Want to help the wildlife or contain the oil spill? You can't.

[draggar]

I don't know how long the store will be on CNN.com so I'll quote the text here:

Okaloosa Island, Florida (CNN) -- Vacationers were the first to notice the bird fumbling in the water near this popular tourist beach last week. It bobbed and swayed differently than other birds, and didn't react when humans came dangerously close. Once it was ashore, they could see why: a light sheen of oil covered its feathers.

Animal health technician Stephanie Neumann tried to rescue the Northern Gannet, but beach safety officers stopped her. Her coworkers at the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge already had stabilized birds and a sea turtle affected by the Gulf oil disaster, but officials wanted to know: Did she have a contract with BP? Could she -- and the bird --wait while they verified her organization's status?

"They're trying to do their job," Neumann said as she crouched over the motionless bird, wrapped in a white sheet and barely hidden from the stares of kids and parents. "They have to make sure protocol is followed."

When brown clumps of tar began to wash up on the snow-white beaches around Destin last week, the mood in this sunny beach community shifted from optimistic denial to furious worry. Local ideas about how to protect the area clashed with plans from BP, state and federal agencies. Community volunteers struggling to cut through protocol cheered a decision by Okaloosa County to defy BP and the feds. They were done waiting. They'd use their own plans.

"This is ridiculous. We'll take the heat. We would do whatever it took to stop the oil," said the county commission chairman, Wayne Harris.
Gallery: Using hair to protect a 'magical' place
Video: Florida county fights feds for cleanup

After months of wrangling with agencies responding to the spill, Harris wasn't willing to stake the county's ecology and economy only on boom that captures or absorbs oil. The commission authorized emergency management teams to add skimmers, barges and extra boom, and an air wall they hope will push the oil away. They plan to layer prevention measures in the pass that connects the Gulf to Choctawhatchee Bay, where fresh and salt water mix and dolphins play. Harris said the plan could cost up to $6 million per month, which he hopes will be covered by money from BP.

The county developed its oil plan in the days after the disaster began to unfold, but it was plagued by miscommunications, disagreements and bureaucracy once it left local hands, Harris said.

Communities along the Gulf Coast have made similar complaints. Mayors grilled a BP official about the response during a press conference earlier this month. In Magnolia Springs, Alabama, locals went outside the federal plan and risked incarceration by adding boom and barges to protect Weeks Bay. In Pointe Aux Chenes, Louisiana, Native Americans pitched in to string boom near an island where many of their ancestors are buried.

Harris said some of his county's efforts may work; others may not. "Doing something is better than doing nothing," he said.

On the Okaloosa Island beach, local response to the oiled Gannet was quicker, but the federal response had less red tape to work through. U.S. Fish and Wildlife workers arrived before Neumann's status was verified, so she left their bird in their care.

"Time is essential with these guys," she said. "Every minute counts."

For the rest of Okaloosa County, more boom and barges were starting to appear in the water. The county commission vote was "smart," and sped up the state and federal response, said public safety director Dino Villani, who was quickly invited to an "olive branch" meeting in Mobile. Most of the county's preferred plans are moving forward, Villani said, and they'll continue to adapt as the oil moves throughout their waters.

Harris said the plans would have gone forward even without approval from BP or other government agencies.

"I'm sure they're cussing. I'm sure they're cussing us bad," Harris said. "If we had waited, we'd still be waiting. Why did it take us giving an ultimatum?"

Charles Diorio, a Coast Guard commander in Mobile, said some communities decided to implement their own plans once they saw they didn't top the list of state and federal priorities, if they were on the list at all. Some just wanted to act before the mess -- and response agencies' attention -- began to move their way.

Now that oil is reaching Florida's shores, resources are shifting there, Diorio said, and there's a plan to meet with Okaloosa commissioners this week.

"Now is the time to make sure these relationships are still working and strong and the lines of communication are open," he said.

The commission's vote marked a turning point for Okaloosa County residents and vacationers. Even as oil crippled fishing, tourism and ecology in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, wishful thinkers hoped for the best around Destin, which calls itself the "World's Luckiest Fishing Village."

"I'm guilty of it. Every day something doesn't happen, you walk down your beach and don't see it, the feeling gets stronger -- until it arrives," Okaloosa County's beach safety division chief Tracey Vause said as he picked gummy tar balls from the sand.

"I was infuriated. It's almost like grieving. This is the destination, white, sandy beaches. Now they're not."

