Fla gets OK to cut red tape to lower the boom
by Dara Kam | May 6th, 2010Officials late last night gave Florida the authority to place boom without getting approval from the Mobile Unified Command center in charge of the oil spill disaster.
That will cut out at least some of the bureaucratic tangles slowing down the response to local governments’ requests for permission to set up the plastic barriers to protect fragile coastal eco-systems.
Unified Command gave the OK because Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole set up a state boom review team to speed up authorization to set boom around estuaries, marshes and other sensitive coastal areas, according to an e-mail sent by Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Dave Halstead.
Sole and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink were frustrated about the lag in approving Escambia County officials’ request to place a V-shaped funnel in Pensacola Pass to protect the inlet. After days of pressure from Florida officials, including Gov. Charlie Crist, Unified Command finally gave the green light for the barrier late Tuesday night.
Approximately 144,700 feet of boom have already been placed in the Pensacola area and an additional 14,700 feet is expected to be placed today.
In Pensacola, 20,000 feet of boom is ready to go and another 60,000 is on order. And in Panama City, 45,000 feet are staged and an additional 53,000 feet of boom is expected.
But Sole, a biologist, has warned that the boom should not be placed too soon because tides, wind and waves will displace the protective barricade before the oil from the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig blast arrives.
The plastic barriers will do nothing to protect beaches because waves will slosh over the boom surface and drive the oil onshore, Sole also cautioned.
Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Dave Halstead said in an e-mail they got the thumbs up to handle boom decisions on their own as
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