Posted on 07/02/2010 5:30:00 AM PDT by justa-hairyape
As seas churned by Hurricane Alex thwarted skimming boats, wide strips of gooey oil stained miles of Baldwin County's beaches Thursday on the cusp of the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Following an afternoon reconnaissance flight, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach employees reported that oil of some sort -- be it sheen, tarballs or orange globs -- struck all 32 miles of Baldwin's beaches, and streams of oil were spotted as far north as Wolf Bay in Orange Beach.
The post-flight report also noted heavy sheen and streams of weathered oil moving into Mobile Bay off the tip of the Fort Morgan peninsula and on the north side of Dauphin Island.
The report indicated that there would probably not be any relief on the horizon: Near-solid sheen, broken by masses of thicker oil, stretched for dozens of miles offshore along the entirety of Baldwin's coast.
Offshore, seas of more than 4 feet have kept skimmers from attacking the oil before it comes inland. A Coast Guard official said conditions were expected to improve by today or into the weekend, when operations could resume.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.al.com ...
As Florida continues to deal with the horrific aftermath of the massive BP oil spill, more beaches have issued health advisories. Current advisories are underway at Pensacola Beach, Johnson Beach, Perdido Key State Park, County Park West (Escambia County) and at Dune Allen Beach Access in Walton County.
According to a release by Escambia County, the health advisory was issued after a heavy presence of oil sheen, oil mousse and tar balls were seen. All gulf beachside waters in Escambia County are under a health advisory.
DESTIN -- Bad weather grounded Marco Rubio's campaign plane Thursday, but it didn't stop the Republican U.S. Senate candidate from hearing bad economic news from Panhandle residents frustrated about the Gulf oil spill.
Outraged residents said oil never should have reached the Emerald Coast, a region renowned for its snow-white beaches, now befouled by tar balls from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
``This is criminal behavior but we can't touch them because they're the government,'' said Betsy Robins of Navarre, who owns homes on Pensacola Beach.
Oil continued to wash up Thursday at many points along the Walton County shore, from Miramar Beach to Rosemary Beach, according to State Emergency Response Team reports. Heavy tar balls hit Grayton Beach, while tar mats were reported farther east.
Waves created by Hurricane Alex washed tar chips onto Okaloosa Island and Destin beaches Thursday, according to an Okaloosa County news release.
Don't think Hurricane Alex didn't impact the Pensacola area just because it didn't make landfall here.
Six-foot waves caused by Alex have damaged a new, $4.6 million system meant to prevent oil from entering into Perdido Bay.
And the Escambia County Health Department on Thursday afternoon extended its health advisory for beach waters to the Santa Rosa County line because of increased oil pushed onshore by the storm.
After a swath of thick oil from the BP oil spill washed up on Pensacola Beach on June 23rd, Santa Rose Island officials responded by closing the beaches to swimming.
Two days later the Escambia County (FL) Health Department announced it had rescinded the health advisory issued on June 23rd for beach waters in Escambia County, Florida, that were affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and local island authority director, Buck Lee, reopened the beaches despite warnings from federal health officials.
"This is a highly dynamic situation varying by tide, current, and wind changes/direction,” said health department director Dr. John Lanza in the June 25th statement. “We expect to frequently give and rescind advisories along our beaches."
Since then, 400 people have sought medical care for upper or lower respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, and eye irritation after trips to Escambia County beaches, says Lanza.
Good job BP and boy blunder.
I am really worried about family I have in Destin that own a restaurant.
I would love to see some of this oil show up on the WH lawn.
They should be SCREAMING for this stuff:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2545682/posts
“D@mn the skimming boats! Tar balls ahead!!!”
Might work good inside Mobile Bay.
Better yet - Use the oil from the Gulf to tar and feather him!
There is a a new ‘protect Obama’ template developing...blame it all on the hurricane. Not sure it’s going to work. If Obama had shown any leadership skills from the very beginning..most of that oil would have never left the general vicinity of the spill. It could have been sucked up out in the ocean and never come ashore.
Watch for this new mime; ‘it’s the hurricane’s fault’ to start showing up in all of the press accounts. Isn’t it interesting that an unprecented hurricane didn’t stop the press from villifying President Bush, yet they are going to attempt to shield Obama by what? Blaming a hurricane.
Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm.......
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