Monday, June 28, 2010

"Little Bit Of A Frustration"

Florida Gov. Urges Vacationers to Swim in Toxic Sludge

"Florida Governor Charlie Crist is apparently more worried about the state’s economy than the health of vacationers and residents. Crist told CBS on Saturday the water is safe and people shouldn’t worry. “It is safe,” Crist declared, “there isn’t a toxic nature to it that is detrimental to anybody. It is much more of a nuisance than anything else at this point.”



"Crist is asking ill-informed beachgoers to endanger their health so the state’s tourism industry can be saved. “The Escambia County Health Department lifted a health advisory on Pensacola Beach on Friday on the advice of a beach official and against the advice of a federal environmental official,” reports PNJ.com. Officials want to leave the decision to swim in the Gulf of Mexico up to the discretion of individual beachgoers."

EPA opening public “Decontamination Stations”; 400 people seek medical care after visiting Florida beach

"The Escambia County Health Department lifted a health advisory on Pensacola Beach on Friday on the advice of a beach official and against the advice of a federal environmental official. …
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to put decontamination stations along the beach, possibly as early as this weekend. …
Dr. John Lanza, director of Escambia County Health Department, said the reason for leaving the decision up to beachgoers on whether to swim is because the oil situation on the beach is “very dynamic.”
“We have a situation that changes from one hour to the next, from one tide to the next, from wave to wave, from one wind direction to another,” he said. …
[T]he impact advisory would warn beachgoers to avoid touching oily product on the beach and in the water, and it would advise them leaving the beach and seeking medical help if they experience respiratory problems.
So far, 400 people have sought medical care for upper or lower respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, and eye irritation after trips to Escambia County beaches, Lanza said. …
[O]il chips, tar balls and submerged oil slicks and the odor of petroleum still were present.
And people complained about getting a petroleum jelly-like substance on them from sand that was tainted brown.
Swimmers who did venture into the water questioned whether it was really safe to wade, swim and play in the Gulf, especially when they had to walk through a line of tar balls and stay clear of skimmers scooping up oil just 25 and 50 feet from the shore."

"Crist managed to raise around $25 million to put out propaganda touting Florida’s unstained beaches and encouraging folks to come on down."

"What you can't see in the water may be more dangerous than what you can see"

1 Comments:

Anonymous nick z said...

What a laugh! He's admitting there is some risk but also downplaying it in such a way that it comes across rather clearly that he considers Florida's tourist economy more important than people's health?

I wonder if they've written a new set of rules to excuse them from liable lawsuits.

30/6/10 3:03 AM  

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