Government and BP ignore Apalachicola's plea for protection

In early June, the City of Apalachicola had begun a letter writing campaign to President Barack Obama, BP officials and its Florida congressional delegation, which consist of Senator Bill Nelson, Senator George LeMieux, and Congressman Allen Boyd.

The city has pleaded for over a month for the necessary resources to protect from the onslaught of the BP oil spill the most productive estuary in North America that both the United States and Florida have spent centuries and billions of dollars protecting and preserving.

Should the oil gushing from the destroyed Deepwater Horizon rig reaches the waters of Apalachicola Bay, it would certainly be the death knell to a city that has for generations depended upon this pristine body of water for its livelihood.

"Given our complete dependence on the Apalachicola River and Bay for our commerce, we have to admit to our residents that if the oil hits our shores then this City, which has existed as a municipality since 1831, will be eliminated", wrote Apalachicola Mayor Van Johnson in his 3rd letter to the President dated July 9.

The small coastal community, which has limited resources to prepare for such a disaster, has pleaded for advance funding or approval to implement its own defense and protection strategy against the approaching oil. However, both the Federal government and BP officials have largely ignored those pleas.

“If you cannot have the monies provided to us very quickly we will have lost the opportunity to prepare for and defend ourselves against this oil disaster. We cannot risk what has happened to many cities and shoreline communities to our west. In particular we recall that Orange Beach, Alabama, asked for help and in the more than five week delay, the oil reached their shores, entered their estuary and covered part of their bay”, wrote Johnson.

Similar to Lafayette, LA and Orange Beach, AL, the City of Apalachicola needs the advance funding to defend itself against a problem that it didn’t create, but will ultimately prevail against them if left unprotected.

For an accurate and proper description of the attitude of the residents of Apalachicola, in closing his letter to the President, the Mayor quoted Oliver Wendell Holmes, "what lies in front of us is nothing compared to what lies within us”.