First Hand account: Florida Beaches Are Polluted With Oil (I was wrong)

reply to post by getreadyalready

And yes, my opinion has changed now that it has affected me personally. I am human. It was sad and worrisome when it was miles away, but it is a whole lot moreso when it is at my back door!

Like so many issues here on ATS and the world at large, too many people in my humble opinion are more focused on who is right, and who is wrong, and being right, even if they are wrong, for often the sake of ego and simply being right.

A situation of this magnitude I truly believe it’s just better to keep an open mind, reserve judgment, hope for the best but consider the consequences of the worst.

Whether it’s people dismissing facts out of hand that don’t support them being ‘right’ or latching on to some highly fanciful and speculative notions that support them being ‘right’, the truth is there might not be anyone in the world qualified at this point that can truly predict the final outcome and the long term impact of the Oil Disaster in the Gulf.

Never before has this much oil and such a volume of chemicals been dumped into a semi-contained, semi-self sustaining body of water and ecosystem before.

So without a precedent to base it on, who would be an expert?

It’s said that when they first decided to test the atomic bomb they weren’t actually sure if the chain reaction could be contained and that it might actually just incinerate the entire planet.

Because of the circumstances history says Roosevelt decided to take that chance and find out.

The truth is there are circumstances at play here, like the tourism and fishing industry that warrant in the minds of many taking a chance, and almost unguardedly hoping for the best.

I can understand why someone whose livelihood is being so adversely affected would be willing to take that chance.

I can understand why the government that depends on tax revenue from those industries and will ultimately have to bear the burden of those businesses failures, on multiple levels would consider taking the chance.

What I can’t understand though is the people who live far, far away from the impacted area, who see it only as another I am right you are wrong issue, where there biggest concern is the sport of that argument, and the boost to their ego when they imagining they are winning it.

This really is a story that will be years in the making, and I honestly don’t think anyone knows just how it’s going to turn out with any scientific certainty based on precedent and fact.

I wonder if humanity will ever be able to face a serious issue and crisis responsibly without approaching it like it’s a World Wrestling Smack Down event.

That would truly be a cause for celebration. Great job Original Poster at being proactive and keeping an open mind and having a true willingness to reexamine your position as new data comes to light.

I suspect new data will be coming to light for years to come.

reply to post by Come Clean


So let's suppose SO improved the original post. He improved it to the point that you have a harder time finding a tangent to go off on and complain. He pared it down to the main message. Something like that.

As a seeker of truth, why would you complain about that? It means probably SO made the original post more effective as an instrument in the search for truth.

There's another thread where OP (a different OP) makes some pretty strong claims, and "debunkers" object strongly when anyone tries to help him or explain anything. Same thing here it seems.

OP don't worry about it, you're on solid ground. "Come Clean" is using a dishonorable tactic here.

[edit on 18-8-2010 by oniongrass]

Local News tonight reporting tar balls washing up on St. George Island!! Also, from the same news website they are finding "emulsified oil....mousse balls"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mousse is exactly what I was seeing, and St. George island is within about 40 miles of Bald Point! (Probably much closer by water.)

WCTV Link to Story

Since Monday, they've collected a ziploc bag full of mousse balls or emulsified oil from areas of St. Vincent and Little and Big George.

"You touch this you're going to end up well it's real chocolaty," says Farrar.

The substance is gooey and light brown in color, much different than the black tar balls that many Gulf counties have spotted on their beaches in the past few months.

St. George Tar Balls, different source

Franklin County officials have sent off 58 tar balls found on St. George Island for testing to determine if they came from BPs Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Assessment teams found the tar balls, ranging in size from 1 to 13 centimeters, on Tuesday. Team members from the county, the Florida Department...

[edit on 18-8-2010 by getreadyalready]

[edit on 18-8-2010 by getreadyalready]

reply to post by getreadyalready


Yes it is bad, but you should see some of the videos of some beaches around Luisiana. I was going to make a thread about it but the videos are more than two weeks old although I haven't seen anyone post them yet.


Go to the following website and watch the video there.
www.floridaoilspilllaw.com... d-video

[edit on 19-8-2010 by ElectricUniverse]

I had read something about polluted beaches not being cleaned but being covered by fresh clean sand. Did you think that your beach had been covered so that the original oiled surface was just a few inches underneath?

If it was, you'd probably see the layers of sand and oil at the edge where the water washed them away.

Super S&S...

As an ex Fl resident, my heart weeps...

