June 7, 2010

Dear friends of Florida waters: 

I just want to give you an update on the spill.  First of all thank you again for your emails, letters and phone calls on the oil disaster to the state officials.  It is making a difference.  I have received so many follow-up emails from you, with the outstanding contacts that you have made through your groups, communities and friends.  I am amazed by how far and wide we reach.  We have seen Governor Crist finally start asking for more money from BP, first an additional $50 million last week and then another $100 million was requested over the weekend.  I’m not sure how that money will be allocated if the state receives it, but I do know that our local governments are begging for equipment and resources to clean up the oil and they are not getting cooperation from BP.  The state is still not taking the type of proactive steps to protect our shores that the Clean Water Network of FL and our local governments expect to be taken.  So please continue to forward any and all information that you receive from me, to your local government, state officials and other helpful contacts that may be in a position to help.

Before I go any further, I want to give you a bit of good news.  I just finished an hour long TV interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp about the spill.  The reporter shared with me that in two days there will be a big event in Mobile, Alabama where the Canadian Ambassador to the US will officially present a bunch of off-shore boom to the US.  Apparently this is not the pathetic little boom that BP and the state are using, which is designed to be used around construction sites and not in the Gulf of Mexico or in open waters (it’s too small for that). This is real boom that the Canadian government keeps on hand in case there’s a spill.  Hmmmm . . . Now there’s a novel idea.

I encourage you to watch the internet for news stories, as well as our facebook pages for Clean Water Network of FL and Florida Clean Water Network.  Also our website (address below) which I have been updating less frequently, but it has our citizens’ tool kit and other news.  I can also send you the full toolkit by email it you need for me to. 

You have probably seen Admiral Thad Allen on TV, telling us that this is going to continue being an issue for the rest of this year.  Excuse me, Admiral but this is going to be an issue for years and we at the Clean Water Network of FL and our partners are trying to think long-term as well as what needs to be done immediately.  While it is impossible to know what the future will bring, we can anticipate likelihoods and urge our state, federal and local governments to be proactive on getting protections in place in advance.  A good example of wise, proactive government actions can be found in Walton County, where a rare resource called “dune-lakes” are found.  They exist at only one other place in the world.  Walton County is currently building berms to block Gulf waters from entering these lakes, which are primarily fresh water except during rare occasions when the Gulf gets high enough to come over the low natural berms, such as during a hurricane.  It would be devastating for the oil-contaminated Gulf to get into these lakes.  The County is building a double set of berms across each lake and then putting booms behind the second berm.  In my opinion, this is the type of proactive work that should be provided by the state, but is not happening.

There was an article in the Gannett papers over the weekend where Mike Sole told the reporter that the best oil booms we have in Florida are our beaches.  That would be unbelievable to me if I had not been dealing with Mr. Sole over the past several years and had the opportunity to learn first hand how little he cares for Florida’s resources.  A local newspaper reported a few weeks ago (and this was confirmed to me by a local environmental leader who also heard it) that Mr. Sole told a district BP representative in a meeting about the oil spill that BP has no need to worry in the Panhandle, because DEP would take good care of them.  Whew!!! That is bold, but he knows that he answers to the leadership of the Florida Legislature and they are completely in cahoots with big oil.  Please do not be fooled by his mild manner and seemingly humble countenance.  He is not on our side!

It is disappointing to hear the men in charge for the feds or the state, speak in a way that sounds like they are being deliberately misleading.  I think we know that we cannot trust their judgment (at a minimum) or their integrity (possibility).  For the uninformed, they come across as sincere, but clearly they are both compromised.  Sorry to say.  I wish we had someone we could go to for real, honest, cutting-edge information.  I sincerely hope that if the oil continues to spread to other parts of Florida, that our efforts to strengthen protection for our waters in the Panhandle, will  be helpful to the rest of Florida’s coast.

On a more positive note, I can report that BP contract workers are keeping some of the beaches very clean of oil and even cigarette butts.  The clean-up efforts seem to be spotty, but at least here on Navarre Beach where I live, the beach is being kept in immaculate shape.  So far.  The air is a different story and at various times during the day and night, the odor from the oil can be mild to very strong. 

Believe it or not, we are still working on all of our other projects that are important to Florida’s waters such as the new designated use (unswimmable/barely fishable waters), Buckeye pulpmill, TMDLs/Impaired Waters Rule and numeric nutrient criteria.  I’m going to send you an update on those issues and ask for help again, but in a separate email.  This one is too long already.  Thank you to everyone who made it all the way to this point.  You are real troopers and I appreciate you more than you can know.

For all the creatures in the Gulf,

Linda Young
Director