Even if you’ve missed some of the steps along the way, there’s now an opportunity to absorb the complete story of Alabama’s response to the BP oil spill of 2010.

A 30-minute documentary of the process is now available for viewing in three segments:

PART 01:

PART 02:

PART 03:

The timing is apt. It was exactly one year ago today, April 20, 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 crew members and beginning to dump millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Last week, the Coastal Alabama Leadership Council co-sponsored a forum with the University of South Alabama to explore lessons learned from the oil spill’s impacts. The USA researchers’ general conclusions echo those of other scientists who’ve been studying the Gulf over the last year.

Here, for instance, is a passage from the spill anniversary report from National Geographic News: While “uncertainty still reigns among those trying to come to grips with the spill’s ultimate legacy,” said the report, the worst-case scenario didn’t materialize:

“The damage from nearly five million barrels of oil was very real, yet many expert predictions missed their marks. Hurricanes didn’t drive enormous quantities of oil ashore, giant dead zones didn’t materialize, and oil didn’t round the tip of Florida to rocket up the East Coast via the Gulf Stream. Fisheries now appear poised to rebound instead of suffering the barren years or decades some feared. And Mother Nature had her own surprises in store, showcasing an ability to fight back against the spill and, later, to bounce back from the damage—at least in the short-term.”

Even more important, from the perspective of the work of the Coastal Recovery Commission of Alabama and its follow-up organization, the Leadership Council, release from a focus on the fears puts accountability for responding to lessons learned squarely on the shoulders of business and political leaders in Coastal Alabama.

“We were victimized by something beyond our control,” wrote Mobile Press-Register publisher Ricky Mathews in an oil spill anniversary editorial. “But we are not victims. We can learn from our experiences and take charge of our future.”

The just-completed documentary provides evidence for that assertion and a commitment to taking the Commission’s “Roadmap to Resilience” into implementation phases.

The full effects of the BP oil spill on the Gulf Coast’s health, environment and economy may not be known for quite some time, but scientists at the University of South Alabama are addressing lingering questions through their research.

At a downtown Mobile, Alabama hotel on April 13, a panel of USA experts discussed their projects and some of their findings. The forum was co-sponsored by the university and the newly formed Coastal Alabama Leadership Council. You can view a recording of the event here, or download a list of the USA panelists and other university experts on the Gulf here.

“We were on the front lines and continue to be on the front lines,” said Russ Lea, the university’s vice president for research.

Since the spill, more than 20 USA researchers have been at work on more than $2.6 million in grants focused on post-oil spill impacts. Among the USA researchers’ efforts: training for peer-to-peer counseling; air testingof volatile organic compounds; the study of fishery habitats; and an assessment of the spill’s impact on Coastal Alabama property values.

For those working in the natural sciences, no data sent up alarms about immediate dangers to humans. Those studying social impacts, however, have a different story to tell.

Steven Picou, a professor of sociology who studied for more than two decades the impact of the Exxon Valdez spill, noted the difference between natural and man-made disasters, including hurricanes. After hurricanes, said Picou, an “all clear” is given to come back, repair and rebuild. But there is no “all clear” after an oil spill, and the mental health impacts can come in waves for years.

With the BP spill, there was frustration with the response, the concern over the dispersants, and agony surrounding the claims
process. Next, Picou said, will come the trauma of extended litigation. After the Exxon spill, the legal fights dragged on for 20 years.

Dr. Ron Franks, a professor of psychiatry and vice president for health sciences, said a typical grieving process can take two years, with initial trauma lasting about six months. But Franks predicts that, because of the lack of satisfying resolutions to questions about long-term impacts and because of the likelihood of prolonged media coverage of court battles, it will be at least four years for people to get beyond the mental health vulnerabilities exposed by the spill.

“It will be up to us to respond to the challenge,” Franks said.

A significant step in that response is the formation of the Coastal Alabama Leadership Council, which co-presented the April 13 forum. The Leadership Council, a non-profit coalition of regional leaders, is the direct outgrowth of the Coastal Recovery Commission of Alabama created by executive order of then Gov. Bob Riley. The Commission’s 2010 report, “A Roadmap to Resilience,” made one of its key recommendations the formation of a permanent group to carry forward “Roadmap” proposals. The new Council is that group.