June is typically a busy month along the area known as Florida's Emerald Coast. Beaches in Destin and Fort Walton are usually packed with families freed from school and work, and the water is crammed with boats. But when traces of oil actually arrived last week, clean-up crews were on land and familiar local fishermen wore life jackets, a tell-tale sign they were called into service for BP. Tourist rentals already were down as much as 50 percent, county officials said. Shops were quiet, service jobs were cut back and only a few umbrellas and towels were scattered across the soft sand.

No oil-related illnesses or injuries had been reported as of late last week, said Cecilia Wagner, a community health worker for Okaloosa County. A health advisory warned beachgoers against swimming one day last week, but it was lifted hours later.

The arrival of oil spooked residents, and made clear the conflicts between local action and BP's response.

On the boardwalk at Okaloosa Island, volunteers cleaned up after a group of campers made oil-absorbing boom from hosiery and animal hair. Boom makers Yente Sehman and Barbara Johnson said they'd prefer boom made with renewable resources in the water around Okaloosa County's beaches, and as oil came closer, more materials and volunteers had showed up to help their efforts.

In a warehouse nearby, the pair stacked human and animal hair donations funneled through the non-profit Matter of Trust and postmarked from Missouri, Georgia, Massachusetts, Australia and China. Volunteers packed dog and alpaca hair clippings into the legs of pantyhose, then tied them off and strung them into mesh casings with plastic pieces that float in the water. Already, more than 5,000 boom were stacked inside the warehouse.

County officials said they don't want to discourage volunteers, but they aren't planning to use the animal hair boom, except as a last resort. Sehman's phone was busy with calls from local business owners and real estate agents who wanted the boom to protect their businesses, but organizers can't give the boom away without county approval and a clear plan for its disposal.

"We live in paradise and everybody wants to believe it's not going to happen to us," Johnson said. "It's turning into anger and frustration. BP, local government, state government, everybody sitting around waiting for someone else to do something. We want to help, but we can't."

Still, the women said they won't stop their boom-making effort, especially as more community members notice the empty beaches studded with tar balls and look for ways to get involved.

"Once we started, no way," Sehman said. "I'm very proud to live in this county at this point in time. People of this county are going to do what they want to do."

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/21/oil...ex.html?hpt=T2

So - rescue groups need to prove that they have a contract with BP before they can do anything?

Residents can't try to protect their own lands, neighborhoods, and lively hoods without the fear of being arrested and thrown in jail?

While I understand that you can't have any average Joe trying to clean wildlife, etc. these rescue organizations are usually known with local officials. As for the liability - they usually don't care about that, they want to help save as many animals as possible.

[biggedon]

people need to identified as qualified to handle the task at hand.

you can't be out on the beach, running up, grabbing birds all willie-nillie with your bucket of water and soap in hand

[draggar]

people need to identified as qualified to handle the task at hand.

you can't be out on the beach, running up, grabbing birds all willie-nillie with your bucket of water and soap in hand

I already covered that.

While I understand that you can't have any average Joe trying to clean wildlife, etc. these rescue organizations are usually known with local officials. As for the liability - they usually don't care about that, they want to help save as many animals as possible.

[Raider]

I really feel bad for the wild life as a result of this accident.... I was reading a story where the coast guard was preventing a lot of qualified people from sucking the oil from the surface, The Governor had to intervene and get the OK from the coastguard to allow them to continue... A lot of red tape out there in the Gulf, but understandably they need to make sure these people are qualified and know how to handle and properly dispose of the waste.

I'm not trying to rub it in Draggar, but I did warn you this was going to happen if the US Government didn't act quickly to prevent the oil from reaching our shores.... Looking back, do you still stand by your earlier position;?

It is BP's mess - they should clean it up and if it is too big it is their responsibility to ask for help. Or do you think the government should get involved with every little thing (micromanage) that goes on? Does Barak need to micromanage the whole USA or trust in his staff and/or advisers to do their jobs and expect businesses to be responsible (I know, it's not a perfect world).

[biggedon]

I really feel bad for the wild life as a result of this accident.... I was reading a story where the coast guard was preventing a lot of qualified people from sucking the oil from the surface, The Governor had to intervene and get the OK from the coastguard to allow them to continue... A lot of red tape out there in the Gulf, but understandably they need to make sure these people are qualified and know how to handle and properly dispose of the waste.

I'm not trying to rub it in Draggar, but I did warn you this was going to happen if the US Government didn't act quickly to prevent the oil from reaching our shores.... Looking back, do you still stand by your earlier position;?

