What started out as a story about an industrial accident is now being called the largest ecological disaster in the history of the United States.
As I write this, crews are throwing "booms," floating oil catchers made of pantyhose full of hair and fur, all over the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico, from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle. As the well that once was the site of British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil platform continues to spew more than 200,000 gallon of oil a day into the Gulf, the media has so far heard from a menagerie of characters in this drama. Everyone it is, except the people who are being affected.
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We have President Obama assuring America that the cost of cleanup will be paid for by rig owners BP, we have reports of BP's stock still deep in it's dive as investors are getting out as fast as they can, and we have BP themselves, first reporting that the situation was under control, then later reporting that oops, they were wrong, but they had a 100 ton bell they were going to use to cap the well, and as recently as yesterday, apparently, that didn't.
As I write this, I'm perusing statements about BP getting permits for the use of ten robots, and another about trying a smaller bell to cap the well. There's the possibility of drilling another well, but it will take...um...at least a month or two.
Mobile, Alabama
Back in Mobile, Alabama, the nation's ninth largest deep water port, golf sized blobs of petroleum are washing up on the shores of Dauphin Island, Alabama's famed barrier island. Mobile has every reason to be concerned. The community economically relies on tourism, shipping and commercial fishing, all of which looks to be hard to do in the foreseeable future. While the city has survived two major hurricanes in the last decade and managed to bounce back due to good governance and community spirit, locals are not satisfied by the platitudes of either politicians or company representatives.
"Without fishing or tourists on our beaches, I don't see how are we going to make it through the summer, much less the year," one resident of the Mobile Bay area told me.
Local restaurants are enjoying a spike in seafood purchases as locals worry this might be the last chance for a long time to eat local fresh seafood.
"Yesterday, I walked up to the Loop Seafood Company and got a shrimp dinner. I asked the man if business had increased. He said 'yes'. I guess fear that people can't get any more fresh seafood is in our minds now," said lifelong Mobile resident, Bart Pierce. "Since there is a ban on fishing now, the boat captains are really feeling the pinch. This is their livelihood, and it has come to a screeching halt. I saw on TV that someone, BP or FEMA, I'm not sure, is hiring these captains and their crews for cleanup and to distribute [booms].
The booms in question are long cylinders of made often of old nylon pantyhose, stuffed with human and/or animal hair. Clean hair, like feathers, has a property unique in nature that collects oil. In the same way that oil manages to stick to the feathers and fur of local fauna in an oil spill, human hair has been proven the most resourceful way of cleaning up the water's surface.
Mobile Bay now has more of these booms in place than any other area in the Gulf. All of the entryways to the Mobile Bay have been blocked by a double layer of booms, according to Alabama State Port Authority Judith Adams. The design will allow ships passing into the bay to be decontaminated and rinsed free of oil, before proceeding into port. While this may work to salvage sea freight and the operations of the port, locals are skeptical on the future of it's tourism and fishing.
"We don't know what this means for Dauphin Island," said retiree Rosalie Johnson. "I grew up as a little girl on this beach. Now I'm worried I may not be able to bring my grandchildren here. They have those nets out in front of the island, catching oil. How long will it be before I can swim? A month? A year? A decade? No one really seems to have any straight answers."
Hardest hit of all, are the area's fishermen. Mobile resident Bart Pierce said that local media was flooded with stories about the fishing industry and the affect of the spill on the safety of local seafood. Pierce said the information was often conflicting, with talking heads warning of the dangers of eating the local seafood, while others told residents that fish was safe to eat, would continue to be safe to eat and that locals were "worrying unnecessarily."
"I did happen to see a local news story of two separate restaurant owners who said that they would buy seafood from other
waters across America," Pierce told Pameno. "But that would cost more, and therefore they would have to charge more. The owners were concerned that if costs rose, people wouldn't come. They also said they would have to pay for more advertising to let the public know that their seafood was safe, and 'Oil free'."
Safe or not, fishing is still closed by local authorities, and the only work to be had for local fishing crews, is to help either the coast guard or other BP contractors distribute booms.
"Many are taking the temporary jobs to help ease the wallet," explained Pierce, "but it is by no means is it anywhere near the money needed to support their families. They want to fish and they want to know when they can do it. It's quite a troubling
situation."
You can help
Pameno readers interested in donating hair to making booms for Gulf cleanup are advised to go to Excess Access, a charitable organization that connects hair donors with places in the US that need hair to make oil-cleaning booms.