Read more about the Coastal Recovery Commission in the overview column to the immediate right. And get caught up on the Commission’s process and the transition to the Coastal Alabama Leadership Council by watching the videos on the far right and by reading posts preceding this one.

For the Mobile Press-Register’s coverage of the April 14 forum, go here.

A key proposal in the “Roadmap to Resilience” report (6.8mb .pdf) of the Coastal Recovery Commission (CRC) of Alabama called for a new regional leadership organization to advance the “Roadmap’s” agenda. And now leaders across the business, government, and non-profit sectors of coastal Alabama are organizing the group.

“If there’s one thing that emerged from the intensive efforts of our committees and subcommittees during the CRC process,” said CRC chair Ricky Mathews, “it’s that we are ‘better together.’

“You could literally feel the energy when 600 people from throughout Coastal Alabama came together, sometimes for the first time, to embrace a regional vision. We don’t want to waste that momentum. So we are creating the Coastal Alabama Leadership Council to help us leverage the regional vision for a future that’s safer and more prosperous for all our families and businesses.”

Hundreds of coastal residents participated in the development of the Coastal Recovery Commission report to the Governor.

The CRC was created in the fall of 2010 by then Gov. Bob Riley’s executive order. Its mission was to respond to the impacts of the oil spill after the tragic explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April of 2010. More than just recommendations for emergency response, the Commission’s proposals were to reflect an analysis of vulnerabilities the spill exposed in Coastal Alabama’s interconnected environmental, societal, and economic systems. The question the Commission was charged to answer: How might the coastal communities and the state best strengthen their capacities for resilience, for bouncing back from future unexpected challenges?

The Coastal Recovery Commission was formed in response to the April, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon.

To learn more about the CRC’s goals and process, check out the overview column to the immediate right and the videos in the far right column. For deeper background on the context of planning for resilience, peruse background documents in the Resources tab in the toolbar above. For a look at sample project proposals framed as regional resilience initiatives, look the submissions under the Submittals tab above. And to follow each step of the process that led to the Commission’s “Roadmap to Resilience,” read the news posts preceding this one.

The initial to-do list for the CALC will be drawn from the CRC’s “Roadmap.” Items on that list include:

• Bolstering the state’s influence in Gulf states seafood policy-making and marketing;
• Encouraging state and insurance industry discussions of recommendations from the CRC’s insurance subcommittee aimed at making coastal insurance more affordable for businesses and residents;
• And furthering the regional perspective of local business and tourism advocacy groups that began coming into focus during the CRC initiative.

Over the next few months, as the temporary Commission transitions to the permanent Council, we’ll update the news in this space. So check back often.

If you have comments or questions, use the space below, or go to the Contact Us tab in the toolbar above. We’d love to hear from you.

It was standing-room-only in the historic Old Statehouse Legislative Chamber in Montgomery, Alabama, on Wednesday, as Gov. Bob Riley and Gov.-elect Robert Bentley accepted the first bound copies of A Roadmap to Resilience, the report of the Coastal Recovery Commission (CRC) of Alabama.

The "Roadmap to Resilience" Report: Click to download (6.9mb .pdf)

The Commission’s responsibility was to propose strategies for strengthening Alabama’s coastal region to be more resilient in the face of challenges such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the summer of 2010. Gov. Riley, who launched the CRC with an executive order in late September, said he had high expectations all along, but that the 80+ member commission under Mobile Press-Register publisher Ricky Mathews, had “taken this to a different level.”

Gov. Riley lauded the effort as “a benchmark . . a blueprint” to guide the new governor and the new state legislature. And Gov.-elect Bentley promised the packed house that he respected the process the CRC has taken to produce the report and that his administration would take the “blueprint” seriously.

Commission chairman Ricky Mathews, left, poses for photos with with Gov.-elect Robert Bentley, center and Gov. Bob Riley with a copy of the Coast Recovery Commission's (CRC) final report following a press conference in the Old Statehouse Legislative Chambers at the State Capitol Wednesday, Dec.15, 2010 in Montgomery, Ala. The CRC was created by executive order of Gov. Riley to draft strategies for the recovery of coastal Alabama in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. (Press-Register, G.M. Andrews)

The Mobile Press-Register said the report “merits immediate attention and action’ in its Dec. 16 editorial.

