Lee County Public Safety and the Oil Spill

Recently, I attended a luncheon with the Noon Rotary Club. One of the scheduled guests was an officer from the Lee County Public Safety office. He came by to provide information and answer any questions regarding the oil spill and its impact on Lee County. According to his own understanding of the situation, he said our beaches will not be protected from the spill. He believes the main priority is to protect the inlets, estuaries, and mangrove swamps from the hazardous tar balls and other pollutants. He did mention efforts have been planned to help protect our environmentally sensitive areas. He also reminded club members of the four hour courses that cover the essentials of proper ways to pick up tar balls along beaches. Although he thought the course was unnecessary, he lectured us on the types of tar balls and how to pick them up and dispose them. There are basically two types of tar balls: hard and soft. Both are to be picked up by scoopers and then disposed into a garbage bag to be taken to the incinerator. After discussing tar balls, he gave us his personal opinion on how to get rid of the oil sludge flowing in the gulf. He thought the most effective way to get rid of the sludge is to pour microorganisms around the entire infected areas. After the discussion, I thought our Lee County Public Safety visitor was wrong from many angles.
Why do we need to incinerate the tar balls? This will release toxins into the air and create even more pollution. Why can't we collect the tar balls and use them for energy? In regards to the microorganisms, that is a poor solution to the problem. Although these organisms will consume the oil, too much of these microbes will reproduce too quickly and block the sunlight for aquatic plants and fish. Blocking sunlight will kill everything and cause even more damage to the environment. If this is all we can come up with to solve one of America's worst environmental disasters in history, I fear the worst for Florida and other gulf coast communities.