My county has decided to defy the Unified Command

I'd like to think the time I spent with the commissioners influenced them. BP is looking to do the cheapest thing possible and the feds/Coast Guard do whatever BP says. If things had continued the entire Choctawhatchee Bay would have been ruined. Cheers to these guys who may be prosecuted for their defiance.

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/pass-30005-command-plans.html

Okaloosa defies Unified Command over East Pass plans (PHOTOS)
DESTIN — Okaloosa County isn’t taking oil spill orders any more.

County commissioners voted unanimously to give their emergency management team the power to take whatever action it deems necessary to prevent oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill from entering Choctawhatchee Bay through the East Pass.

That means the team, led by Public Safety Director Dino Villani, can take whatever action it sees fit to protect the pass without having its plans approved by state or federal authorities.

Commission chairman Wayne Harris said he and his fellow commissioners made their unanimous decision knowing full well they could be prosecuted for it.

“We made the decision legislatively to break the laws if necessary. We will do whatever it takes to protect our county’s waterways and we’re prepared to go to jail to do it,” he said.

That freed Villani to take several actions deemed important to further armor the Destin pass without waiting for authorization from the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee and the unified spill command in Mobile.

<snip>

Jay Prothro, BP’s representative for Okaloosa County, and two representatives of the Coast Guard were also present.

While Martha LaGuardia, a commander with the Coast Guard, argued that moving ideas and plans through the chain of command was the proper way to do things, Harris made it known the County Commission was tired of the often tedious and sometimes unproductive bureaucracy.

“We’ve played the game. We’re done playing the game,” he said.

I say go for it. The nightmare would only be compounded if they had the means to protect their waters and bureaucratic nonsense delayed the implementation until it was too late. This is a situation where it seems better to beg for forgiveness rather than ask permission.

By defying BP however, we'll never be compensated for the extra expense. It's almost as if BP/Government are forcing people to do this themselves and using that as an excuse not to pay.

People over there are justifiably freaking out; that said, I'm curious to know what exactly they can do on their own that isn't already being done.

Bryant

To buying booms with bigger skirts (more expensive).

There is lots that can be done. BP/Government have proposed only ineffective "solutions" that won't do squat.

Just where do they think the water will go? If there is any freshwater input, the level will rise in the bay until another spot is breached, and it will rapidly be opened due to tidal flow.

Putting strainers/bigger booms across the entrance and skimming in front of it are the best options at the moment.

Futhermore, there is already pump in the Destin harbor to remove water. Closing the pass is the last ditch solution, but it's not idiotic.

If they do something, and it doesn't work, and actually can be shown to have done MORE damage, or moved damage else where, they all could be on the hook for billions. It would be in their best interest to continually inform the chain of command what they are doing. Sort of a "unless otherwise notified..." kind of statement. Someone might actually call up and explain why it's not a good idea.

However, the plans BP had in place were doomed to failure. On small boom with a 3 ft skirt across a pass with strong tidal flows. Everyone here saw that plan and erupted in anger.

This bay is large but only has one small outlet. We can protect a huge undeveloped shoreline by heavily defending one relatively small area.

But this kid of work can be risky when done carefully. In a hurry up mode, you can create long term problems while solving short term ones. The biggest may be "cleaning up" whatever is built afterwards. BP may not pay to remove what is created without government or corporate approval. It can be easy to dump sand. It can be much harder to pull it back up and dispose of it. Especially if the oil turns it into "hazardous waste".

The Feds threaten charges against people for protecting their own interests and saving marine life??????????? Good god.

Karl Denninger wrote this up in his column yesterday, too.

Thank you for this follow up. I cannot believe that our counties on the coast have not done same thing.


adding link to Destin City Council blog which has some discussion of this, I read it last night.

http://liveblog.freedomblogging.com/

Kudos to those county heroes!

Not so sure how well this idea of diverting the oil to someone else's shores is going to work out in the long run?

Don

It'll end up on the sandy beaches (bad enough), but not in the estuaries.