“South Alabama has changed in ways unimaginable since the oil spill occurred in April,” said the ediorital. “But perhaps the worst is over, now that everyone has come together to map out a plan for a brighter future. No matter what happens from here on out, the region has demonstrated that it is willing to seize control of its own destiny. That alone is an impressive accomplishment.”

Already, the state government is acting on key recommendations of the CRC’s Roadmap. Gov. Riley announced at the Wednesday gathering that he would soon sign an executive order creating a new Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board to work with other Gulf states to advance seafood safety testing and marketing. The state has reached a tentative agreement, said the governor, with BP to fund that testing and marketing effort in Alabama with $9 million.

Other proposals from the CRC are expected to be high on the new state leaders’ agendas.

The afternoon included a video presentation detailing the challenges and opportunities presented by the oil spill, as well as summarizing the path taken by the Commission.

What’s next?

Formation of a Coastal Leadership Council, immediately seeded with CRC funding, to formalize the citizen-based process of the Commission and to take its proposals into the implementation stage. At the top of the agenda will be long-range strategic planning process, also seeded with CRC money. That next big step will bring actionable detail to the Commission’s Roadmap and guide coastal Alabama into the coming decades.

As promised when the Coastal Recovery Commission (CRC) of Alabama was launched in September, the Commission presents its bound report (6.9mb .pdf) to Gov. Bob Riley and Gov.-elect Robert Bentley today in Montgomery.

The "Roadmap to Resilience" Report:
Click to download (7.9mb .pdf)

The ceremonial presentation of the report, A Roadmap to Resilience, takes place in the historic Old Statehouse Legislative Chamber. More than 80 coastal Alabama leaders are expected to make the trip to the Capitol for the event. And with the legislature in special session, a strong turnout of the state’s political leaders is likely.

What happens next depends largely on those state political and business leaders. Some of the recommendations in the 198-page report will require legislative support. Many more, however, call for new perspectives on how the coastal region organizes itself to be more prepared for future challenges. Such challenges will come not only in the form of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which inspired Gov. Bob Riley to launch the CRC in late September, but also potentially catastrophic events such as hurricanes.

The CRC effort was saluted in a video produced for the occasion by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and featuring EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. Jackson’s agency is leading the post-spill environmental restoration effort from the federal government. She congratulated CRC leaders for pushing forward resilience strategies and lauded their determination to align organizations and agencies, from the federal level down to the local communities, to implement those strategies.

A report on the day’s events in Montgomery will be posted in this space on Dec. 16.

For more background on the CRC, read the column to the immediate right, and check out the FAQ here. The Commission’s progression towards today’s event is chronicled in posts preceding this one.

For three evenings, Nov. 8-10, the Coastal Recovery Commission (CRC) of Alabama was welcomed into communities most affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Some 700 people attended. The goal: To engage in a conversation about what happened and about how to shape regional environmental, economic, and societal systems to make coastal Alabama more resilient. That is, better able to bounce back when challenged by similar events in the future.

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If there were conclusions to be drawn from the discussions, here are three key ones:

• The sense of urgency persists. The effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on families and businesses in south Baldwin and south Mobile Counties are still the overriding concerns of many folks in those hard-hit communities;
• Unfortunately, uncertainty also persists. No one knows exactly how the environmental and health effects of the spill will play out over time. And no one knows how much money will ultimately be available for compensation and recovery or what timetable it will be disbursed;
• Yet despite the uncertainty, citizens and their leaders must chart a path through recovery and towards resilience. And the most effective strategy to get from where we are now to where we want to go requires embarking on the journey together.

Congressman Jo Bonner, whose district includes both Mobile and Baldwin Counties, put it this way: “One of the good things that came out of the (oil spill experience) was a spirit of solidarity unlike anytime we have ever seen.”

What that experience underlines, said Bonner, is this: “We are one coast, we are one community, and we will be stronger as a result of this tragedy.”

The message apparently came through. Here’s what Stan Wright, mayor of Bayou La Batre, told some 200 folks during the Nov. 9 public meeting:

“Nobody was affected more than the people in south Mobile County. . . What people don’t catch this day out of the water, they don’t eat that night.” Nevertheless, the mayor continued, it’s crucial for his town, like all the others on the coast, to avoid seeing this as a competition with their neighbors for attention and for relief funding.

