Gulf oil spill----how big is the disaster?

The Gulf is dead; there is no real problem; and every position between those two extremes are being touted by “experts” of all size and shape. There are hucksters, quick buck artist, and people with all political agenda’s. There are some making more money on a daily basis than they usually make in a week, and others that are not receiving a dime. Every politician from Washington to the mouth of the Mississippi River is trying to gain political capital, along with every “cause” under the sun. Unfortunately, the truth is really unobtainable because there is no event in our history to meter this disaster.

CNN had a clip showing Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of the famous Jacques. Ms Cousteau was speaking to the dead dolphin (porpoise to us old timers) and she seemed to indicate the species is endangered. I was not familiar with Cousteau so I googled her and was surprised to see she held a BS degree in Political Science and not a graduate degree in Marine Science. Now certainly that in itself does not disqualify her as someone who has had a lot of experience in the marine world, but it does give me pause for a 34 year old young woman speaking to the impact of this disaster. Let me make it very clear, I am no expert on anything. Let me repeat, I am NO EXPERT. I have sailed, run yachts from Texas to Key West to Mexico and fished the Gulf from the early 50’s. During the Sky Lab experiments, National Marine Fisheries asked a few of us early off-shore fisherman to cooperate in some experiments and when I asked “why us” they said we know you are not scientists but you have observer experience that we do not have. Once again, I am no expert on anything but like Ms. Cousteau I can have my opinion. As most know, dolphin are mammals, air breathers, maybe more intelligent than a chimp and they may just get the word and leave the area. Why not? We have always seen dead dolphin and the story has not yet been told. Let us hope for the best.

No one can possibly know how bad this thing will be and part of the stress that is being felt, is because we simply just don’t know and our worse fears take hold. The media has not helped and they are being aided, in some occasions by people with agendas. BP has been an easy target and the President close on the heels of BP. I have to believe that the Deepwater Horizon was being operated by some of the best people in the world of off- shore drilling, competent, hardworking, people just like you and me and maybe one company man that cared about nothing but the bottom line. Greed is at the bottom of all the bad decisions but to boycott the local BP station is wrong. A small business man has been hurt for something he had no control over. Maybe it is time to ask “US”, some questions like why is it that we emit more greenhouse gas than China, a country with 4 times the population. We were in China this past winter and were surprised to see all the solar and wind generation. The U.S. consumes more energy than the EU combined and the U.S. and Canada represent over 30% of total consumption with only 5% of the population. Pogo said years ago, “We done met the enemy and dey is us”. For those that have concern over mother earth let me say some 65 million years ago a meteor hit in the southern Gulf and life as we define it, all but ended. Only some one cell organisms in the ocean remained and the whole process we call “life” began again. This was the 4th time in geological history that something of cataclysmic proportions happened and it will happen again. . Not to worry, mother earth will figure it out but it may be with the absence of Homo sapiens In the meantime let us all keep positive
and as Boone Pickens said,” The best time to plant a tree was 20yeaars ago; the second best time is now”. Let us all start today and plant some trees.

The Gulf Oil spill and what it means

There has never been a human related disaster to equal the Deep Water Horizon and not a lot of natural ones of the magnitude of the Gulf spill, so to say what the short tern or long term environmental impact will be is speculation. As usual, there are those that say the Gulf will die and others saying it will make no difference. The truth in the end will be between these two opposites. Only time will tell the full story. One thing however, that is certain is that if our visitors stop coming the economic impact will create a disaster perhaps greater than the spill itself. The Alabama Beaches from Dauphin Is., Gulf Shores, and Orange Beach represent one of the largest sources of tax revenues for the state and if that is lost there will be no revenue to repair the damage caused by the spill. It will also cause the loss of thousands of jobs that will further destroy Alabama’s weak economy. There are some figures being circulated that show over 10% of the country’s GDP come from the Gulf States and an interruption of that will directly affect those living in Portland, Mane or Portland, Oregon.

I have spoken to many people over the last few weeks from as far away as New Mexico and Michigan, to those from surrounding states and almost all tell me the beaches do not look nearly as bad as they had been led to believe. It boils down to----the media is killing us by showing nothing but negative pictures, at times reporting from one beach but showing pictures from another state. We do not need to be told that we have oil on our beaches but that changes from day to day, depending on where you go to the beach and how the wind is blowing. You hear “toxic oil” over and over and I wonder how many people associate toxic with radio active material, cyanide, or rat poison. The fact is crude oil is made up of over 90% carbon and hydrogen; anyone that has ever changed oil in the engine room of a boat has been covered with oil. Certainly with oil in the water a swimming advisory will be issued and probably best to keep out of the water, but getting oil on you should be no reason for panic. Another thing I hear over and over is, “My kids would rather play in the pool” or “I don’t like to swim in the Gulf because of Jaws” and besides the beach (which is fine to walk and sunbathe on) is only a part of the many things to do here.

There was a big announcement yesterday that Buffett and the Zack Brown Band will be doing a free concert July 1 and that next week some very big name entertainers will be announced coming to the beach. So, if you really want to help us please just come and spend a day, a night, a week or a month and enjoy this great area and be part of the solution. One post on Facebook I read was from someone that said they had lived here for 25 years and how bad this disaster was and the Gulf was dead. To that person let me simply say, I have been on this beach for over 60 years and in the 40’s there was oil washing up from sunken Liberty ships, along with German U boats. We have survived hurricanes, red tides, bad economies and we will survive this.