I am just sorry this thread is not showing a few thousand S&S's, which would be the first sign of all the attention this theme deserves...

Hope we get back Nature the way we don't deserve it to be...

Originally posted by Come Clean
reply to post by CaptChaos

 

And I've been a charter boat captain for 26 years.

Nothing disputes what the government has said. You show me a independent researcher (that never received grant money for services rendered) then I might listen.

Really? I find it hard to believe that a boat captain, someone who makes their living on the water, would be taking this attitude. So what kind of charter boat captain are ya? I figure you're full of it. Unless it's a BP oil rig supply boat?
Or wait, I know! You are the captain of BP's CEO's yacht! How was Cowes Week anyway, did you guys win?

Almost everyone I know is in the maritime industry. NO ONE would take your side of this debate. So what is it? You work for BP, or the govt?

additional info maybe, it was posted already, but that info is important.

Originally posted by CaptChaos

Originally posted by Come Clean
reply to post by CaptChaos

 

And I've been a charter boat captain for 26 years.

Nothing disputes what the government has said. You show me a independent researcher (that never received grant money for services rendered) then I might listen.

Really? I find it hard to believe that a boat captain, someone who makes their living on the water, would be taking this attitude. So what kind of charter boat captain are ya? I figure you're full of it. Unless it's a BP oil rig supply boat?
Or wait, I know! You are the captain of BP's CEO's yacht! How was Cowes Week anyway, did you guys win?

Almost everyone I know is in the maritime industry. NO ONE would take your side of this debate. So what is it? You work for BP, or the govt?

don't talk with that thing (Come clean). ans me, please, how much birds you did see onshore/offshore before disaster, & have seen after???

[edit on 19-8-2010 by SarK0Y]

Originally posted by Eastwood
I had read something about polluted beaches not being cleaned but being covered by fresh clean sand. Did you think that your beach had been covered so that the original oiled surface was just a few inches underneath?

If it was, you'd probably see the layers of sand and oil at the edge where the water washed them away.

I definitely don't think they are covering this particular beach. It is a wildlife refuge area, and they don't do things like that here.

As far as the tourist beaches in Panama City, Destin, Pensacola, I think they probably are covering them with fresh sand, although that is a pretty common practice even before the oil spill.

Tampa Article from Aug 18

Aquaruis sent me this article. It disputes the official government findings, and it reports that 70-79% of the oil is still along the sea bottom. It also goes on to describe exactly what I was seeing. There is no clear "coating" of oil. Instead there are microscopic particles of oil infiltrating everything. Some of there research came from a spot 40 miles South of Panama City. This would be very near to where I was filming as well.

USF marine scientists conducting experiments in an area where they previously found clouds of oil have now discovered what appears to be oil in the sediment of a vital underwater canyon and evidence that the oil has become toxic to critical marine organisms, the college reported Tuesday.

In preliminary results, the scientists aboard the Weatherbird II discovered that oil droplets are scattered on sediment in the DeSoto Canyon, a critical spawning ground for commercially important fish species about 40 miles southeast of Panama City.

The oil isn't spread across the sandy bottom like a blanket, explained David Hollander. Instead, when the scientists shined ultraviolet light on the sediment samples, it picked up lots of dots from tiny oil droplets.

So on August 17, I filmed this stuff. On August 18th the local news started reporting oily mousse and tar balls here on Alligator Point and St. George Island. Also on August 18, USF published reports in the Tampa paper confirming the same things.

Hopefully the few skeptics that were arguing so vehemently will now believe that this is indeed real, and it is happening right this very moment.

I still promise to get better video this weekend, and I will start another thread and call it Part II. I will dig deeper holes, farther from the beach, and I will take some water samples in glass jars, and run them through filters for you guys.

Cloudsinthesky is also going to drive down sometime over the next month or so, and we will do this same testing from here all the way to Gulfport/Biloxi, MS.

reply to post by getreadyalready

simple sign is to recognize how situation goes: some of animals & insects are dying in affected zones, others leave to get more appreciate areas -- in result: affected zone has lack with all alive in water, sky & on ground.

Hi all! Having been at Tybee Island, Savannah, Georgia for three days last week. I can tell you those Florida videos look horrible. At Tybee Island the beaches were clean, no sea shells of any kind on the beaches at low or high tides, the water and air smelled good. No dead fish, in fact you could see them in tidal pools during low tide looking healthy. I feel so awful for the Gulf of Mexico people and their beaches, I sure hope they continue to clean up the mess for years to come. I remember Destin Beach and Panama City as being absolutely gorgeous! The world is definetly getting out of control and has been since 2001. No one feels really happy anymore. We all have to learn to say......No.

reply to post by Come Clean


Did you post the wrong link? There is no mention of Armaggedon in this article.