“The easiest thing we can do is divide up,” said Mayor Wright. “I feel we’ll be conquered.”

Ricky Mathews, chair of the Coastal Recovery Commission (CRC), acknowledged that the challenge before south Alabama residents. “It’s hard to think about the long-term recovery needs and the short-term issues at the same time,” Mathews told a group of more than 300 attendees on Nov. 8 in Orange Beach. “But you’ve got to do both. Part of recovering today is about having a plan for tomorrow.”

While the effort to compensate those most hurt by the spill continues via the BP claims process, the focus of the CRC is on that plan for tomorrow. The meetings in Orange Beach, Bayou La Batre, then at the 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center in Spanish Port on Nov. 10, combined a progress report to the public with an opportunity for a conversation about what is most on people’s minds and how those concerns can best be addressed in the CRC report that will be published on December 15.

For background on the goals and process of the CRC effort, see the overview column to the immediate right and check out the FAQ under the WHAT & WHY tab on the toolbar above. To get a sense of how the CRC is anchoring its long-term planning approaches in lessons learned in the here-and-now by those at ground zero for the spill, click on the video below.

Meeting attendees were invited to peruse three sets of display posters representing the broad outlines of CRC research so far. Staffers and CRC committee and subcommittee volunteers were standing by to answer questions and to record ideas. You can download pdfs of those display posters by going to the RESOURCES tab above. You can follow media reports of the public meetings by going to the IN THE NEWS section of the tool bar. And you can send us your questions and comments, either in the space below this post or via email. Go to the CONTACT US tab above for more info.

On three successive nights between November 8 and November 10, the Coastal Recovery Commission (CRC) of Alabama takes its work in progress before the public for comments, corrections, and suggestions.

The three meetings:

• Monday, Nov. 8, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Orange Beach Community Center
• Tuesday, Nov. 9, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Bayou La Batre Community Center
• Wednesday, Nov. 10, 5:30-7:30 p.m., 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center, Spanish Fort

“Our work has been a public process all along,” said CRC chair Ricky Mathews, “but now we want to go directly into communities to explain what we’re doing and to invite participation.”

For these three meetings, said Mathews, “We’re going where people have been most affected by the oil spill’s impacts and who have the most experience trying to navigate systems designed to help them. We need to hear their suggestions about ways to repair and improve those systems.”

What attendees tell CRC volunteers and staffers will be integrated into research by writers assigned to complete the report in time for the December 15 presentation to Governor Bob Riley and Governor-elect Robert Bentley.

For more about the goals and background of the CRC effort, check out the overview column to the right and the FAQ under the WHAT & WHY tab on the toolbar above.

Some 300 folks spent four hours at the Battle House Hotel in Downtown Mobile on October 26 updating one another on progress towards the Coastal Recovery Commission’s Dec. 15 report. Here’s the video produced to mark this stage in the CRC process:

The big news out of the session was the announcement that the CRC will be requesting that Gov. Bob Riley sign an executive order creating an Alabama Gulf Fisheries Marketing and Promotion Board. This new group will help forge the links between research that affirms the safety of Gulf of Mexico seafood and marketing efforts to assure consumers of Gulf seafood quality and safety.

“This is something that just could not wait until our final report,” said CRC chair Ricky Mathews. Read the Mobile Press-Register’s account of the meeting and the announcement of the new board concept here.

The Oct. 26 event was the second full CRC meeting since the group launched on September 28. Next up are public meetings, November 8, 9, and 10 in Orange Beach, Bayou La Batre, and Spanish Fort. For times and places, see the schedule under our WHEN & WHERE tab.

After the full group introductory program on Oct. 26, attendees divided into committee break-out sessions to review notes from committee and subcommittee meetings over the last month. Those notes will be revised and organized over the next week for the public meetings and then shaped into outlines upon which report writers will base their work between now and Dec. 15, when the finished report will be presented to Gov. Riley and the new governor elect.

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For a look at the notes CRC meeting attendees reviewed, go here. Please remember, however, that these are notes reflecting a work in progress. Subsequent committee and subcommittee meetings will likely reshape ideas and proposals significantly.

