'SHOW ME THE MONEY' TIME: Sen. Nelson vows to help county fortify East Pass

After weeks of cussing, cajoling and, finally, threatening, Okaloosa County has received permits to acquire the items emergency managers feel they need to fortify the East Pass against oil.

What the county has not gotten, and what officials told visiting U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson they want quite badly, is BP money to cover the costs of all that they’re doing.

Or at least assurances that its arrival is imminent.

“Now it’s time for ‘show me the money,’ ” County Commission chairman Wayne Harris told the senator Monday.

Nelson, a Democrat, was impressed by the county’s ability to get things done.

PHOTOS

• To see Monday's Associated Press photos from the spill, click here.
• To see photos from impacts on Bay County beaches, click here.
  
• To see cleanup crews on Walton County beaches, click here.
  
• To see boaters packing Crab Island over the weeked, click here.
• To read about the latest from Walton County, click here.
  
• Reader submitted oil photos. »

He said all he’s heard along the Gulf Coast are horror stories about failed communication and the mistrust local officials have developed for the Unified Command overseeing the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response.

“A big part of your problem has been removed by getting the federal permitting process removed,” he said.

The county grabbed the collective ears of the state and federal agencies that comprise the Unified Command by voting just last week to authorize county staff to act without those agencies’ permission.

Nelson sounded fairly confident when he told commissioners he thought he could help them get their funding.

“I’ve got my marching orders. I’ll go to work on it,” he said. “I expect we’ll be successful.”

He sounded even more confident speaking to a news crew from CNN after the meeting.

“Yes, they’ll get their money,” he told the television reporters.

Nelson said he expected BP funding to come either through a direct company check or out of a $20 billion escrow account BP has agreed to set up under federal scrutiny.

At Nelson’s request, Okaloosa Public Safety Director Dino Villani began unofficially tabulating costs. He never reached a total figure, but final calculations will probably exceed $10 million.

Nelson spoke while in attendance at an emergency meeting of the Okaloosa County Commission. The meeting was attended by four county commissioners, local, state and federal officials and a small group of county residents.

The senator was apprised of the county’s plan to sink two barges in front of the Destin Pass, then use them to anchor four others. Villani said the cost of deploying the barges will be at least $900,000.

He also got a briefing on the county’s efforts to build an underwater “air curtain” designed to kick oil residue to the top of the water to be collected before it can enter Choctawhatchee Bay.

The air curtain will cost $200,000 to install and $500,000 a month to operate and maintain, Villani said.

Nelson said he was impressed Okaloosa officials had been able to forge agreements with the Florida Department of Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Nelson had gotten another earful on the communication issue before his visit to the Okaloosa County Emergency Operations Center.

Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson said he briefed the senator fully on the problems he’s had working with the Unified Command.

“Our major complaint is the Unified Command isn’t unified,” Adkinson said. “I really tried to get across to the senator the absolute lack of communication we’ve seen.”

Adkinson said he’d recently been surprised to learn, and only did after calling for a meeting, that BP’s boom contractors have been in Walton County for six weeks.

He said he’s still waiting for Unified Command to OK the county’s request for about 24,000 additional feet of boom to lay across bayou entrances and other sensitive areas in Choctawhatchee Bay.

“I absolutely hope that Okaloosa County is successful in keeping oil out of the Destin pass,” he said. “However, I’m a prudent man and I think we in Walton County need to be prepared.”

Adkinson said Walton County commissioners are “hopping up and down mad” about the way the county is being treated by the state EOC and the Unified Command.

The county has spent $1.1 million preparing itself for the oil spill’s arrival and has not seen any reim-bursement from BP, Adkinson said.

With tar balls now washing up on Walton County beaches, Adkinson predicted a commission meeting scheduled for today would get “pretty sporty.”

Nelson also went out Monday on a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission boat, accom-panied by Destin Mayor Sam Seevers.

On the short trip from Baytowne Marina in Sandestin to the East Pass in Destin, Seevers talked to Nelson about booming issues they’ve had and some of the alternate prevention plans the county is putting into place.

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As the boat approached the pass, Seevers pointed out the booms already in place and said she worried how they could clean oil out of the jetties if it washed up on the rocks.

“I know there’s rules and regulations, but at some point there’s got to be some common sense,” Seevers said to Nelson.

Nelson said he understood Seevers’ frustration and told her he’d encountered roadblocks of his own when he tried to find out about how many skimmers were available to clean up the oil.

His goal, he told Seevers, was to have the U.S. Navy, instead of the U.S. Coast Guard, take over overseeing federal organizations involved in the cleanup.

“When you’re dealing with this stuff long term, like we’re going to be … you’ve got to have a system,” Nelson said.

They didn’t spot any oil on the trip through Choctawhatchee Bay, but both Nelson and Seevers said they thought it was only a matter of time before the oil returns.

“The winds have been in our favor, but that’s not going to be the case this next week, I’m afraid,” Seevers said.

Staff writer Katie Tammen contributed to this report.