Palm Beach County has created a Deepwater Horizons Planning Task Force “to address mitigation, response and recovery operations” involving the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, said County Commissioner Steven L. Abrams, who represents the Boca Raton area.
“I have been closely monitoring the BP oil spill and share your concerns about the possible economic and environmental threat to Palm Beach County,” the District 4 commissioner said.
“While I remain hopeful that this spill will not have a direct impact on our community, we all are aware of the reports that a change in the weather or failure to get the spill under control may cause contamination to our shore.”
“As the county commissioner who represents the entire southern coast of the county, I have been working diligently with county officials in preparation of any potential crisis locally.”
The Deepwater Horizons Planning Task Force will develop county-specific contingency plans. Specific areas being addressed are: protection of the county’s four inlets; availability and cost of booms, if needed; environmental preservation; potential health concerns; wildlife protection and available labor and material resource inventories
It will be made up of representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Health Department, PBC Division of Emergency Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PBC Environmental Resources Management, county and municipal fire-rescue hazmat response agencies, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, PBC Animal Care & Control and the Port of Palm Beach.
The first meeting of the task force is scheduled for May 17 at 9 a.m. at the County’s Emergency Operations Center “at which I will be in attendance,” said Abrams.
In addition, he said, “the state is holding daily conference calls with all Florida counties. I will be in direct contact with the mayors and city managers of the 11 coastal municipalities I represent. Palm Beach County Emergency Management is monitoring the situation and is participating in the daily conference calls.”
Abrams said he also plans to keep the public informed as information becomes available. Anyone seeking information can call his office at 561-276-1220.
For additional information, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of the Interior and BP have established http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com as the official source of information on this incident. It will contain news, updates, projections of the path of the spill, photos and video and other links.
Those interested in volunteer opportunities can visit http://www.volunteerfloridadisaster.org/#Beach.