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May 1, 2010
Councilman: “We are being sacrificed”
GULFPORT — After meeting with representatives Saturday from British Petroleum, the company responsible for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Gulfport City Council members believe the Mississippi Gulf Coast has been pre-selected as the sacrificial landing spot for millions of gallons of oil.
“Look, it is clear that their goal is to protect marshes, barrier islands and bayous, and rightfully so, because oil will be very difficult to get out of those areas,” said Councilman Rusty Walker. “However, what they are doing by putting booms in certain areas is essentially funneling that stuff directly to our beaches. So that it will be easier to clean once it gets on land. We are being sacrificed.”
Councilman R.Lee Flowers said the City of Gulfport and all Coast cities must immediately take action to protect their own shorelines. The first significant signs of oil is expected to begin sliming South Mississippi is less than 72 hours.
"If you haven't noticed already, the Mississippi Coast is not going to sit back and wait. We're going to take action," Flowers told the BP representatives. “We have to take the necessary steps now to protect ourselves.”
The City Council will meet today at City Hall for an emergency meeting, in which they are expected to pass two motions to help speed the city’s response.
The first move would authorize Mayor Schloegel’s administration to investigate protective measures around the Bert Jones Yacht Basin, which could include driving sheet piles to form a barrier around the harbor.
The second measure would give the administration the authority to place protective booms around areas the city deems sensitive, such as inlets, nesting areas and fishing reefs, rather than wait for BP or another agency to determine what is sensitive and what is not.
The City Council believes South Mississippi beaches have been pre-selected as landing spots for the oil, because the oil currently in the Gulf and headed this way is not floating at the surface, but rather spread throughout the water column, according to experts.
That means the oil will not be easy to clean up while it’s in the water. The oil must first make its way on land before the hardened oil, called tarballs, can be picked up.
An oil spill in 1979 produced a 100-mile-long, 10-mile-wide blob of slime that began in the Bay of Campeche off the Mexican coast and moved north across the Gulf to blacken about 170 miles of Texas beaches.
A similar tragedy happened in 1990 when an explosion onboard a Norwegian tanker dumped 4 million gallons of crude into the Gulf. Tarballs eventually made their way to the beaches of Galveston, Texas, and parts of Louisiana.
During the two-hour meeting today with BP, Harrison County officials and leaders from each city discussed the possibility of using a 25-mile catch fence that could be stretched along the coastline.
However, the fence has never before been used and the project would cost about $5 million. Officials with BP, which is financially responsible for the cleanup, suggested that such unproven technology might not fall into the category of what the company is willing to fund.
Workers have already laid out dozens of booms designed to protect sensitive areas along the Coast and the barrier islands.
However, the booms are only 18-inches tall and a spokesman for U.S. Environmental, the company contracted by BP to handle the clean up, said anything over a 3-foot chop would render the booms useless.
“We need to hope for winds of about 5 knots,” he said.
This morning, southeasterly winds in some parts of the Gulf were clocked at more than 20 knots.
Stranding hotline
To report stranded marine mammals or sea turtles, call the Stranding Hotline at 1-888-806-1674.
Callers should be prepared to leave their name, contact information, and location and general size of the species.
Stranded dolphin and others
To report stranded marine mammals or sea turtles in South Mississippi, call IMMS at 1-888-767-3657. Or click here.
NOAA updates on oil spill
To view NOAA downloads, maps, updates and forecast, click here.
Path forecast
To see NOAA’s oil slick forecast map, click here.
Office of Public Information - rlafontaine@gulfport-ms.gov - Phone: 228-868-5782
P.O. Box 1780 Gulfport, MS 39502-1780 - FAX: 868-5800
