Oil Boom Shortage? Grassroots May Be Final Hope

Those long orange snakes of plastic and rubber now so ubiquitous on the evening news; where is it all coming from? Some has been flown in on Air-force transport planes from state stockpiles in Alaska, some from Washington State, but maybe not for long. Sure, there are manufactures making the stuff too, and because the need grows more urgent by the hour many factories have ramped up production to levels unmatched in their histories. Some companies are even asking how long they can keep up with this kind of demand. On NOLA.com yesterday, Nick Naayers, vice president of American Boom & Barrier in Cape Canaveral, Fla., said he can make a little less than a mile per day but is worried about finding raw resources in the quantities necessary to keep up with demand.

There’s not enough out there for the magnitude of this spill. You’re not going to be able to make enough. Look at that coastline. We’re making everything we can, as fast as we can. It’s all going up there. But nobody’s going to maintain this amount of boom in stock.

In a May 12th press release, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal stressed the state’s need for more booms.

On our visit to Terrebonne Parish yesterday, I stressed the need for more boom in Terrebonne, Lafourche, and St. Mary parishes and the other areas of our coast west of the River. These areas need more boom quickly to protect their coast. I want to be very clear that we need more boom in Louisiana. Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, Jefferson, and St. Bernard parishes all have outstanding requests for boom with the Coast Guard. We are again today urging the Coast Guard and BP to put this boom where it is most immediately needed.

Rep. Charlie Melancon has told WDSU.com, “Our Louisiana fishermen…, were facing a severe shortage in boom material, hindering their ability to protect our coast.”

U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, national incident commander for the spill, told the Wall Street Journal on Friday the government might have to pull supplies of boom from other parts of the country. And in a separate WSJ piece from the same day Adm. Allen went on to say,

I’m talking about looking at boom the same way as we would look at manufacturing across the industrial base, maybe on a wartime footing—because boom is going to become that important, because everybody wants it, needs it and is trying to get it,

Peter Lane, president of boom and oil spill equipment manufacturer Applied Fabric Technologies in New York, told NOLA.com on May 7th,

he doubted that all the boom manufacturers in the western world would be able to produce half a million feet of hard boom in a year’s time. Good luck., he said, They aren’t going to find millions of feet,

Now, DHR and the Department of Environmental Protection are discouraging private residents from laying hairbooms themselves while holding the line on accepting hairbooms for delivery and distribution through authorized channels. Yesterday a release from Tallahassee DHR listed rules for homeowners which on the surface even sound threatening,

• If a boom is placed by a private citizen, that individual assumes responsibility for the boom, including the chance it could dislodge into the water or be harmful to wildlife.
• Booms placed by private citizens that become impacted by oil are the responsibility of that individual and require special authorization for removal and proper disposal.
• Alternative absorption methods, such as placing hay bales, homemade hair booms, sandbags or other technology along the shoreline, are not advisable as the overall debris from disposal of such methods would increase and could cause serious long-term damage.

If Deepwater Horizon Response and the DEP are afraid to use hairbooms and other low-tech, proven grass-roots sources because they may seem desperate then so be it, the situation calls for desperate measures. And besides, they should know, people need to feel like they can take part in this. We need something to do other than wait for a black tide to roll ashore. What’s wrong with families and children cutting their hair and saving it? If it only soaks up some of the oil great, that’s some-more that won’t kill a bird or a turtle’s egg.

Take part and help out!

Matteroftrust.org
Alabama Gulf Shores Zoo
Audubon Society
Sierra Club
Save Our Shores Foundation
Help Save the Gulf Shores
Oiled Wildlife Rescue Volunteers

There’s a lot more out there, just ask me!
ChrisBunny! Blog