I have been closely monitoring the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and share your concerns about the possible economic and environmental threat to Palm Beach County. While I remain hopeful that this spill will not have a direct impact on our community, we all are aware of the reports that a change in the weather or failure to get the spill under control may cause contamination to our shore.
As the county commissioner who represents the entire southern coast of the county, I have been working diligently with county officials in preparation of any potential crisis locally.
Currently, the county has created a Deepwater Horizons Planning Task Force made up of representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Health Department, PBC Division of Emergency Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PBC Environmental Resources Management, county and municipal fire-rescue hazmat response agencies, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, PBC Animal Care & Control and the Port of Palm Beach.
The Deepwater Horizons Planning Task Force will develop county-specific contingency plans to address mitigation, response and recovery operations. Specific areas being addressed are:
Protection of the county’s four inlets
Availability and cost of booms, if needed
Environmental preservation
Potential health concerns
Wildlife protection
Available labor and material resource inventories
The first meeting of the task force is scheduled for May 17 at 9:00 a.m. at the County’s Emergency Operations Center at which I will be in attendance. Additionally, the state is holding daily conference calls with all Florida counties. I will be in direct contact with the Mayors and City Managers of the eleven coastal municipalities I represent. Palm Beach County Emergency Management is monitoring the situation and is participating in the daily conference calls.
I plan to keep you updated as more information becomes available. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact my office at 561-276-1220. For additional information, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of the Interior and BP have established http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com
as official source of information on this incident. Here you will find regular news updates, projections of the path of the spill, photos and video and useful links. Those interested in volunteer opportunities may wish to visit http://www.volunteerfloridadisaster.org/#Beach.
