Alabama's Gov. Riley Has Reason To Steam: The Case Of The Purloined Oil Boom, And The Polluted Bay

The term 'moral bankruptcy' floats to mind.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Last month, as oil began spreading eastward from Louisiana, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley made it a top priority to stop oil infiltrating the scenic Perdido Pass, a waterway near the Florida border that leads into Perdido Bay, one of the centerpieces of the fishing and tourism industry for both Alabama and Florida.

In mid-May, Riley and Coast Guard officials worked out a plan to hold the oil back, using a reverse funnel design to deflect the currents. Alabama authorities scoured the globe looking for the thick, heavy ocean boom to make the funnel, said Todd Stacy, a spokesman for the governor.

In the third week of May, they finally found it in Bahrain, and had it flown from the Persian Gulf to a staging area on the Alabama coast. Then, in the last week of May, just before Obama’s second trip to the region, the Coast Guard took the boom from Alabama and gave it to Louisiana, Alabama and Coast Guard officials acknowledge.

Tony Russell, a spokesman for U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the leader of the federal oil spill response, said today the boom was rushed to Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish to protect Terrebonne Bay from oil in Barataria Bay, adjacent to it.

Riley was furious. At a June 4 meeting with the president and Allen, the governor sat seething as the admiral went over the materials that had been deployed throughout the Gulf, including Alabama. He told Allen he knew full well the ocean boom had been taken from his state, according to officials at the meeting.

“It was pretty testy,” said Charlotte Randolph, president of Louisiana’s LaFourche Parish.

In its stead, the Coast Guard and Alabama authorities deployed 18-inch boom, far more flimsy, into the configuration worked out. They then waited and hoped.

On Wednesday, June 10, oil breached Perdido Bay.

Well, it's all ok, 'cuz after all, The One got his photo op in Louisiana. That's what matters most, ya'll.

This is not an urban legend cooked up by some nutter. It' a documented series of events, recounted in the Wall Street Journal.

OldSouth has one purpose in recounting this tale. He gets visits from folks in Alabama, and hopes they'll pass this post along, far and wide, to every neighbor, family member, church member and friend.

Betcha' if it circulates enough between now and November, Alabama voters will figure out what kind of message to send Mr. Obama's direction.