Q&A with Tony Kennon, mayor of Orange Beach, Ala.,

[ProSense]

WaPo

Tourism: Hi, thanks for taking questions and comments. I just want to note that I was in the Gulf region this past weekend, and everything was fine. The seafood was tasty (and came from the gulf), the sites looked good, the only problem was that it was hot! I hope people start to realize that there's still a ton of safe places to go and things to do on the coast.

Tony Kennon: I think that's exactly right. We've only had one week since the incident where we actually had oil on our beaches and that was this past week. So the perception that our beaches are totally shut down is false. But there are going to be times when oil will be in the water, one the beach and can be a problem. But it's intermittent in nature.

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Tony Kennon: I want to paint a fair picture because I don't want anyone to be disappointed when they get here. The perception is that Alabama and the panhandle Florida looks like the marshes of Louisiana or the big black goop that was involved with the Exxon Valdez. That's just not the case.

This past weekend we had a mixture of tar balls on the beach and oily film and some residue with the consistency of chocolate moose. But this was cleaned up in a 24-hour period.

<...>

Santa Barbara, CA: What's your feeling on the $20 billion fund that BP has set up? Do you feel like it was a "shakedown"?

Tony Kennon: I personally requested an escrow fund of 1$2-15 billion two weeks ago to Mr. Suttles and to several VPs of BP and I think they thought I was joking. My experience with BP has been observing a massive PR machine and I have no confidence that they will be around for the long haul. Twenty billion in the bank gives me a greater comfort level that our folks are going to be taken care of; however, the thought that the federal government will distribute this money is a scary thought. I suggested that the money go to the governors of the states involved and they would set up a program to distribute it to those in need because I believe local government can identify those needs better than any massive federal bureaucracy.

I want to give the president credit here for pursuing that escrow account.

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[Phx_Dem]

1. Tony needs to pay attention to details. The government is not dispersing

the funds -- an independent private group is doing it.

[Dear Maggie]

2. Gulf Spill Workers Complain of FLU-like Symptoms

At a Congressional hearing, Representative Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, said that the use of dispersants “could result in thousands and thousands of people getting sick or dying as a result of the cleanup, not of the original disaster.”

Gulf Spill Workers Complain of FLU-like Symptoms

http://www.valdezlink.com/re/gulf/health/workers-flulikesymptoms.htm

Glycol Ether in Dispersants is what causes flu symptoms NOW and at other times

It is urgent that dispersants spayed from airplanes and added to oil at the source of the oil leak CEASE!