■July 6th meeting of the Mobile Bay Group Sierra Club will feature a presentation by Dr. Riki Ott. and Dr. J. Steven Picou. Please join us at 5 Rivers Delta Center on Tuesday evening, at 7:00 p.m. */(The General Public is invited, No Admission)Location address: 5 Rivers, Alabama’s Delta Resource Center, 30945 Five Rivers Blvd., Spanish Fort, AL 36527 (entrance is across from Meaher State Park on the Mobile Bay Causeway).


Dr. Riki Ott, is a marine toxicologist with a specialty in oil pollution. She experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the Exxon /Valdez/ oil spill and chose to do something about it. She has founded three nonprofit organizations that deal with the lingering harm from man-made environmental disaster.

Dr. J. Steven Picou, a Professor of Sociology at the University of South Alabama, is currently working on the human response to the BP oil catastrophe. He has studied the social fallout from Hurricane Katrina, the Exxon /Valdez/ oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound, and other man-made and "technological" disasters. Dr. Picou draws a sharp distinction between natural and technological events. The drawn out recovery period and the uncertainty that comes with it make
technological disasters much more threatening to the health and welfare of the affected people and communities.

Dr. Picou and Dr. Ott have both spent the last several months traveling throughout the Gulf of Mexico’s coastal regions, speaking to communities, agencies, and relief workers.They will be talking about what we can do to help our community cope with this unfolding tragedy.

For more information, please contact 702-496-5050 or email: mcadamsdavis@earthlink.net
 

What's in the air? Oil Spill forum at University of South Alabama Baldwin Campus
An oil spill forum entitled "What’s in the Air:  What we know, what we don’t know, and what we need to know," will be held at the University of South Alabama Baldwin County campus in Fairhope.  Five professors from the University of South Alabama’s Earth Sciences Department will speak about the air quality, and the volatile and semi volatile compounds that are emitted into the atmosphere because of the recent oil spill on the Gulf Coast.

Speakers from USA’s Earth Sciences Department will be Dr. Miriam Fearn, Chair, Dr. Doug Haywick, Associate Professor, Dr. Sytske Kimball, Associate Professor, Dr. James Connors, Jr., Assistant Professor, and Dr. Keith Blackwell, Associate Professor.

The forum will be held on Friday, July 2, at USABC’s Performance Center located at 111 St. James Avenue, at the corner of Summit St. and St. James Ave., in Fairhope at 6 p.m.  The event is open to the public, and is first come, first served.  For more information, call USABC at (251) 928-8133, e-mail usabc@usouthal.edu, or visit myusabc.com.

■June 14, 2010

Hi all,

I wanted to update you all on the City’s activities regarding the Oil Spill.  ADEM has placed boom at May Day Park, McMillan, Village Point Park/Daphne Bayfront Park.  We are adding absorbent boom to additional sensitive areas including Campbell Swamp.  The council has authorized the Mayor to enter into a contract with Oil Recovery for deploying oil absorbent material and the use of skimmers. 

For those who live on the shoreline, many of you are taking precautionary measures into your own hands.  The City currently has no plans to require any permitting or registrations for these activities, some of you are trying silt fences, hay bales and hair booms.  We do not know how the City will be able to dispose of materials if in fact they do become oil soaked, so please be aware this might be a problem. 

The Alabama Coastal Foundation will be sponsoring a Volunteer Field Observation Training this Wednesday, June 15th from 5:00 p.m – 6:30 p.m. It is a training that will provide factual data pre and post oil spill conditions.  We encourage those who live on the bayfront or spend time on the water to please make time to attend. 

Please call with questions at 621-5006. 

Thanks,   

Cathy S. Barnette

District 2, Councilperson

City of Daphne

PO Box 400

Daphne, AL  36526

www.daphneal.com

barnette2@bellsouth.net

■Informative Lecture:  Friday, June 11th, Dr. Riki Ott, a marine biologist with a specialty in oil pollution and first hand experience with the Exxon Valdez oil spill, will speak in Fairhope at Centennial Hall on the Fairhope Faulkner campus. The talk is at 6:30pm. Admission is free and the talk is open to the public. Please click on Dr. Riki Ott for additional information.