Well Heres the best Article I Should Have never Written

I wrote an article featuring the economic effects that the oil spill was having on the gulf region. I put mad work into it and for about a month I was on the phone with people getting rejected and hearing the "we'll call you line." Thanks to Americas Wetland Foundation and Sydney Coffee for actually following up on that.


Anyways here it is.....

Austen Verrilli

BP has capped the oil well which was spewing into the Gulf of Mexico and said that it will be permanently sealed by early August, yet this will not be enough to remove the black mark it has left on the economies of gulf region states.
The majority of gulf region states rely heavily on coastal industries such as fishing, tourism, and even off shore drilling. Through moratorium or stigma all of these industries have taken a dive since oil started bleeding from the Deep Water Horizon well.
The environment has taken a large hit in the gulf region and there have been many broadcasts of oily beaches. But oil infiltrating the nation's wetlands may take the largest toll on the fishing economy of the gulf.
Sidney Coffee, of America’s Wetland Foundation and formerly the coastal policy head of Louisiana Lieutenant Governor, Kathleen Blanco, said that oil seeping into Louisiana’s wetlands has the potential to decimate an essential yet extremely fragile environment and clean up efforts may only make matters worse.
“These marshes are so fragile, you can’t put equipment on them, and you can’t walk around on them, and you can't use high powered water hoses because it damages the fragile landscape,” Coffee said.
If the Louisiana wetlands cannot sustain life, as they used to, a huge blow will be dealt to the fishing industry as the wetlands serve as a nursery grounds for 90 percent of life in the Gulf of Mexico.
A group of scientists recently issue a public plea to stop BP from using any more oil dispersants on the Deep Water Horizon Spill. An EPA administrator quoted in the plea states that the amount of dispersants used in the gulf, almost two million gallons, has never been attempted nor have ecological results been seen before and thus BP's actions are treated as an "experiment."
The Gulf of Mexico is the largest fishery in the contiguous U.S. which produces the most oysters of any body of water surrounding America.
Coffee said that many Louisianans are tied to both the fishing industry and the off shore drilling industry. “Fisherman, in the off season, work in the off shore industry,” she said. “There is no separation.”
Morgan City Louisiana exemplifies this tie with its annual Shrimp and Petroleum Festival.
Many Louisianans now are dealing with the loss of not one but two careers.
According to a New Orleans news website, the six month off shore drilling moratorium enacted by President Barack Obama has left thousands of oil workers on standby.
And when the fishermen and oil men are hurt it also hurts the supporting businesses which surround the community.
Coffee said that Louisiana is too reliant on off shore drilling. She said that if oil companies decide to stop drilling in the gulf it will have devastating effects on local gulf communities.
Tourism is an essential industry to many Gulf States.
Edith Parten, the communication director of the Alabama Tourism Department said that two gulf coast counties with popular vacation spots make up one third of the Alabama’s yearly tourism revenue.
Coastal Baldwin County and Mobile County brought in $2.3billion and $1billion, respectively, of the $9.3billion in tourism revenues Alabama took in, in 2009.
Parten said that tourism revenues in Alabama are expected to be half of what they were in 2009 as a result of the Gulf Spill.
Emily Gonzalez, a marketing representative for Alabama based Kaiser Realty, said that the company is combating the oil with openness and worry free guarantees for all of their gulf coast housing renters. “We have been fighting the national misconception (of always oily beaches) with social media,” she said.
Gonzalez said that when oil comes onto the beaches it usually only affects sections of 10 to 20 yards. Kaiser Realty has teams which go out daily and document the 32 miles of Alabama Gulf Coast Beaches with blog updates and pictures.
Kaiser also has been offering "deep discounting" (up to 50 percent off) and a guarantee which allows customers to leave or cancel on a moment's notice and still receive a full refund for unused days.
Florida, a state which has been hammered by the news and bloggers for the oil washing up on its beaches, is also using a policy of openness to bring in vacationers.
Kathy Torian a corporate communications manager of the Florida Tourism Agency, said that Florida uses social media to keep potential vacationers informed on beach conditions.
She said that many consumers now book hotel reservation only three to five days in advance depending on what reports say about beaches.
“As you can imagine it’s a very hyper-localized situation,” Torian said, “At a given moment only one part of the beaches are affected.”
As a result the Florida Tourism Agency has created a web page, called Florida Live, which documents the daily beach conditions.
Torian said that transparency will be Florida’s greatest tool in maintaining vacationers, especially as 94 percent of Florida's 80 million yearly visitors are repeat customers.
BP has been trying to combat the economic downturns associated with the blanket of oil they unleashed on the ocean. According to their website they have spent over $4billion and have made around 87,100 claim payments. They also have funds set up for displaced rig workers and marine research.
Gonzalez said that the most profitable week that the Alabama Gulf Shores has seen was when BP hosted a Jimmy Buffet concert to alleviate claims for the week.
Regardless of BP’s attempts “make it right” Coffee thinks that there are still many problems to come. “The federal government is a huge slow moving bureaucracy and is not equipped to deal with huge disasters,” she said, citing Hurricane Katrina. “Have there been problems (with the cleanup effort), certainly, and there will be.”




Scientists Plea-http://www.meriresearch.org/Portals/0/Documents/CONSENSUS%20STATEMENT%20ON%20DISPERSANTS%20IN%20THE%20GULF%20updated%20July%2017.pdf
New Orleans News- http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/08/deepwater_oil_drilling_morator.html
Huston Chronicles- http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/7129281.html