Gulf oil spill impacts economy and ecology of our barrier islands
By Will Moredock
It has already burned itself into our national psyche; the image of millions of gallons of crude oil billowing from the BP wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico, a mile below the surface. We can only guess how much oil has escaped, and that guess is based on constantly changing estimates from BP and the government, though one Associated Press calculation made last week placed the figure at over 130 million gallons.
Several efforts to plug the leak have failed. More successful, but only marginally, was the effort to place a dome over the leaking wellhead and siphon the collected oil straight to the surface and onto waiting tankers. BP’s long-range plan – to intercept the leaking well with a relief well and use that to fill the damaged well with cement – is still weeks away from completion, and the oil keeps pouring into the Gulf. Attempts to coral the floating filth with booms and to burn it off have met with limited success.
The oil is now coming ashore in four Gulf states and we have begun to see the toll it is taking on wildlife and the fragile coastal habitat. The S.C. Aquarium has dispatched a contingency of biologists to the Gulf coast to help hundreds of others in the massive wildlife rescue going on there.
In the early weeks of the spill there was fear that the spreading oil slick would get caught in the loop current, which would carry it northeast of the wellhead and then down the west coast of Florida. By this scenario, it could reach the southern tip of the peninsula and get picked up by the Gulf Stream, carrying it up the East Coast and perhaps as far north as the Palmetto State. By the end of May the slick had entered the loop, according to scientists at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. At this moment, however, it appears that the current is not moving down the Florida coast; it seems to moving – and carrying what oil it has picked up – in a clockwise direction in the northern Gulf. This is subject to change, but for now, Gulf oil will not be threatening South Carolina’s beaches in the foreseeable future.
Yet the Gulf oil spill is already affecting the Charleston area in less direct ways. Vacation rentals are up and seafood supplies are down. The Florida Panhandle resorts of Destin, Panama City, Fort Walton Beach, Pensacola Beach and the Alabama beach town of Gulf Shores seem to be taking the brunt of the BP hit, according to an informal survey of local beach rental companies.
“We have seen last minute inquiries by people who have abandoned their Gulf Coast vacations and even abandoned their deposits,” said Kathleen Holmes, property manager at Seabrook Exclusive Rentals and Sales.
Some of those vacationers heard early reports that the oil slick might be rounding the tip of Florida and heading to South Carolina. “We got some calls from people wanting to know if our beaches are clean,” Holmes said. She assured them that South Carolina’s beaches are pristine and urged them to consider coming here. She said she is even working with them to give discounts because some of them have already lost deposits on the Gulf Coast.
Jerad Becknell, general manager at the Palms Hotel on the Isle of Palms, said he has seen an eight- to ten-percent increase in bookings, which he attributes to the crisis in the Gulf. The new vacationers here seem to be happy with what they find, he said. “One couple told me South Carolina will be their new vacation home,” Becknell said.
Colin Landrith, a vacation specialist at Avocet Properties on Folly Beach, said he has gotten a number of calls from people who had planned to vacation at Destin or Pensacola. The increased demand for rentals has not affected prices, he said, because prices are locked in by November. It looks like it will be a tight fit for vacationers on Folly this year. “Folly Beach was rocking before the oil spill hit,” Landrith said. “Our inventory has not changed.”
The picture is not as clear on the availability of fresh seafood. A spot check of several local seafood wholesalers gave mixed results. Much of the seafood sold locally is caught locally so supply would not be affected, but prices may spike as Gulf coast seafood suppliers are shut down and demand increases on the local supply.
An unidentified employee at Backman Seafood on James Island said they had felt no impact from the Gulf spill. At C.A. Magwood & Son in Mount Pleasant, manager John Moseley said events in the Gulf have not affected prices or availability. This time of year, he said, his major product is shrimp and those have suffered more from winter cold than from Gulf oil. His primary fear is that Gulf shrimpers will be shut down in their home waters and start wandering into Atlantic waters, increasing competition in the local market and adding pressure to the local shrimp stock.
Jennifer Hardin at Cherry Point Seafood Co. in Rockville said that there are plenty of shrimp since the shrimping season started on the Texas coast, and Texas has not been affected by the spill. The price of shrimp has actually dropped 50 cents a pound, she said. “We’ve got more shrimp than we know what to do with.”
Rutledge Leland at Carolina Seafood in McClellanville concurred, saying the price of shrimp has leveled off since the season opened in Texas, but the crab market is being affected by the oil spill and we may see an increase in prices there.
The Post and Courier reported on June 25 that the Red Lobster seafood restaurant chain was running out of oysters, since most oysters come from the Gulf this time of year. That is where most local seafood lovers will feel the pinch first in the seafood supply chain. There may be a social and culinary crisis in January when Boone Hall Plantation holds its annual Lowcountry Oyster Festival, which draws more than 10,000. Will there be oysters enough by then? We will have to wait and see, a local wholesaler told the P&C.
For several years there has been a growing frenzy to explore for natural gas and oil off the South Carolina coast. As First District Rep. Henry Brown told the Chicago Tribune in 2005, “If [oil and gas drilling] is okay for Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, it should be okay for other states … We are in an energy crisis and we should do everything we can to become more energy-independent — including offshore drilling.”
That may have made some sense five years ago, but now South Carolinians must evaluate offshore drilling in light of the blowout of the BP well off the Louisiana shore. How would a major oil spill affect the lives and livelihoods of the coast? How would it affect our tourism and our seafood industry?
Henry Brown will soon leave Congress and he will almost certainly be replaced by Republican nominee Tim Scott, who also enthusiastically supports offshore drilling on the South Carolina coast. His Democratic opponent, Ben Frasier, could not be reached for comment. Republican Sen. Jim DeMint supports offshore drilling and even his mysterious Democratic opponent, Alvin Greene, has said he wants to drill on the Carolina coast.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley also supports offshore drilling. Her Democratic opponent Vince Sheheen is the only major candidate who has come out against offshore drilling. “The science tells us there is not much potential for oil. It’s not worth risking the tourism industry in the state or risking the fragile resources in the state,” he told The State newspaper on June 4.
While many South Carolinians think that drilling for oil and gas off our beaches is necessary – even inevitable – a growing number of people have come to question that wisdom. More than 200 of them gathered at Folly Beach and Kiawah Island’s Beachwalker Park on June 26 to stand in the surf and clasp hands in part of an international movement called “Hands Across the Sand,” urging politicians and citizens to take a stand against offshore drilling.
Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin told the Post and Courier, “The beaches would be empty and this hotel would look like a ghost town” if oil washed up on the Folly sand. “People are vacationing here because they have canceled their vacations on the Gulf coast. An oil spill, major or minor, near or far would just completely wipe us out here at Folly Beach.”
To drill or not to drill? It’ another important issue the people of the Lowcountry will have to think about carefully before the November election.
