As a tide of tarballs from the BP Gulf Oil Spill assaults the Florida coast line local Florida residents, businesses and county officials are demanding action from BP, State, and Federal Government officials in charge of monitoring and responding to the spill.
Local residents in Walton County, Florida demanded a Town Hall meeting to discuss the lack of response to the oil assaulting the coast line.
They are also demanding answers to other questions like why local beaches have been declared safe and remain open even though tarballs have been washing ashore for weeks in Florida and the DEP hasn’t tested the waters for hydrocarbons since May 1st.
Ed Berry, a local businessmen, urged the commissioners to make sure the appropriate parties are being held accountable.
In his testimony he said “The children were in the water swimming. They were coming out of the water with tarballs on their face; they were wiping their face and having tar in their eyes and on their mouth.”
While Ed Berry was demanding accountability and pushing for independent testing and monitoring of the local Florida waters Darryl Boudreau, the DEP Assistant District Director, admitted that no direct sampling has been conducted in Walton County waters but worked to downplay the issue.
Boudreau told the commission “Now the tar balls obviously are petroleum, but the water quality surrounding it, it’s not leaching out chemicals”
Video I found seems to tell a different story.
Read more of the story and view the videos here:
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/06/23/residents-businesses-local-florida-officials-bp-government-misleading-public-safety-florida-beaches/
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