The Coast is Clear Report                                                                                                                                                                                                             Thursday, July 22, 2010

This daily update is compiled by the Gulf County Tourist Development Council and is being emailed to our tourism partners. Its purpose is to quickly convey the most up-to-date information we have regarding the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and its relationship to our area. Our desire is that you will share this with your staff and customers so that they may have the most accurate and correct information. Today in Gulf County 1.      Florida beaches are open. There is still no oil on our beaches or in our area waters. 2.      Scallop season remains open on our bay until September 10, 20103.      Movies in the Park will be tonight in Frank Pate Park.  Tonight’s movie is “The Tooth Fairy” which starts at 9 pm. On the horizon 1.      Currently Deepwater Horizon is not discharging any oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP continues the well integrity test, which is being closely monitored.2.      A tropical depression or tropical storm that formed near the Bahamas Thursday morning could threaten operations to contain the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico this weekend. This disturbance spurred BP to remove wet-staged boom (all of it from Escambia to Franklin counties) over the next few days.   Showers and strong gusty winds will spread over southern Florida over the next couple of days.   A tropical storm making a direct impact on the area could disrupt operations for 10 to 14 days. BP has been working on a relief well that it has said will be the permanent fix to the oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico but because of the threat of inclement weather, BP has put the "casing" process of the relief well on hold.3.      Gov. Charlie Crist, has ordered a special legislative session to consider a constitutional amendment that would let voters decide whether to permanently ban offshore drilling in state waters. All the other Gulf Coast states — Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas — have drilling operations off their coasts. Grover Robinson, a commissioner in Escambia County, home to Pensacola, said Florida should get any aid first because it had no role in the catastrophe.   Links 

• Open fishing waters -   http://www.noaa.gov
• GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse - The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill’s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources.
• The Florida Seafood Hotline, 1-800-357-4273, is updated daily at 2:00 p.m., and provides information on what state waters are open, Florida’s seafood supply, pricing and what seafood is being harvested and available frozen.
• The Florida Department of Health (DOH), in coordination with DEP and VISIT FLORIDA has developed an online mapping resource that contains the most up-to-date health advisory information for Florida's beach waters. Visitors are encouraged to visit www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/health.htm or www.visitflorida.com/florida_travel_advisory/.
• Real-time sampling data from statewide air quality monitoring can be viewed at http://www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/air.htm. Air quality reports for July 7 revealed that air quality was considered good for ozone and fine particulate concentrations in Northwest Florida. “Good” means the air quality is satisfactory and air pollution poses little or no risk