It's back to work I go....

I'm back in Mississippi as of 11:00 this morning and working my regular swing shift until midnight.  I had a great few days at home, mostly spent relaxing, eating good food, and consuming a few adult beverages.   Luckily, I will be home again in two short weeks for a weekend.

I saw an article today regarding media access to the spill work sites.  I know a lot of people were very upset when the Coast Guard issued a mandatory 65-foot 'no media' buffer around all work sites and boomed areas, and I'm sure those same people are happy that the Coast Guard reversed the policy a few days ago.  I, however, am not so sure it's a good idea to give media no-limit access to all sites, and here's why.  When I was in Grand Isle, the media were EVERYWHERE - you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a boat or truck full of reporters.  Which is fine, in theory, and I know everyone wants full disclosure of what is going on.  Our wildlife rescue operation allowed media of all sorts (from HBO documentary crews to local news guys) to ride along on one of our boats on specified days, and while I never had media on my boat, I understand it happened regularly.  However, during our daily surveys, not one day went by when we didn't see a boat loaded with cameramen in a place they shouldn't have been.   The bird nesting islands are extremely sensitive places, and even biologists had very limited access to them.  The media, in pursuit of that perfect picture or film footage, would often cross the protective boom which surrounds the islands and sometimes even pull up ONTO the islands.  These rookeries house literally thousands or even tens of thousands of birds, including countless hatchlings.  The wake caused by the boats approaching the island, or even worse, people actually walking around on the islands, can cause irreparable damage to the nests and colonies.  I for on was glad to see the Coast Guard enforcing the buffer zone - most of the media boats we saw were not considerate at all of the sensitive nature of the islands.  I hope that in reversing this policy, common sense still prevails and the rookery islands remain protected.

Here in Mississippi, it's a totally different story.  I have yet to see the first camera crew or reporter on any of the beaches.  I'm sure they are out there somewhere, but the presence here is definitely less pronounced than in Louisiana, despite the fact that oil is continuing to show up on the shores here as well as in Alabama and Florida.   And now that the damaged well is "plugged" (for the time being), I can't help but think that the media spotlight will start to wander elsewhere and the long struggle that our coastal states face in remediating this disaster will drop off the front page.  After all, Lindsay Lohan is going to rehab and Mel Gibson is acting crazy - who doesn't want to read about that every day?