Officials say don’t touch the tar balls
During a recent visit to Pine Island, Jerry Campbell with Lee County Emergency Management warned that picking up and removing tar balls in the waters surrounding Pine Island could have serious implications should evidence of the gulf oil spill appear around the island shoreline.
“Picking up tar balls and taking them home breaks the chain of custody and eliminates the responsibility of the cleanup by BP,” said Jerry Campbell, chief of planning for Lee County Public Safety. “It is important to follow and know the procedures when it comes to oil spill cleanup because we risk alleviating BP’s responsibility.
“If you see tar balls, leave them where they lay and report the sighting to LEOC so that they can investigate,” he continued. “I know many of the people here today want to wash a bird or a baby seal, but it takes professionals who know how to clean wildlife and not only could you be doing the critter more harm than good, you could also be breaking several laws as well.”
Campbell explained that because of a rule that was established following the Exxon Valdez spill, the owner of the oil is held responsible for any expense associated with cleanup efforts. In this case, only those who are employed by BP or are sanctioned volunteers will be permitted to participate in cleanup efforts. Those who are not employees or certified volunteers risk breaking the chain of responsibility by removing evidence as it can no longer be directly linked to the Deepwater Horizon spill and, in turn, relieves BP of any further responsibility to the area.
According to Campbell, local officials do not think it is likely that the island will be affected by the oil spill, however, they are taking safety measures by developing a response plan should it be needed.
“We don’t expect to see oil wash ashore in Lee County, however, we do anticipate that eventually we may see tar balls or patties and at this time we plan on taking the proactive approach by the purchasing four or five shallow skimmers to have them on hand just in case,” said Campbell. “When tar balls wash up on beaches, it is not too difficult to clean them up, but Pine Island has a unique shoreline that is primarily mangroves and cleanup here will be a challenge.
“One area of concern we noticed is the ability of current strategies to effectively remove weathered oil such as tar balls and tar patties once they enter mangrove areas,” he added. “This is most likely the threat we will see. Booming in shallow waters and in back bay areas appear to have had a mixed success record. Most of the skimming operations are also done in the near shore area off the beaches and not in back bays. The shallow skimmers, however, can be attached to smaller boats that can maneuver in shallow water for use in recovery efforts.”
The cost of the shallow skimmers is $10,000 to $12,000 a unit and can be obtained using funds currently available in Public Safety’s budget.
According to Campbell, the county’s response plan also relies on federal and state plans to be activated and effectively carried out. Campbell also said that the federal, state and local effort will begin when oil quantity is enough to pose a threat to central and Southwest Florida and crosses a line 94 miles west of the state. The plan would go from the current monitoring phase to pre-staging resources, booms and skimmers, into areas with projected for potential impacts.
Also addressing residents was Chief David Bradley from the Pine Island/Matlacha Fire Control District.
“At this time we have minimal training with laying booms, however we are keeping and eye on things and if activation is called, we will work closely with EOC and take our cues from them,” Bradley said. “Community participation is what helps up through these things.”
Speaking at last week’s meeting was island resident and volunteer coordinator Julie Simpson.
“At this time we are enlisting the aid of coastal watchers. We need boaters and kayakers to keep on the lookout for oil or tar balls so that they can be reported to EOC,” Simpson said. “We are developing a data base and when and if we are given the go ahead from officials, we plan to have a team of volunteers ready to help with the clean up.”
Simpson also has developed a website to keep island residents up to date with information about actions the county and state are taking with regard to the oil spill. The website can be found at protectingpineisland.com
To report possible oil or tar balls to BP, call 1-866-448-5816, and for more information about local efforts, visit the Lee County Emergency Operations Center website at leeeoc.com