Second line, second line.



[edit on 19-8-2010 by wcitizen]

reply to post by ElectricUniverse


Please do post the videos anyway. It's good to see some real news about this awful situation, even though it is heartbreaking.

Originally posted by Come Clean


Quote

Show me some dead fish washing up then we can talk. [/quote
Unquote:


Pics of dead fish washing up? Here:

www.globalresearch.ca...

www.rumormillnews.com...

A single google search brings up many such results, I'm surprised you missed it.



[edit on 19-8-2010 by wcitizen]

reply to post by wcitizen

just for curiosity, did they test on chemicals for that fish or only erased it away?

Just read the OP and watched the videos - just a note. I was down at Orange Beach all week last week and I was told (didn't see it for myself) that the water was really clean and pretty but then the next day I went down after the same tropical storm had started to roll through...

Water was very rough from the winds (actually had people surfing in it), but I saw the water was really turned up and cloudy. I attributed this to rough waters from the storm...

But I will note that the water just felt kind of... slimy? I don't know how to describe it. I was in Panama City Beach about two months ago and the water there felt completely different..

This stuff felt like what a shower feels like when you've got really really soft water... just kind of slimy and sticky.

Hmmm....

Originally posted by gncnew
Just read the OP and watched the videos - just a note. I was down at Orange Beach all week last week and I was told (didn't see it for myself) that the water was really clean and pretty but then the next day I went down after the same tropical storm had started to roll through...

Water was very rough from the winds (actually had people surfing in it), but I saw the water was really turned up and cloudy. I attributed this to rough waters from the storm...

But I will note that the water just felt kind of... slimy? I don't know how to describe it. I was in Panama City Beach about two months ago and the water there felt completely different..

This stuff felt like what a shower feels like when you've got really really soft water... just kind of slimy and sticky.

Hmmm....

could you make video on it??

Thanks for the videos and first hand account OP!

I was in Seagrove Beach (between Destin and Panama City) Just last month. I took some photos and some video. I don't have enough posts to make my own thread, so I hope it's okay that I post these here. These are from the week of July 25th 2010.

We accessed the beach here:
Seagrove Beach Access

As you approach the beach you see this sign:


As you leave the beach you see this:


There was a LOT of green algae the whole time we were there. More than I remember from past visits, but it's possible that it was natural for that time of year. The water had some patches where it was completely crystal clear, but for the most part it was neon green:



We did swim in it a bit (maybe like 3 hours the whole time we were there). In the algae patches it felt very "slippery / soapy".

This is a morning time shot. Things look pretty normal from a distance:


But when you got close to the shore and really took a look, you could see LOTS of little tar balls all along the shoreline:


After spending some time in the water and scooping my hands in the sand at the shoreline, I had a definite film of clear "grease" that was fairly difficult to remove.

I scooped some tar balls up and brought them back to the house with me for further inspection:




I'm no scientist or geologist, so this is purely speculation on my part. I think the dark black pieces are some sort of rocks. They were very hard and brittle and when crushed, they just looked like black sand. The light brown ones I feel like were definitely oil / tar balls. They were gooey and sticky like really thick honey.

At the end of the road we were staying on was a "BP Community Outreach" office. There was a Sergeant from the Walton County Sheriff's office stationed there.



The first morning I was there, I went in and told them I was here on vacation and wanted some information on what the water / air quality was like. It really seemed like I was their "first customer", they looked genuinely shocked that someone actually came in the door and was asking questions. The SGT sat at his desk (seemed like a nice chubby guy) while the receptionist went back and told a guy named "Dave" that someone was here and had some questions. This Dave guy came out and told me that the water and air at this beach had been tested and everything
was "within base-line levels". He just kept repeating that "within base-line levels" statement to almost everything I asked. It definitely felt like they had been told exactly what to say (scripted) and not to go outside of that. He referred me to a website for test results and more info about the air/water quality at the beach I had brought my family to. I went and checked that site, and guess what? The beach we were at, that they said had been tested, had no test results. I didn't go back to that office because I was pretty angry and I didn't want to flip out on anyone and ruin my family's vacation. Bottom line–I know there was oil in the water/on the beach. I know I was lied to.

I just wanted to share my story.