Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and Congressman Jeff Miller spoke today at the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center. McCollum had heard that 120 skimming vessels were headed to the Gulf of Mexico,…
Oops, Touart forgets three-letter word
The same campaign brain trust that introduced home invasion as a campaign strategy forgot to put the word “for” on the campaign signs for former County Administrator George Touart. To avoid fines…
Now Crist asks for $100M from BP
On May 17, Gov. Charlie Crist had in his office BP CEO Tony Hayward. Instead of pressing for money for the oil clean-up, the Florida governor only got $25 million from the…
Escambia Oil Update
From PIO Sonya Daniel: *Escambia Disaster Response* – Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill *Sunday, June 6 – 5:30 p.m. – Update #37* * If you see tar or oiled debris on the beach,…
My Press Conference Pledge
From now on, I will do my best to attend every EOC press conference. I will be just as aggressive as I was yesterday–asking direct questions and holding elected officials and BP…
Where was BP at 4:30 press conference?
At the Sunday, June 6, 4:30 pm press conference, BP had no representative. I asked Commissioners Gene Valentino and Kevin White, “Shouldn’t BP be a part of this press conference since that…
News: Should beaches be closed?
The Associated Press spent a significant part of yesterday’s press conferences focusing on whether our beaches should be closed. The Pensacola New Journal used some of the AP coverage for their article…
Is BP punishing Charter Boat leaders?
One of my sources for my article on the Vessels of Opportunity for The Daily Beast was Scott Robson, president of the Destin Charter Boat Association. Robson is also the captain that…
Special EC County Commission Meeting
Press Release: The Escambia County Board of County Commissioners will hold a special meeting on Thursday, June 10 at 8:45 a.m. to handle issues relating to the oil spill. The meeting will…
BP hires unemployed to work beaches
Actual Press Release [I kid you not]: Date June 5, 2010 MOBILE, Ala. – The Unified Command in Mobile announced today the first deployment of the Qualified Community Responder (QCR) program that…
Rants & Raves
Because we have been so tight for space in the paper, we’ve not run Rants & Raves for the past month. Here are some the letters to the editor and emails that…
Commissioner says don’t believe BP
I returned to the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center for the first time in four weeks…and I got some memorable quotes and answers that reputed much of what BP spokesperson Lucia Bustamonte…
BP offers photo op to national media
BP is still working hard to win over the national media. Here are photos taken by Kim Carmichael of the media looking at the tugboat that is supposed to decontaminate the boats…
Pensacola Blogs ranked in Top 10
BlogNetNews ranks the most influential blogs in the state. Our area has top in the top 10: Ricksblog.biz and Pensacola Beach Blog: 1: ricksblog.biz 2: EYE ON MIAMI 3: The Buzz 4:…
More BP globs headed our way
From The Ledger: Oil Crisis Focus Now On Tactics Pushed by the strong prevailing wind and currents, the globs of today will become the tar balls of tomorrow on the Panhandle beaches….
OIL IMPACTS BON SECOUR NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Press Release – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Tar balls of weathered oil began washing up along Gulf beaches at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge yesterday afternoon with the high tide at…
Escambia EOC Update #36
Press release – Saturday, June 5 – 5:30 p.m. – Update #36: # The beaches at Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key remain open. # For a second day, tar balls and mats…
Storm washes more BP globs on Pensacola Beach (updated)
Just got a phone call from a friend renting a house on Pensacola Beach at Avenida 15. He says that the tide line is filled with tarballs (also known as BP globs)….
BP Claims chief here on Sunday
While most of Pensacola is in church tomorrow, BP Chief Claims Officer Darryl Willis will visit the Escambia County EOC (6575 North “W” Street, Pensacola) at 9:00 a.m. He will attend the…
Perdido Key: Photo ops and few BP globs
I drove over to Perdido Key this afternoon. Very few BP globs could be found on the beach. The ones I did see were the size of pennies and nickels. Pensacola Beach…
