http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/officials-in-pensacola-bay-frustrated-with-slow-pace-662094.html

By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 8:42 p.m. Sunday, May 2, 2010
Posted: 8:17 p.m. Sunday, May 2, 2010
Escambia County officials were still waiting late today for approval to begin an ambitious oil deflection project in Pensacola Pass as crude continues to spew from the sea floor and time to save delicate Florida marshes, birding habitats, oyster beds and bayous ticks away.
The so-called Unified Command – a conglomerate of government agencies and oil giant BP, headquartered in Louisiana – is reviewing Escambia’s proposal to lay 10,600 feet of protective boom in a V formation across a one-mile wide area between the Naval Air Station and Santa Rosa Island.
The delay is patience-testing for Escambia. Versed in hurricane preparation and protecting its shores, the area is used to taking care of itself.
Officials here say they understand a central command is necessary when dealing with the needs of so many states, but the wait is also part of a tangled communication challenge facing the massive attempt to save the Gulf Coast.
The frustration was audible in the voices of officials from other Florida counties this afternoon during a short phone briefing with the Department of Environmental Protection.
“We desperately need a liaison from DEP and BP,” said one Gulf County official with a thick southern drawl. “We just need people at the table as soon as possible.
Someone from Sarasota County asked if there would be any boom – which lies on the water’s surface to block the oil from reaching the shore – left for counties further down the Gulf coast after the Panhandle was taken care of.
Shipments are coming in daily, was the answer. Officials from Unified Command could not be reached for comment.
Escambia officials weren’t even sure this morning what areas of their coast were having boom set down, and they worked to get updates on the 19,000 feet laid today by private contractors. In total, 74,900 feet of boom stretches along Escambia’s coastline and inland waterways.
The project proposed for the mouth of Pensacola Bay would leave a 100-yard opening at the apex of the V so that the Coast Guard, and supply ships, including those carrying oil, could get through the federal waterway. As the oil funneled through the V, it would be collected on the other side. A second boom, made of absorbent material, would be placed behind the first to collect what sloshed over, or flowed underneath.
The booms would be removed when the tide goes out.
“We’ve got these natural choke points,” said Keith Wilkins, deputy bureau chief of Escambia County’s neighborhoods and community services bureau. “We are trying to work within the Unified Command system and within funding approvals for reimbursement either through BP or the federal government so we want to exhaust all of those pathways first. Once those are exhausted, we’ll decide whether we’ll take local action or not.”
Wilkins said it’s not feasible to completely close Pensacola Pass, which leads into several bayous and bays, including Pensacola Bay, Escambia Bay, Santa Rosa Sound, Bayou Grande, East Bay, Blackwater Bay and Mackey Bay.
Besides the shipping issue, the water flowing in runs at about 7 miles per hour. The booms aren’t very effective in water flowing above 2 miles per hour, he said.
But Chasidy Fisher Hobbs, executive director of the Emerald Coastkeeper environmental group, said she’s concerned the pass is being kept open solely for economic reasons.
“That’s where my frustration lies,” she said. “This is an emergency situation. I understand you don’t want to disrupt commerce, but what do they think will happen when all the oil comes washing in.”
About 40 people – one wearing a T-shirt that read; “The Hippies Were Right”- participated in a four-hour training session today to learn how to clean up oil-laden beaches. Another 450 are on a waiting list for upcoming sessions.
“I am sick, and I’m scared about potentially what is about to happen,” said Rick Bullock, a surfer and surfboard shaper for Waterboyz surf shop in Pensacola. “The domino effect to the fishing industry will be devastating.”
Today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also announced it was closing fishing for a minimum of 10 days in federal waters most affected by the BP oil spill, including areas about 40 miles off Pensacola Bay.
Anticipating the loss of Gulf fishing, people crowded into Joe Patti’s Seafood market in Pensacola near Sanders Beach . They hauled coolers and took numbers so they could pack their freezers in case seafood supply is cut off. Joe Patti’s, which has been around since the 1930s, was out of salmon by early afternoon.
Alice Guy, the seafood market’s general manager, said if they can no longer fish the gulf, they’ll find other areas to fish.
“We will be very saddened,” she said, if fishing shuts down. “We’ve been around a long time, and encountered various obstacles. Nothing ever like this though.”