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Comment by Tripatini on September 3, 2010 at 8:28am

From Louisiana's Tri-Parish Times, Sept. 1:

Can Shrimp & Petro's 75th Year Reboot Tourism?
by Shell Armstrong

"Ask the director of Morgan City-based Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, and he's happy to report busy phone lines are good headed into the start of this week's 75th anniversary blowout.

Given the nation's worst environmental disaster unfolded just miles off the Tri-parishes' coastline this spring, selling a celebration for fish or oil has been a tall order. But the inquiries keep coming - from across the U.S., Japan and Germany. Visitors from France and England are also slated to visit after hearing Delaune's sales pitches.

'I think we'll end up having more people coming this year than in normal years,' he predicts.

On a good year - storm-free, rain-free weekends - the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival attracts upward of 75,000 visitors.

...Convincing tourists that south Louisiana is no longer oil coated, however, is an arduous task.

"They think you can smell the oil ... that you can still see it, or smell it or that it is going to affect their breathing," Stansbury said. "And they think a lot of our seafood - in spite of the documentation that says otherwise - is not safe to eat.

'It's not true, but how do you get that message out?'

...Festival-goers will also notice a more prominent presence from the oil industry at this year's event."

Comment by Tripatini on September 3, 2010 at 8:14am

From New Orleans Times-Picayune, Sept. 2:

Beaches Are Back 4 Months After Gulf Oil Spill, But BP Still Casting a Long Shadow
by Paula Devlin

"Gulf Coast beaches that were post-oil spill ghost towns a few months ago expect to be packed for Labor Day weekend, long considered the last summer holiday. But this year, each surge of vacationers or long hotel waiting list can be somehow traced back to BP.

Some people headed to Florida are essentially subsidized tourists thanks to BP tourism grants that Florida counties used to buy gift and debit cards for overnight tourists. Real estate agents in other places gave deep discounts, knowing that they could mitigate their losses through a BP claim for lost earnings. In smaller vacation locales, like Grand Isle and Dauphin Island, BP's cleanup crews unconsciously elbowed out would-be tourists, who were unable to find accommodations. Tourism for the state of Mississippi showed less of an effect for the weekend, since it depends more on gaming and less on beaches.

In Grand Isle, motels and real estate agents have long waiting lists of people who are eager to spend Labor Day on the Louisiana beaches they've traveled to for generations. But few places are available, because BP workers continue to lease the lion's share of the available rooms, condos and houses.

...Five of Grand Isle's 14 zones of beaches have been reopened, with the remainder either soiled with oil or blocked by equipment...

...[Locals] worry because more than four months after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, the final "bottom kill" of the damaged well has not been completed. And no one can definitively predict how long tar balls will continue to wash ashore from the Gulf.

...All along the Gulf, beaches have become accustomed to a daily dose of tar balls. 'We've gotten pretty good at getting them out of here,' said Ed Schroeder, head of Visit Pensacola, who said that nightly crews comb the beaches while vacationers sleep and on-call 'hotspot teams' mop up anything suspicious found during the day."

Comment by Tripatini on September 2, 2010 at 8:00pm

Fire out, no Sheen Visible at Gulf Oil Platform
by the CNN wire staff
September 2, 2010 7:49 p.m. EDT

"A fire on a well connected to an oil and gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico is out and there is no indication of an oil sheen, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday.

...Despite earlier reports, there is no evidence of an oil sheen, said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Peter Troedsson, adding there were no visible leaks."

Comment by Tripatini on September 2, 2010 at 4:13pm

Oil Platform Fire Reported in Gulf of Mexico
CNN Wire Staff September 2, 2:50 p.m

"A well connected to an oil and gas production platform caught on fire in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday, engulfing the vessel in flames about 100 miles off the central coast of Louisiana and forcing 13 people overboard, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.

...Coast Guard Petty Officer Elizabeth Bordelon said there is a sheen on the water at the site of the platform, measuring about 100 feet wide and stretching for one mile."

It's apparently still not clear as to whether this will affect the coast.

Comment by Tripatini on September 2, 2010 at 4:06pm

Comment by Tripatini on September 2, 2010 at 3:57pm

Comment by Tripatini on September 1, 2010 at 3:39pm

From Gulf Shores/Orange Beach Alabama Facebook page, Sept. 1:

Alabama Gulf Coast: "With the recent storms and heavy surf we have experienced the reappearance of light oil residue and tiny tar balls. It's likely that we will need to continue to be ready to tackle whatever the tides bring in. The work crews are out there daily doing whatever they can to keep the areas safe and clean. Some beaches are impacted more than others - it just depends on the currents. We go to the beaches daily and report exactly what we find and share photos of the surf and the sand." about an hour ago

Melanie Spohn: "I am a local who has walked the beaches 4 and 5 days a week for the last 3 months - seeing the good and the bad. As a matter a fact I was on our beaches in both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach about an hour ago. Not only have I walked ...the beaches, but I have been in the water - funny, but no burning OR itching for me except on one outing where a jelly fish got too close. Plenty of surfers out today, so must not be bothering them too badly. And about that sticky residue that coats swimmers? None for me - not one single time that I've been in the water? A more reasonable assessment would that there are some small sandy tarballs on some of the beaches and when the surf is really rough, you may see some oil residue on the beach. When I see the very light residue . . . I do just as the signs posted at all of the beaches say . . . stay out of the water at that location." about an hour ago

Comment by Tripatini on September 1, 2010 at 3:24pm

Comment by Tripatini on August 30, 2010 at 9:36pm

From Mississippi Gulf Coast CVB Facebook page, Aug. 30:

"ALL Mississippi State Territorial waters are open for commercial & recreational finfish and shrimp fishing as of AUG 6. This expands the area opened on July 30. Blue crab fishing NORTH of the barrrier islands reopened Friday, AUG 20. Oyster fishing remains closed. Mississippi Gulf Coast beaches are open and beach vendo...rs are ready to rent you beach chairs, umbrellas, aqua cycles, jet skies, and more."

Comment by Tripatini on August 30, 2010 at 9:33pm

From Pensacola, Florida CVB's CuriousAboutOurCoast.com, Aug. 30:

"All beaches in Escambia County, including Pensacola Beach, Perdido Key and the Gulf Islands National Seashore are open for swimming and fishing. There have been minimal reports of oil, usually scattered tar balls, in the past six weeks.

'If you’ve been out here in the last month, the reality is, except for an occasional tar ball, we’ve not seen any oil,' said Bob West, Pensacola Beach Public Safety Supervisor.

Future threats from oil have been greatly reduced due to the capping of the oil well and progress toward a permanent kill, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have reopened coastal state waters off Escambia County and other large areas of the Gulf of Mexico to the harvest of saltwater fish."

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