The Oil Spill and What Caused this Summer's Economic Disaster

The BP Effect series is brought to you by attorneys Reich & Binstock and Seeger Weiss LLP, which are helping businesses in Panama City Beach recover losses sustained directly and indirectly from the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. They can help your business too,
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With The BP Effect article series, I keep seeing a resounding theme of comments, and I wanted to clear something up.

The cause of the “disaster” part of this whole incident was two fold and without both of them, there would have been no “disaster” here in Panama City Beach. The word “disaster” in terms of how Panama City Beach was effected relates not to how much oil was on the beach (because there was practically no product EVER reported on our beaches), but to how our area was effected ECONOMICALLY. The first was the actual BP oil spill. Had that not happened, the second wouldn’t have been a factor.

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UPDATE: Panama City Beach Currently NOT On Oil Spill Trajectory Map

(Latest update: July 15, 2010)

Over the last few weeks, very small quantities of oil product have been reported and cleaned up on Panama City Beach. And, when I say very small quantities, I mean so small that almost no one saw any oil wash up on the shores of Panama City Beach before it was cleaned up by the 700+ beach clean up workers that continue to patrol the beaches. In addition to the 700+ workers that are walking the beaches by day, there are around 250 walking the beaches at night.

As of July 14th, the oil plume was located 130 miles from Panama City Beach. At one point, it was as close as 20 miles off our coast. What this means is that for the next two to three weeks, our beaches are all but totally guaranteed to be oil free. This is great for the summer tourism season. Right now, we are well outside the NOAA 72 hour area of uncertainty.

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No Tarballs Reported in Panama City Beach in Days

Easterly and southeasterly winds have kept the oil spill plume away from us this week with nothing more than a few scattered pieces of oil soaked debris coming ashore up and down Panama City Beach. As recently as last weekend, we had landfall of tarballs from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that’s still discharging into the gulf.

Bay County is being very proactive in minimizing any impact that we may see from the oil spill in Panama City Beach and our surrounding areas. Efforts include building a complex boom gate system in the pass to limit any “product” from entering inland water ways, ordering 13 beach rakes (3 on their way, 10 more ordered), 4 skimmers working 7 miles off shore skimming product as it nears, and over 300 BP contractors are patrolling the beach non-stop surveying for any signs of oil making landfall. Over the last couple days, contractors have begun nighttime operations as well with over 1,000 more people ready to be deployed for cleanup efforts if and when needed.

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Deep Horizon Oil Spill – Panama City Beach Update – NO OIL HERE

Putting all opinions aside (educated or not =) ), the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a serious concern for Bay County and the beaches of Panama City Beach. Rather than force you to read through this whole post just to find out what you are really wanting to know, I’ll save you a bit of time. More information is below if you want it, otherwise:

As of right now, there IS NO OIL on or near the beaches of Panama City Beach. In addition, as of right now, we are not within the “area of uncertainty” with no expectation of oil hitting our shores – today.

Check after the break for resources on how to track the spill, what Bay County is doing to prepare and what will happen if we do enter the “area of uncertainty”.

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Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill – Public Information Meeting TODAY

There will be a meeting today, May 4, at 4:30 PM (previously scheduled at 2:00), at the Okaloosa County School District Administrative Building 120 Lowery Street S.E. in Fort Walton Beach with representatives from the DEP, BP, the US Coast Guard, Okaloosa County, and other officials. This meeting is being held to answer as many of your questions as possible. Please plan to attend for any information you need concerning the oil spill.

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