The Oil Beneath

Back home tomorrow, to see for ourselves. In the meantime, "Gregg" posted this video on YouTube:

Pensacola's Petroleum Politics

1. When it oils, it pours.

As if the Gulf Coast isn't facing enough trouble, the National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Alex strengthened while over Belize last night. This morning, it "looks more like a hurricane than a than a low-end tropical storm."

The NHC adds, "There is at least a moderate likelihood that Alex could become a major hurricane" in the coming week.

Current computer model forecasts do not agree on the storm's ultimate destination now that it is emerging over Gulf waters again. Some have it veering west toward the Mexico-U.S. border, others have it slowing growing stronger for a few days before striking somewhere near the Louisiana-Texas border -- on a path that just about certainly would shut down everything except the oil gusher at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site.

Above is the sunny side forecast. You don't want to see the other one.

2. Oil over troubled waters.

The PNJ's Travis Griggs articulates the question on everyone's mind:

Would a hurricane dilute the oil and speed its breakdown? Or would it pollute bays and the surrounding land and cause health problems for area residents?

It's worth while to read the whole article. What you'll find, as with so many other questions raised by BP's criminal negligence, is that no one knows for sure what the answers are, but it sure seems like none of them is good.

3. Destination near.

We're still on the road, but nearing our destination. Altogether, so far we've logged 1300 miles of endless Interstate highways. The relative we're helping is so anxious to reach his new home that we aren't allowed to stop for any sites of interest.

We only slow down, it seems, to refuel the vehicle. Consequently, the only photos we're able to take have to be snapped at 75 mph through the windshield.

4. Public Health Alerter Mystery.

The boring road trip has given us some time to contemplate this from yesterday's PNJ:

Dr. John Lanza, director of the Escambia County Health Department, said he lifted the health advisory on Pensacola Beach today, at the direction of Santa Rosa Island Authority W. A. “Buck” Lee.

“Today, when I got the call from Buck Lee, he and his staff evaluated beaches and gave me information, and I rescinded the health advisory,” Lanza said.

There was no inspection from Health Department employees. No water testing.

Wait just a minute, here. Who's on first? Is Dr. John Lanza really the director of the county health department? Or, is he just the office stenographer, paid to transcribe messages from high school grad Buck Lee?

Locals will recognize what's going, although potential visitors to Pensacola Beach may not. This has absolutely nothing to do with public health. It's a game of "Pass the Petroleum Political Problem."

Buck Lee's knowledge about human medicine and public health is so scant you could stuff it in an olive. He isn't even an "executive" director, as he likes to be called. He's just an ol' pol at the end of a long career whose hallmark was to avoid taking responsibility for anything bad that happens.

The last thing Buck Lee wants to do is get blamed by beach businesses for discouraging visitors to Pensacola Beach because the water, surf, and what may lie beneath the sand represent a health hazard to swimmers. Being the wily old Panhandle pol that he is, he knows if the oil really represents a health hazard, somebody somewhere else will eventually have to step in and do the responsible thing.

Lee might well have figured that 'somebody' would be Dr. John Lanza. But Lanza fooled him. He decided not to conduct any public health testing of the beach sand or water. After all, he had Buck Lee 's word for it, "the beach looks clean to me."

That's good enough for medical science, right?

Now, both Lee and Lanza are ducking responsibility. In effect, they're waiting for someone else to do the right thing.

What do you bet it will have to be the feds? And when they shut the beach down because of unhealthy conditions, who will be the first to scream about "federal interference?"

It's a predictable but dangerous strategy Lee and Lanza are playing. What you don't know about public heath could kill you. And these two are doing their best to make sure you don't know anything.

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Looks like we'll be back home just about the time Hurricane Alex starts flexing his muscles.

Obama Monday: June 14 BP Oil Spill Update

1. Oilcast.

That large oil sheen that's been hanging around anywhere from a few miles to half a mile off Pensacola Beach is bound to come ashore, and probably sooner rather than later. What we don't need is yet another BP storage tank washing up on Pensacola Beach.

2. Obama in Pensacola Tuesday.

Details are still sketchy and conflicting about President Obama's fourth trip to the Gulf Coast. He will be in Pensacola Tuesday, the PNJ says. And he will address the nation Tuesday night. That much seems certain.