To get up to speed on the mission and goals of the Coastal Recovery Commission of Alabama, read the overview column to the immediate right and check out the FAQ section under the WHAT & WHY tab in the toolbar above.

If you have comments or questions, please use the space below to give us some feedback. Or contact the committees or staffers directly by going to the CONTACT US tab on the toolbar above.

One sure way to achieve success for the Coastal Recovery Commission (CRC) is to solve the decades-old effort to balance risk and costs for insuring coastal property. The deadline of Dec. 15 may be a little too tight to come up with all the answers, but the CRC is tackling the dilemma head-on.

“Insurance is just one piece of the [economic] initiative; it’s an important piece,” said Walter Bell, chair of the CRC subcommittee on insurance. Bell is widely believed to be one of the best candidates to lead the effort. A former Alabama insurance commissioner, he’s chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Company.“Buildings can’t put a stick in the ground until they get some kind of insurance. Business can’t open their doors until they get some kind of insurance.”

The cost of catastrophe insurance increased 70 percent in the United States from 2005 to 2006 following active hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005, according to an estimate by Guy Carpenter and Company LLC, a reinsurance advisor. In addition, major insurers have dropped wind coverage from more than 50,000 policies since 2004 in Alabama’s two coastal counties, Mobile and Baldwin.

“Insurance companies are in the risk business. They are in the business to take a risk, but they aren’t in the business to go out of business,” Bell said. “When we start talking affordability and availability, most companies will take a risk if they can get the proper premium. But if they can’t get what they think is a risk-based premium, then they will pull out of the marketplace, and that’s what we’ve been seeing.”

“On the other side of it, I don’t think that we can allow for school teachers, firemen and city workers to have an insurance premium that’s approaching their mortgage payment,” Bell added. “That’s just not going to be affordable, not going to be acceptable in any marketplace.”

In a wide-ranging discussion at the subcommittee’s first meeting at the Fairhope Municipal Complex, members spoke about possible approaches to improve coastal risk management and access to hurricane insurance — such as providing resources for a captive insurance program, improving mitigation efforts to lower premiums, attracting more competition in the insurance market, and mobilizing the private and public sector to provide citizens with more public education on insurance issues.

Download a pdf of Walter Bell’s context-setting presentation at the subcommittee meeting here. And to get a sense of the complexity of the coastal insurance problem, peruse the links listed under “Insurance Issues” in our Resources section.

– Michael Joe

On September 28, one day after Gov. Bob Riley signed the executive order creating the Coastal Recovery Commission (CRC), its members convened at the Five Rivers Center in Spanish Fort for their initial meeting.

Photo credits: Mobile Press Register

The opportunity: To position South Alabama to be more resilient as a region — economically, socially, and environmentally. That means making residents and visitors safer when catastrophes such as the recent Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill strike. It means protecting the coast’s environmental assets. And it means making South Alabama a healthier and more prosperous place to live and work.

By Dec. 15, 2010, the Commission will have completed a report it will hand over to Gov. Riley and to the man who will replace him come January. That report will propose “a roadmap for resilience.”

To get up to speed, read the Project Overview column to the right, then see media reports on the Sep. 30 meeting and events leading up to it here. For background on the Commission’s research, look under WHAT & WHY. Finally, watch the video below that introduces the Commission’s goals and principles.

The September 30 meeting was more than just a ceremonial gathering. Immediately after the opening session, members took part in small group discussions characterized as a “brain dump.” They were facilitated table conversations designed to draw out Commission members’ best understanding of the impacts of the oil spill and their implications for South Alabama in three broad categories: the coastal environment; the social, physical, and mental health of the region; and the South Alabama economy.

After the discussion of impacts, participants were encouraged to think of ways in which policies and projects might help build South Alabama’s capacity to bounce back from future challenges. Using notes from those table conversations, Commission members then divided in their broad committee groups – Environment, Health, Economy – and worked on next steps for their research and analysis. Click through the following slideshow for images captured throughout the day.

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Follow the progress of our efforts here. We’ll update everyone regularly on the work of the committees and subcommittees. So return often – and let us you’re your concerns and questions in the space below.