As of right now, there IS NO OIL on or near the beaches of Panama City Beach. In addition, as of right now, we are not within the “area of uncertainty” with no expectation of oil hitting our shores – today.
First, let me explain what the Area of Uncertainty is. As I understand it, the Area of Uncertainty is the area in the Gulf of Mexico in which the oil spill could enter within 72 hours – otherwise known as the projected trajectory.
At a press briefing this morning at the Bay County EOC (emergency operations center) it was confirmed that no oil, sheen or tar balls have reached our shores. Bay County is taking reports of “odors” very seriously as well, responding with monitoring equipment to determine the toxicity levels of any odors reported. As of right now, we have no documented cases of oil odors in our area that are stemmed from the Deep Horizon oil spill.
As of right now, there have been some shoreline impacts to areas to the west in Louisiana. Over the weekend there were reports of oil impact as far east as Dauphin Island. However, we have some inside sources that have said there was no oil on the shoreline there. But, this brings up an interesting topic of discussion. In many cases, there just isn’t any way for us (or many other news organizations) to verify reports of oil or tar balls reaching shorelines. I have read several articles that have said anything from small tar balls to thick sludge hitting the shores of Dauphin Island. Yet, this morning I received an email from someone on Dauphin Island that said there was no oil there right now. So. . . if anyone has some videos taken over the weekend in Dauphin, showing no oil, please post a link to them in the comments section below.
As far as Panama City Beach is concerned, we still have no oil here, and frankly our waters are looking amazing right now.
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