CNN and the Associated Press separately are reporting this morning that he will return to Washington Tuesday night to "address the nation..." There are a few scattered reports that he will stay in Pensacola. The PNJ is reporting late this morning that traffic on Highway 98 through Gulf Breeze and across 3-mile Bridge will be closed Tuesday morning from 8 to 11 am.

If the president does stay in the Pensacola area it probably would be Monday night but it's anyone's guess where. We'd like to think it would be somewhere along Pensacola Beach. With just two road entrances to the island, security to protect the president from all the right-wing nuts around here would be easier.

And we have tarballs. If there aren't enough for mind-numbing TV visuals, maybe Orange Beach, Alabama, would lend us some oily pancakes.

Whadda ya think? If you were President Obama, would you rather stay in Julian MacQueen's Hilton Hotel with room service from its very fine H2O restaurant, or Republican Robert Rinke's Portofino condo complex where $10,000-a-week units now are so cheap you could put up the entire White House press corps for peanuts, or Jimmy Buffett's brand-spanking new, almost-ready-to-open Margaritaville Beach Hotel? (See left) The staff might be a little green, but the view of the oil slick should be breath-taking.

We'd be happy to offer President Obama the guest room in our humble home, but the BP oil catastrophe has She Who Must be Obeyed feeling stressed out lately. And, it might undermine her recent vow to follow Erma Bombeck's advice, which a friend says she imparted as she was dying, to "entertain more and clean less."

Actually, that's not an accurate quote and the late Ms. Bombeck didn't write it as she was dying. But shsh! Don't tell her. Life has been good lately as we entertain our friends, even if "the carpet is stained or the sofa is faded."

3. Shrimp Boats Are A-Skimming, They're Skimming Today.

The BP oil spill is giving new life to the very first, truly terrible Country-Western tune we can remember hearing as a child. "Shrimp Boats Are A-Coming" is a classic of this dubious genre. But it sounds a lot better if you slightly alter the idea to include the "collection of heavy, thick, dispersant-treated oil," as Rick Outzen reports an oil spill subcontractor has done:

The crew of one of the thousands of Vessels of Opportunity (VOO) working in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill recently recovered approximately two tons of tarball material in the Gulf of Mexico.

The recovery was the result of the kind of creative thought and innovation at work among the more than 27,000 people working around the clock in the Gulf of Mexico in the largest oil spill response in U.S. history.

Designed by Gerry Matherne, a BP contractor and nearshore task force leader, the idea is simple. A shrimp boat with outriggers on each side drags mesh oil-collection bags made of perforated webbing near the ocean surface. As the boat trawls to collect oil patches, the bags, attached to an aluminum frame, collect oil. When filled, the bags are disconnected from the frame by crew on support vessels, and then towed to a lift barge for hoisting into a collection barge.

Apparently, praise is pouring in: "creative" ... "efficient"... "effective"... "a great example of the heart and soul of the response." Rick has more, including a photo of showing some of the collected oil.

4. Florida Fishing Closed.

Late Sunday afternoon, state agencies "issued an executive order" temporarily closing about 27 miles of coastal state waters "offshore of Escambia County." The harvesting of "saltwater fish, crabs and shrimp" is banned, although "catch and release" is permitted.

A map has been issued showing the extent of the fishing ban (see above). Locally, the Pensacola Beach Fishing Pier (left) remains open for sight seeing and catch-and-release fishing.


5. Hurricane Watch.

A tropical wave of interest to hurricane watchers has formed about 1,400 miles East-Southeast of the Windward Islands. The National Hurricane Center said this morning that conditions are thought to be "conducive for development during the next day or so."

Computer spaghetti forecast models at this point are, so to speak, all over the map:

In addition to the National Hurricane Center, a useful web site for those who want to keep abreast of tropical developments is Jim Williams' HurricaneCity.com. Another is Central Florida Hurricane Center. Both have been at it for over a decade. We've found them essential resources in tropical times like these: reliable, responsible, and well informed.

Jim also maintains "Cane Talk," a message board where quite a few storm chasers, hurricane gurus, and others (including some Pensacola Beach residents) share storm information, answer questions from readers, and hash out where they think storms are headed. Spend a little time there and you'll soon figure out who has a good crystal ball and who is in need of serious counseling.