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Oil spill captain critical of Alabama Gulf Coast mayors; says they are using spill politically.
A Coast Guard captain is criticizing Alabama public officials for a lack of communication about emergency response plans, and what there response would be in the event that a storm surge from a hurricane deposits oil-stained debris onto beaches. Mayors of the state’s coastal communities say they were denied access to a closed-door meeting in New Orleans this week.
U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Julia Hein, the federal on-scene coordinator of the cleanup, said Thursday that federal agencies had a plan for clearing oil-stained debris in the wake of a storm, but Coast mayors and other public officials are being closed-mouthed about their plans for a cleanup.
She earlier this week sent an email complaining that state officials had not properly communicated the information to local leaders.
Steve Jenkins, who represented the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and the mayors in Wednesday’s meeting, said he did not get responses to his most important questions. ADEM is the state’s liaison with federal and BP officials where spill issues are concerned.
"The questions have been very clearly, very articulately asked," Jenkins said Thursday, discussing the Wednesday meeting that included the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency and BP officials at the Gulf Coast Incident Management Team’s headquarters.
When he asked who would clean up oil debris and who would pay for the cleanup, he said he was told he would receive a response from FEMA next week.
Hein has urged officials to be more participatory in discussions of plans for a storm aftermath.
"It is becoming more and more apparent that there is a need for you all to be here in order to get the most current/correct information to pass and that it is passed regularly," Hein wrote.
She also accused the mayors of using the debate as a political tool.
"Remote representation doesn’t appear to be working for (Alabama)," she continued. "We don’t seem to be having the same level of miscommunication in the other states. Trust me, I do understand that some of this may be for the mayors to get some press time as elections seasons come up. Please let me know if that is the case."
Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon, who plans to seek reelection, did not appreciate Hein’s comment, apparently.
"I don’t know that there’s a greater insult that anyone can put on someone than to accuse you of a hidden agenda or a selfish motive for your actions," he said.
Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier, who says he's still unsure of whether or not to run again, says getting things done with respect to BP is difficult.
"We’re simply wanting the right thing to happen for our communities," Collier said. "It’s certainly not a political issue on my part. We shouldn’t have to be working this hard to get BP and the federal government to do the right thing."
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Hein implied in her email that Jenkins and ADEM had not supplied municipal leaders with the proper information about recovering oil-stained storm debris. She also pointed out that tarballs from the Deepwater Horizon spill are not believed to be toxic.
"So I’m a bit confused as to why folks aren’t feeling they are getting it," Hein wrote.
Hein told Jenkins: "Please get with your mayors and realign their expectations."
But this sounds like same s*it, different day in relation to just who is responsible for any "old" oil that washes ashore. BP won't claim it, nor pay to clean it up. Jenkins says that the conflicts run deeper than just payment for cleanup.
Jenkins says that he has been advised that under the Stafford Act, which allows the president to direct a response under a state of emergency, FEMA and the EPA would not authorize funds to clean oil that didn’t originate from last summer’s BP spill.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 lays the onus of cleanup on the company responsible for the spill, in this case BP.
Hein has said that states should determine who handles initial cleanup response after a storm and should be responsible for ascertaining whether oil or tar mats washed ashore are from the BP gusher or from somewhere else.
Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon disagrees:
"She is oversimplifying the scenario," he said. "She is assuming the state is the first responder. They’re not. We (city leaders) are on the beach within 12 hours after a storm. We can’t wait around for weeks for someone to decide who’s the responsible party. Can you imagine the chaos?"
Well, Mr. Mayor(s)...looks like chaos is what you have right now...
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