Heavy Hearts Today

It is with a heavy heart today that I report that some oil has slipped through Perdido Pass and made it into Wolf Bay.

Local municipal officials reported that strong currents coupled with not having enough containment boom allowed the oil seep into the highly ecologically sensitive area.

From The Mobile Press-Register via al.com:

From shrimp nets in the Mississippi Sound to the back bays and bayous around Orange Beach, brown globs of oil stained previously pristine areas Wednesday.

And more oil is likely on the way.

The latest forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calls for oil contamination along beaches from Mississippi's barrier islands in the west to Pensacola in the east during the next few days.

Orange Beach residents watched Wednesday as oil moved through Perdido Pass and washed into sensitive back bays and bayous.

There's plenty of finger pointing going on as to whose fault it is or is not, but here's what I know for sure: we've got to get the oil out of the back bays and do everything possible to keep it out down the road. Our ecological system back there is just too fragile for us not to act and act quickly.

On a positive note, there's work being done to create a better oil containment system that would be designed to do a better job of protecting Perdido Pass, but it'll take two weeks to get it in place. A lot of hope is riding on this project.

Meanwhile, if you'd like to read the article from al.com, here's the link: http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/oil_spill_washes_up_in_orange.html.

In reading the headlines related to the local condo industry this morning, I ran across an article in the Dempolis Times in which the reporter interviewed several local residents who own or rent condos on or near the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. The reporter sought to learn how the oil spill would affect their decision to vacation on the coast. Here's what Kayte Randall said:

"The oil would not make me change my plans. We like to go out to dinner, and Terry likes to play golf, so I can ride with him and play golf. There are plenty of things to do, even just sitting out on the beach or sitting on the balcony. That's what we enjoy doing. I usually don't get in the water anyway."

Bill Meador, another resident, said, "We share a condo, and we have it reserved for a specific weekend. We're going whether the oil is there or not, because we have a family vacation planned with my brother. We'll find other things to do. We'll lay around the pool..."

One Dempolis resident and his neighbors at his second home on the coast took it upon themselves to protect their own properties.

"We have a home on the bay, so the oil is not going to affect a thing," Dan Wilson said. "The people who live on the canal that I live on went together, and we got our own boom to put across there.…to try and make sure that no oil came into our area. We weren't waiting on the state of Alabama. We weren't waiting on the government to come and do their part. We took it into our own hands, and we are prepared to look after ourselves and not waiting on somebody else to do it."

I would encourage you to read this article at The Demopolis Times.

I hope more folks like these will remain committed to visiting the Alabama Gulf Coast, despite the oil. Continued commitment is what the area needs right now.

Until tomorrow...

Kristen McIntosh
Editor, Condo Owner Magazine
www.condo-owner.com
kmcintosh@coveypubs.com