The Voice For The Voiceless by Terri Davis: Gulf spill: Oil hits Alabama, Mississippi islands today

Bags contain oil collected by crews after the contaminant washed up on the coastline of Dauphin Island, Ala., on Tuesday, June 1, 2010, as oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continued to spread in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil is here.

After a month of waiting, patches of oil began washing up along the central Gulf Coast on Tuesday, with more floating around in nearby parts of the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Sound.

It wasn't one constant sheet, and was thin in places, but it fouled beaches on Dauphin Island and just to the west on Mississippi's Petit Bois Island.

The oil in the area was reported to be moving to the east-northeast, meaning Alabama and possibly Florida will be in the path today.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration warned of "more shoreline impacts" on Alabama's beaches.

Alabama officials moved to close parts of state waters to swimming, fishing and oystering, while federal officials closed federal waters as far east as the Alabama-Florida state line. Mississippi officials closed eastern portions of that state's waters to all fishing.

Gulf Shores officials made final preparations to plug the mouth of Little Lagoon Pass with sand today.

Meanwhile, commercial fishermen said that BP PLC is still hiring recreational and out-of-state boats instead of theirs. A group of fishermen said they plan to blockade the mouth of Bayou La Batre and nearby boat launches at sunrise this morning to protest their lack of oil-spill jobs.

The federal fishing closure meant that the 2010 red snapper season, already slated to be the shortest ever, was reduced to a one-day affair for many fishermen.

Many anglers returned to the dock Tuesday on the opening day of the season only to be greeted by Alabama Marine Resources Division personnel, who handed them a new map closing all federal waters as far east as the Florida state line at 5 p.m.

(Press-Register/John David Mercer)Crews collect washed-up oil along the coastline of Dauphin Island, Ala., on Tuesday, June 1, 2010.

"Today was our one and only day to fish for red snapper this year, it looks like," said Rick Pridgen of Spanish Fort, who, along with brother Gerald Pridgen, landed their limit of red snapper. "We sort of knew we might be lucky to get anything this year, so that's why we jumped on opening day."

On Dauphin Island, thick globs of rust-brown oil appeared concentrated on a 200-yard stretch of beach about 400 yards east of the Dauphin Island Pier.

About three-dozen cleanup personnel in protective suits used large cat litter shovels to scoop as much of the floating oil out of the water as possible before it reached shore. The globs that got to the beach -- ranging in size from a dime to a large pancake -- soon melted into the sand under the sun's glare.

At least 50 plastic bags with varying amounts of the sludge inside were stacked in two piles back from the water's edge. Press-Register reporters also encountered an oil sheen about 200 yards long and 30 yards wide just offshore.

On Petit Bois Island, National Parks Service personnel found "mousse-like" oil along a two-mile stretch of beach Tuesday morning. The oil covered as much as 60 percent of the surface at its thickest point of the island, part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Two skimmers were sent to the scene, with a third on the way Tuesday evening, said Tom MacKenzie, a spokesman for the Mobile incident command. An oil skimming barge was being sent to remove oil in deeper waters, while 82 people were sailing on two other boats to clean up the beaches. Among areas of concern are bird nesting areas on either end of the island, MacKenzie said.

Despite that, the island was open for visitors, and no beaches were closed, he said. No oil has been reported on other Mississippi islands.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said no oil had made it past the state's barrier island, but shortly before 11 a.m., Press-Register reporters spotted a 5-acre oil slick in Mississippi Sound about six miles southeast of Pascagoula. The smell of oil was easily detectable, and its rainbow signature could be seen on the surface.

About two miles east of where the slick was encountered, the shrimp boat Maranatha towed an absorbent oil boom in a circle. Reporters did not see any sign of oil where the boat worked.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, briefing reporters in New Orleans, emphasized that the slick is not "monolithic."

"This is a bunch of smaller oil slicks, some very large, here -- 15 miles in length and a couple miles in width -- and scattered over a 200-mile radius," he said. "As the oil comes to the surface, there have been different conditions regarding current, wind and tide, and it's moved in different directions."

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Murphy said that the unified command had confirmed an oil sheen 7½ miles south of Pensacola.

Orange Beach Fire Chief Forney Howard and Coastal Resources Manager Phillip West said they went into the Gulf to investigate reports of oil less than seven miles south of Perdido Pass. What they found was a mile-long string of reddish oil the consistency of peanut butter surrounded by a surface sheen.

The Alabama Department of Public Health advised people against swimming in waters off Dauphin Island and closed all state oyster beds.

State health officer Dr. Donald Williamson said the state would post signs warning against swimming.

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources closed state-controlled Gulf waters to fishing from the east end of Dauphin Island to the Mississippi line.
Williamson said the Alabama Department of Environmental Management previously found low levels of oil-related chemicals in state waters, which run three miles offshore in the Gulf.

Allen again tried to dampen expectations about what could be accomplished before a relief well is completed in August.

"I think the first thing to understand is, we're not talking about capping the well anymore; we're talking about containing the well," he said.
Patience may be running out in Alabama, though.

"It's a frustrating situation. Governor Riley has been on the phone with the White House and the Coast Guard most of the day today to once again reiterate Alabama's needs and express our concerns," said Todd Stacy, Riley's spokesman.

Oil reaches Dauphin Island