by OBA Editor

July 22, 2010- Orange Beach, AL (OBA)- This week's Orange Beach Town Hall Meeting about the BP Oil Spill provided a lot of new information, including updates on crisis counseling, business consulting, hurricane preparedness, vessel of opportunity, and the claims process.

Coastal Resources Planner Nicole Woerner gave an update on NOAA's assessment of the marine mammals in our backbays. In short, our dolphins appear to be fine and the one dolphin that was found dead appears to have died from natural causes.

Orange Beach Engineer Kit Alexander reported on the air and water testing. In addition to the EPA and the Alabama Dept. of Public Health, the City of Orange Beach is conducting its own water and soil testing. So far, all testing shows that the toxicity levels are below allowable thresholds. The city is continuing to fly double red flags to warn the public that we still have oil in our waters.

Orange Beach Fire Chief Forney Howard reports that the overflights are showing no new oil headed to our shores but there is still light sheen showing up on our waters. Chief Forney also talked about this week's meeting of the emergency managers regarding hurricane preparedness.

Coast Guard Commander Ron Richard gave an update on their operations. Current wind patterns are pushing the oil away from our shores and toward Louisiana. Commander Richard advised that they are moving equipment away from the staging area to warehouses further inland.

Kris Sliger from BP gave an update on the containment efforts. The well should be completely sealed within 10 to 14 days if there are no weather related problems.

There were several people from area restaurants who attended this week's meeting. They asked questions about and commented on the hardships they are faced with because of problems with the BP Claims process. We will be publishing the question and citizen comment portion of the meeting as soon as they have been edited and uploaded.

Announcements:

Masterbuilt Free Lunch for Locals this Friday at the Erie Meyer Civic Center from 12pm until 2pm.

24-hour Crisis Counseling Phone Number: 800-558- 8295