Officials stress inlets, not beaches
April 15, 2012|By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau
South Florida prepares for potential spill from Cuban oil drilling
The Coast Guard and South Florida officials devise plans in case Cuban
drilling leads to an oil spill
WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials, game-planning for a potential oil spill
off the shores of Cuba, are preparing to leave South Florida's beaches
exposed while shielding inlets and intracoastal waterways to protect the
most vulnerable parts of the state's coastline.
Two years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster underscored the damage to
marine life and tourism of a massive oil spill, Cuban-sponsored drilling
less than 60 miles from Florida has raised new alarms. In response, the
Coast Guard has devised an elaborate plan to contain the damage if an
oil slick rushes north on the Gulf Stream, the powerful current that
runs along the East Coast.
Broward and Palm Beach county officials feel better prepared because of
lessons from the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which erupted on April
20, 2010. But they are not so confident that their beaches, reefs and
bays -- and the tourism dollars they generate -- can be fully protected.
"If we do have a large spill, I'm not sure we have the capability of
intercepting all of it," said Eric Myers, Broward County's natural
resources administrator. "It will go to the beaches. And quite honestly,
I think that most of the plans assume that a lot of oil can be collected
from the beaches, which is what they did in the upper Gulf Coast."
U.S. officials are increasingly confident that Cuban authorities would
allow Americans to enter Cuban waters to help contain a major spill at
its source. They plan to skim oil from the ocean surface, contain it,
burn it or disperse it with chemicals before it comes near land.
But if a slick heads for South Florida, the Coast Guard plan calls for a
series of booms to block surface oil from entering inlets and
intracoastal waterways, especially near Port Everglades, Hillsboro
Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Jupiter. Officials would not try to
screen off beaches, which are much harder to protect but easier to clean up.
"We're telling people not to expect a cocoon around the coast of
Florida, because it's not practical. And with the fast currents we have
here, booms all along the beaches really wouldn't be that effective,"
said Capt. John Slaughter, chief of readiness at the Coast Guard's 7th
district in South Florida.
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