Originally Posted by draggar
It is BP's mess - they should clean it up and if it is too big it is their responsibility to ask for help. Or do you think the government should get involved with every little thing (micromanage) that goes on? Does Barak need to micromanage the whole USA or trust in his staff and/or advisers to do their jobs and expect businesses to be responsible (I know, it's not a perfect world).

if i were draggar, i would still stand by that statement.

because a "responsible" company should take the initiative and be "transparent" about the damage and potential consequences.

when the real truth comes out about the negligence and corner cutting by BP, from rig building to parts manufacturing.....you see who assisted BP with getting those cuts approved.


@ draggar; my previous comment was just 'co-signing" that point you outlined.

[Raider]

when the real truth comes out about the negligence and corner cutting by BP, from rig building to parts manufacturing.....you see who assisted BP with getting those cuts approved.

I'd like to know the truth too, For example the names of the people who issued the permit, and the names of the inspectors who inspected the rig and signed off on it, What about these people? Are they not held accountable to? Who are they? Nobody knows because their all in hiding..... Our Government shares a good percentage of the blame as well, but nobody seems to be care about our negligence in all this, No, their too damn focused on bringing down a private company.... Bring BP down and we all lose.

[draggar]

I really feel bad for the wild life as a result of this accident.... I was reading a story where the coast guard was preventing a lot of qualified people from sucking the oil from the surface, The Governor had to intervene and get the OK from the coastguard to allow them to continue... A lot of red tape out there in the Gulf, but understandably they need to make sure these people are qualified and know how to handle and properly dispose of the waste.

My wife has signed up to be a volunteer if the oil reaches our beaches (and with her education and experience (certified as a vet tech in several states, degrees in marine mammalogy, lots of experience with rehabing and rescue) they won't have her on the beaches - she'll be cleaning or rehabing). I pray this red tape doesn't presist here when the oil comes here. But again, these rehab organizations usually know law enforcement (or the relevant sector) pretty well - when we did malinois rescue we knew who our animal control officers were as well as our contacts in many local shelters - if we needed verification we could get it pretty quickly.

I'm not trying to rub it in Draggar, but I did warn you this was going to happen if the US Government didn't act quickly to prevent the oil from reaching our shores.... Looking back, do you still stand by your earlier position;?

I think Biggie summed it up pretty well,

if i were draggar, i would still stand by that statement.

because a "responsible" company should take the initiative and be "transparent" about the damage and potential consequences.

when the real truth comes out about the negligence and corner cutting by BP, from rig building to parts manufacturing.....you see who assisted BP with getting those cuts approved.

But this is besides the point of this thread.

@ draggar; my previous comment was just 'co-signing" that point you outlined.

NP.

If these rehab organizations go hae a group of people out then they should have someone with them who knows these people (considering it would be hard to get all the voluneers known in the enforcement agenices) or at least let them know who is coming while they are on their way there to eliminate any down time. When dealing with things like this - minutes, even seconds, can count.

[Arrogance]

Any chance the Jones Act will be temporarily waived?

[Tia Wood]

people need to identified as qualified to handle the task at hand.

you can't be out on the beach, running up, grabbing birds all willie-nillie with your bucket of water and soap in hand

How qualified do you have to be to apply soap and scrub lol? I know there has to be a certain level of care involved but this is an epic disaster. If I saw a bird covered in oil ,my first reaction would be to clean it. Not leave the poor thing laying there.

Just a sad situation all around. btw, there are related volunteer opportunities with Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama.

[draggar]

How qualified do you have to be to apply soap and scrub lol? I know there has to be a certain level of care involved but this is an epic disaster.

You answered your own question.

A lot of these animals are very fragile plus you need to know what soaps work the best to remove the oil but would have the least impact on the animals themselves. You also need to be aware of your surroundings and the ecosystem around you. It's being reported that a lot of the volunteers are just walking though areas where endangered species and species are recently removed form the list and tossing full bags of garbage on nests (destroying eggs), some even stepping on baby animals (killing them).

Granted - the training to clean the animals can be pretty quick (how to handle them, how to approch them, etc.) but someone who doesn't know what they're doing can do more harm than good.

[biggedon]

a couple of weeks ago, i got some info about "temp jobs" coming up for the oil spill

within the context of that email:

"All workers will require OSHA 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operator Training (WE WILL PROVIDE). Successful completion of a physical and drug screen are also required. Each applicant must be 18 years of age or older. "


you really have to be properly trained for your own protection, before trying to help the animals.