Letters to the Editor

+ Rotary Club works to collect All Faiths donations
Dear Editor:
Although not yet officially chartered, Rotary Club of Longboat Key is at work on its first service project, aimed at increasing food donations to All Faiths Food Bank’s Campaign Against Summer Hunger. The Rotarians-to-be have volunteered to drive to Longboat Key homes and collect donated food, then deliver it to pickup points served by All Faiths Food Bank trucks.  

So, if you’re leaving Longboat for the summer and haven’t time to get your non-perishables to a drop off location, call or email Sydelle Pittas at [email protected] or 487-7328 and a Rotarian will come to you to get your donation.

Nancy Rozance
Future Longboat Key Rotarian

+ Resident believes oil spill remnants exist near Longboat Key
Dear Editor:
I am writing this letter to express deep concern about what lay at the floor of our canals and bay. I strongly suspect that we are polluted with remnants of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

I live on the canal in Country Club Shores between Ranger and Halyard lanes. After a large storm this past week, I went out to the canal, where I saw coconuts floating. I then saw there was something large submerged and I used my pool skimmer to try to remove it. I found that it was lodged in the floor of the canal and when I moved it slightly, large plumes of petroleum smelling, shimmering, oil slicks surfaced.

The oil slicks were being stirred up from sediment on the floor of the canal.

As one knows, oil floats on water and what BP did was to use a dispersant that made the oil sink out of sight. The oil and dispersant form an emulsion. It is highly speculated the emulsion contains carcinogens.

Deposits of tar balls have been found to contain deadly Vibri bacteria. Additionally, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHS), a cancer-causing byproduct of burning oil, has been found in some samples from BP oil spill remnants.

I photographed the oil spill remnants, as well as bottled some that I skimmed off in clean glass bottles. I spoke on the phone about it with Commissioner Lynn Larson, who felt that I should try to report it to someone, but she speculated that no one was going to do anything about it to test the samples. I tweeted to the Environmental Protection Agency, Mote Marine, Rep. Vern Buchanan, Governor Rick Scott, to BP and I emailed the Florida State EPA Laboratories.

I have gotten one response from the EPA, asking me to clarify my address. The EPA representative said the U.S. Coast Guard will be notified and a case has been filed.

On May 5, I also notified the town and Public Works Project Manager James Linkogle came to my home. His reaction was dismissive and somewhat disconcerting. He told me he had already gone across my yard to my dock and looked at the water and it looked fine. He was insistent that whatever I saw was street run off from “someone changing their oil” and insisted I was not going to be able to prove it was oil. He was not at all familiar with the words “dispersant,” nor “emulsion;” at least three times he stated that those were “above his pay level.”

He declared that he was not going to test the samples I have, stating there was no health hazard.

My canal has almost no boats on it. There has not been a boat running on the inner two-thirds of my canal in years. I am on high alert that remnants of the toxic, plume of oil dispersant mixture from the BP oil spill may have reached us. This is a potential health hazard for all of us on Longboat Key.

Doreen Dupont, M.D.
Longboat Key