Protecting What Was Nearly Lost
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Covering all of Baldwin County, AL every Friday. Learn to raise chickens PAGE 3 Blakeley reopens The Baldwin Times PAGE 10 APRIL 24, 2020 | GulfCoastNewsToday.com | 75¢ Oil spill Protecting what was nearly lost marks Alabama turns tragedy to triumph in newly protected coastal regions decade anniversary By ALLISON MARLOW [email protected] By GUY BUSBY [email protected] When 200 million gallons of crude oil flowed into the ORANGE BEACH — Gulf of Mexico 10 years ago A decade after the first this week, life on the water oil washed up on Gulf stopped. Coast sands, Baldwin The beaches were closed to County beaches are visitors as the slick washed again quiet as residents ashore and scientists rushed and officials deal with to save marine life covered in another emergency. the goo. Orange Beach Mayor The coastal communities of Tony Kennon said the Baldwin County were left with closing of the beaches an uncertain future. and stay-at-home orders Now, a decade onward, intended to slow the environmental stewards say spread of COVID-19 lessons from the catastrophe have slowed the econ- have been learned and the omy again. Gulf Coast has shifted from “I looked out on the simply profiting from nature FILE PHOTOS beach today and it to preserving it. Crews work to clean the beaches in Gulf Shores following the 2010 BP oil spill. “I think the oil spill caused SEE DECADE, PAGE 2 us to look at a lot of things. settled under the Clean Water Maybe we took for granted Act gave $356 million to the OUR COMMITMENT the beauty we have here,” state through the National said Chris Blankenship, Com- Fish and Wildlife Foundation, TO OUR READERS missioner of the Alabama paid over five years through Wind, rain or quarantine, we’ll keep Department of Conservation 2018. you updated. In the event that we and Natural Resources. “Since In 2016, the RESTORE Act are unable to deliver newspapers, 2010 we have been more cogni- was created with roughly $1.3 we can deliver the full edition right zant of the beauty and bless- billion made from civil claims to your inbox. Please send us your ings we have and have a real as part of the Clean Water email address so we can add you desire to protect that.” Act and the Oil Pollution Act. to our electronic delivery list if Agencies at the local, state That money is divided among needed as developments continue and federal government lev- projects and research focused in the COVID-19 pandemic. els, as well as grass-roots or- on Alabama’s coastline. Send your email to ganizations, have turned the In Baldwin County, many of [email protected]. disaster into opportunity. It those dollars can already be In an effort to help keep our neigh- took years of negotiation but seen at work, through projects bors safe, you can read the most up-to-date information about the in the end, millions of dollars along not just the white sand Oil covers the beaches in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores in 2010 after virus for free everyday at was allotted to Alabama. www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com First, criminal claims SEE PROTECTING, PAGE 11 the BP oil spill. COVID-19 Signs & Symptoms Coronaviruses (CoV) are a family of viruses that cause the common cold as well as more severe diseases. COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 is a strain of coronavirus that had not been previously identified in humans, making it a novel coronavirus. The Updates: disease caused by this virus is known as COVID-19. Source: World Health Organization Updates on COVID-19 can be found at the World Health Organization Protect Yourself & Others website at who.int. Updates can also Fever • Cough • Shortness of Breath be found at www.cdc.gov/COVID19. Symptoms can range from mild to severe. Senior citizens and those Updates on Baldwin County closures, with underlying medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, testing, and more can be found at lung disease, cancer or diabetes are at increased risk for severe www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com. symptoms, which can lead to viral pneumonia and even death. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure. 1 2 3 4 Source: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) 1. Wash hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, If you think you need to be tested, for and always before eating; after using the bathroom; and after testing locations and hours call 1-888- blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing. Getting 264-2256. For general questions call 2. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. 1-800-270-7268 or email covid19info@ 3. Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then dispose of the tissue in the trash. adph.state.al.us. Calls are answered 4. Stay at home when sick until your symptoms are gone. Tested from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) Deaths Page 5 Gulf Bill Rush Coast Media VOLUME 129 • ISSUE 50 1 SECTION • 20 PAGES 2 • The Baldwin Times • April 24, 2020 • Gulf Coast Media DECADE “There were some news captains, committed sui- from east to west and reports coming out that cide and it moved to the the output of Mobile Bay The Baldwin Times CONTINUED FROM 1 led you to believe, some top of the list.” also pushes water into actually stated it, quoting Kennon said the area the Gulf, away from the 901 N. McKenzie St., Foley, AL 36535-3546 looks like just after the some expert from some- recovered, but residents local coastline. spill started,” Kennon where else, I don’t recall should not forget that He said experts do not PHONE: (251) 943-2151 | FAX: (251) 943-3441 said. “In a way, it might where, that the Gulf is lives were lost in the agree on the long-term [email protected] be even more. During going to be dead for de- spill. effects of the spill on the the spill, we had a 40 cades. There will be no “We had such a good environment. He said his Allison Marlow Classified Advertising percent occupancy rate fish, no shrimp, no oys- recovery since then, we personal feeling is that Managing Editor Lindsay Walker and people could still go ters, nothing. You take need to remember what seafood has recovered allisonm@gulfcoast lindsay@gulfcoast out. Now it’s 20 percent that away, you take the happened,” Kennon said. well. Some larger fish do media.com media.com and nobody can go any- livelihood, not just the “We need to remember have traces of oil in their where.” livelihood you take the that people lost their livers, but the meat that Tony Whitehead Legal Advertising On April 20, 2010, the love we all have in our lives. People lost their is consumed has little Sports Editor April M. Perry Deepwater Horizon oil hearts for the beaches lives in the explosion and trace of effect from the tony@gulfcoast legals@gulfcoast rig exploded about 120 and the fishing and all we also had one of our spill. media.com media.com miles southwest of Mo- that. So that had us all on own charter boat cap- At the time, the spill bile Bay. The rig, leased pins and needles.” tains die when he took did have an environ- to BP, dumped more than Experts who’d studied his own life.” mental impact on the Parks Rogers 130 million gallons of the Exxon Valdez spill in The environmental Alabama coast. Between Publisher oil, 3.19 million barrels, Alaska warned that the effects have also been de- May 22 and Sept. 30, 272 [email protected] into the Gulf of Mexico. effects would not just be bated for a decade. cases of oil exposure Other estimates put the environmental or eco- George Crozier, retired were reported, according To subscribe, make an address change or vacation delivery total amount spilled as nomic, Malone said. director of the Dauphin to Alabama Department stop, you may call our office at (251) 943-2151, go online at high as more than 210 “When they talked to Island Sea Lab, said no of Public Health reports. www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com and click on the “e-edition” link in million gallons – 4.9 mil- us in a group, they talked one at the time knew Dolphin deaths on the the black toolbar. Under “don’t have an id’ there is an option for lion barrels. about the physical part what the effects might Gulf Coast increased how to become a subscriber, or email amber@gulfcoastmedia. On May 9, tar balls, of it, but they spent more be from that much oil from an average of 65 com. lumps of congealed oil, time talking about the pumping into the Gulf a year before the spill ©Gulf Coast Media 2019. No part of this newspaper may be were washing up on Dau- human part of it and from a depth of 5,000 feet. to 125 in 2010 and 335 in reproduced without the prior written consent of the group phin Island. On June 1, they said that as it went “There had been spills 2011. publisher or associate publisher. Opinions of editorial or the day after the Memo- on, they had a worse before, I don’t think As part of the legal general columnists or those reflected in submitted letters rial Day liquid oil was situation than we did, I there had been anything settlement from the oil do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of this reported on Alabama acknowledge that, they that deep,” Crozier said.