Oil from the Deepwater Horizon Explosion Comes Ashore in Alabama

A sense of helplessness pervaded the population along the coast of Alabama today as people watched gelatinous globs of brown goo invade the shores. Though the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the gulf on April 20^th and the shores of Louisiana have already succumbed to the creeping crud, hope remained in Alabama that a miracle might occur and that tides and weather and a little luck would keep the slick from encroaching on their shoreline. Today, that hope was lost.

Dauphin Island is the Hamptons of the south. A quaint feeling of small town charm pervades. Though not far from Mobile, it is the getaway that most people around the world long to find. Many folks travel to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach to vacation with their families. But once you have discovered Dauphin Island you know that you have found paradise in Alabama. Now Dauphin Island is the first to fall and be invaded by an enemy that cannot be fought as it takes a stronghold on our beaches. No guns or armies ready to fight to protect what they love can fight this enemy.

For the past 6 weeks the people of Alabama have watched BP try time and again to stop the flow. Each failure brought the reality of dreaded possibilities closer. Until the oil actually makes an appearance in your backyard you keep telling yourself there is still hope. But as the winds shifted and began coming from the southwest the last remnants of that fantasized hope washed away as the globs washed ashore. Having to acknowledge that this is only the beginning is more than most can do yet. Maybe this is all it will be. Maybe it won't be as bad as we thought. While hope may spring eternal, reality is a far more painful place and today those who make their home in southern Alabama had no choice but to live in that reality.

Philosophically it is true that life has its ups and downs and we move on. And eventually this spill will become a lesson for those who influence the future. But today it is a tragedy still in the making. And the tears and sorrow in the hearts of Alabamians are only beginning to be shed.