From the Obama thread:
While Jindal frets, Mississippi is busy:
DMR, BP explain oil response plan to local leaders
By April M. Havens
May 27, 2010, 4:59AM
BILOXI, Miss -- State leaders on Wednesday described Mississippi's "comprehensive, aggressive and multifaceted" plan to keep oil off coastal shores.
Department of Marine Resources Executive Director William Walker -- along with BP PLC, Coast Guard and Army leaders, among others -- told local elected officials that response actions will be triggered once oil is within 40 miles of the barrier islands.
On Tuesday, Walker said, that first trigger was breached when DMR received word of "an oily material" 40 miles south of Horn island.
"A vessel is out there now," he said. "It appears to be highly weathered oil."
The response plan's triggers a second time, leaders said, once any oil reaches the barrier islands.
"We'll try to direct it to the island passes so we can skim it there," Walker said, although "it's OK" if some makes it to the beaches, because sand is easier to clean.
If oil reaches the Mississippi Sound, responders will "aggressively fight it" with skimming, booming and burning, he said.
If the oil heads toward mainland beaches, Walker said that secondary booming should help shield sensitive bayous, bays and marshes.
The near-shore and onshore response plans "have gotten increasingly refined ... in the last few weeks," said Maureen Johnson, deputy incident commander for BP.
William Hutmacher, a consultant hired by BP to work on the plan, said that each coastal county will have shore-based and marine-based response teams. Also, "hot shot" teams will be in position to react quickly, he said.
Each county will host near-shore recovery task forces and waste disposal and boom repair teams, among others.
BP gave Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida $25 million each so the states have cash in hand to pay for cleanup and mitigation efforts following last month's oil rig explosion and ensuing oil spill.
Jackson County and Ocean Springs each received $2 million; Gautier received $1 million; Pascagoula received nearly $1.3 million; and Moss Point received nearly $400,000.
The county and city leaders may submit additional grant requests as needed.
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