida Department of Environmental (DEP) protection head Michael Sole has held daily 4:30 p.m. conference calls to discuss the spill since last Friday. During Monday’s emergency management conference call, Sole warned against potential fraud and advised counties to be vigilant. He said the situation is no different that an ordinary hurricane.

“If a county wants to go ahead and has access to a contractor, as long as it’s a reasonable plan, we’re going to support you and you’ll have access to these (BP) block grants,” as long as the state preapproves the plan, he said.

He added that 90 percent of decisions are being made in Mobile and that he plans to dispatch more Florida representatives there.

The Apalachicola Riverkeeper is now the lead agency for coordinating volunteers in the county effort to prevent damage from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that could make landfall here. All monetary donations to the effort should also be channeled through the Riverkeeper.

Several organizations, including Bay Aid and Franklin's Promise were considered for the lead role, but the environmental group is a logical choice for both tasks because it is already recognized as a non profit organization and a guardian of the watershed.

County Commission Chairman Smokey Parrish stressed the need to clean the beaches and marsh before the oil makes landfall. "If trash becomes coated with oil, then it's a whole different game. You have to have hazmat training to touch it," he explained.

The first clean-up took place Wednesday, May 5 on Little St. George Island and Franklin County. Students from Franklin County High School were out Wednesday morning to clean the beach in front of the school, and on Friday, volunteers will clean the shoreline of Dr. Julian Bruce State Park on St. George Island.

Parrish said special rules are in place that would allow inmate work crews to police private property in some situations during the emergency, but added that, initially, volunteers will probably be the mainstay of the effort.

Brownell stressed that all volunteer operations should be vetted through the Riverkeeper and her office.

Riverkeeper spokesperson Kayd Selden said this is especially important because it is the season when beaches and marsh are full of nesting birds and other animals. She said guidelines for debris removal can be obtained from the Riverkeeper office.

The DEP announced Sunday that BP will establish a new staging site for equipment and personnel in Panama City this week. The new site will deploy resources to the west until it meets the easterly deployment being staged out of Pensacola and then begin distributing resources to the east.

BP announced Sunday it would establish a website specifically for portions of Florida threatened by the spill. The new website was expected to launch before Monday morning but is still unavailable.

On Saturday, BP sought contract with vessels for hire (shrimp boats, oyster boats, etc) to participate in a “Vessel of Opportunity Program” for deploying boom in the Gulf of Mexico.

James said she replied online to BP's Vessel of Opportunity Program, and received an email thanking her for her interest and requesting a copy of her resume. "What oysterman has a resume?" she demanded.

Parrish assured the county that, "Our message is getting through."

He said that, under the current contingency plan, the county's entire coast will be boomed to protect sea grass beds. He also said that one possible model for the spread of the oil shows it looping sharply south and missing this area entirely.