This week at the first meeting of the presidential commission investigating the Gulf oil disaster, Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway said the charter and seafood industries are in “freefall” while perception is playing havoc with tourism.
“What we have trouble dealing with is something that will not end,” Holloway said. “It’s a new oil spill everyday — day after day after day.”
Biloxi has 62 miles of beaches open to the public and businesses that are open, but people believe every place from Texas to Florida is “ankle-deep in oil,” he told the commission.
“The effects of this catastrophe are going to linger for decades,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot of work to change that perception and it’s going to take time and money.”
Holloway said more local control is needed to respond quicker to clean up oil, deal with oiled wildlife, and place booms around Mississippi’s barrier islands 12 miles off the coast.
“Accidents are going to happen, but our response should be no accident,” Holloway said. “There needs to be a stronger plan, a better plan, and one that can be triggered immediately.”
President Obama established the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission on May 22 to recommend ways to prevent and mitigate the impact of future spills from offshore drilling.
The commission is co-chaired by former Florida governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator William Reilly.
