Alabama and the Oil Spill: Protecting the Beaches
BP continues to try to stop the flow from the oil leak in the Gulf of
Mexico. Oil has already come ashore in Louisiana. And other coastal
communities are scrambling to prepare. As WBHM’s Tanya Ott reports, volunteers in Alabama are taking some low-tech steps to protect the shore.
Within days of the oil rig explosion, Casi Callaway’s phone started ringing off the hook.
“I have hundreds of volunteers calling every minute.”<?p>
Okay, well maybe not every minute. But Callaway’s group, Mobile Baykeeper, has been very busy organizing volunteers. In the past week more than 7,000 people have flocked to the white sands of the Alabama coast hoping to help.
They’re combing every inch of the shoreline, picking up trash and raking driftwood and sticks into the dunes. Normally they’d let the natural debris stay on the beach. But if it gets coated with oil it becomes hazardous waste and has to be shipped to a local landfill. So volunteers are working round the clock to move the material. Tom Herder is with the Mobile Bay Estuary Program. He says they have to be careful because this is nesting season for wading birds like Plovers and Terns.
“You know we were the dumb transgressors the first day. I was throwing stuff in the dunes. And we were just moving stuff up and I wasn’t looking for Plover nests and the Audobon Society kinda got on my case. And it’s good, they educated us. And we’re educating our volunteers.”
They’ve been training volunteers on how to remove debris without disturbing wildlife. But Herder says the clock is ticking and there’s still lots of work to do. So they’re balancing the need to protect wildlife with the need to get the beaches ready. Herder says to do that they’ve been bending the rules a little bit.
“People have to be 18 years old to take part in our volunteer efforts. Shoot! That’s not necessarily the way people do things here. And we tell people, if you live on the Western shore of Mobile Bay don’t wait for us. Get down there and clean it up yourself. You know. And that’s not rogue.”
While volunteers work to get the beaches ready for oil, BP says it’s working to keep the oil from reaching the shore. It’s using what are called chemical dispersants – basically it’s industrial detergent – to break up the oil deep under the surface. But critics say the chemicals could kill off the larvae of fish that use the Gulf of Mexico for spawning grounds. Fish like the Atlantic bluefin tuna. It could also hurt oysters and mussels. But BP’s Steve Rinehart says there’s always a tradeoff.
“Nobody wants an oil spill. We have an oil spill. You need to make judgments about limiting the damager where you can.”
Rinehart says a group of state and federal spill responders, including environmental scientists, has determined that dispersants pose the least risk.
“If the choice is oil going to shore or using dispersant off shore, using dispersant off shore causes less environmental impact. That’s not to say there won’t be some, but it’s less harmful to the environment than having the oil go to shore.”
So basically, it could be an “either/or”: protect the beach with dispersants and you might risk the fish. Tom Herder, with the Estuary Program, says it’s a no-win situation.
“I’ve almost been making deals with God. And I can’t bribe God, but he knows I’ll follow through.”
Right now, Herder’s just praying for good weather and more time to get the Alabama coast prepared.
Appeals court rules Trump can fire probationary federal workers once again
The decision from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals further clears the way for the Trump administration to re-fire, for now, thousands of probationary federal employees.
Trump says he will pause tariffs for 90 days, but not for China
The president announced he would be hiking tariffs on China to 125% "effective immediately," but said he was pausing them on other U.S. trading partners to allow time for trade negotiations.
House GOP leaders prepare budget vote, daring dissenters to oppose Trump
House GOP leaders are moving ahead with a budget plan that is meant to pave the way for future votes on President Trump's domestic agenda, but members within their own party oppose the bill. Some dissenters have remained opposed to the bill, despite pressure from leaders and Trump himself.
This former influencer gave up her smartphone. She says you should, too
August Lamm became an accidental influencer by posting pictures of her art online – until she reached a breaking point and got rid of her smartphone. Now, she's advocating for others to do the same.
Trump administration backs off Nvidia’s ‘H20’ chip crackdown after Mar-a-Lago dinner
The White House was expected to ban sales of the high-performance AI chip to China. Chinese companies had been stockpiling the chip but now the Trump administration is backing off.
The Israeli troop killing of a U.S. teen in the West Bank sparks outrage
The killing of a Palestinian American teen by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank has sparked an outcry from relatives and community members in the Palestinian territory as well as the U.S.
