By Tallahassee (FL) Mayor John Marks
June 7, 2010

As BP struggles to stanch the flow of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico — and as our state and federal governments prepare to coordinate a massive clean-up effort — it will be critical for these responders to work closely with local governments to ensure that their communities can recover as quickly and fully as possible.

Like all Floridians, I am deeply concerned about the impact of oil spouting from the ruins of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform. It appears that the spill is far worse than we were originally led to believe, and it could be far worse than the Exxon Valdez catastrophe.

Our state’s top-notch emergency operations system has responded to hurricanes, tornados and wildfires, and in these cases it has generally worked well with local emergency officials to provide resources and coordination in support of local crisis-response efforts.

This oil spill presents an even more difficult challenge and will require an unprecedented level of coordination. Under the provisions of the federal Oil Pollution Act, which Congress passed after the Exxon Valdez spill, BP is responsible for the spill’s containment and clean-up.

Federal and state officials working with BP must act to ensure that Florida’s cities and local emergency managers have a say in BP’s response plans for their own communities. BP must be required to provide transparent information regarding the status of the spill to local officials, and local officials must be allowed to review, provide input and grant final consent to BP’s response plans for their communities.

With Florida’s multibillion-dollar fishing and tourism industries at risk, we cannot afford to suffer the economic losses that an uncontrolled spill will bring to our shores or the tens of thousands of job losses that would likely result.

That is why I applaud the efforts of Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet to insist that all economic damages incurred by local governments, businesses and individuals be fully compensated. The establishment of the Governor’s Gulf Oil Spill Economic Recovery Task Force is an important part of this effort, and a representative of the Florida League of Cities included in this task force will be coordinating with cities to, among other things, gauge the full economic impact of this disaster.

To ensure that all parties receive fair compensation for damages incurred as a result of the spill, it is imperative that cities, businesses and citizens, begin now, to maintain records and documentation of any adverse financial impacts resulting from this spill. We encourage all citizens to visit our League website at flcities.com for additional information and other key websites.

Citizens are counting on us to protect our communities and our economy as we try to limit the damage to the environment. I will do everything in my power to support the work of the task force. We need to hold BP accountable to ensure that local input, review and consent is a major part of their containment, cleanup operation and reimbursement strategy for Florida’s cities.

To succeed, we will need the support of state and federal authorities to insist that BP provide proper coordination with local officials. Without such coordination, it is my fear that the response will be compromised.

Such an outcome would be unacceptable, and we cannot afford to let it happen.

Marks is mayor of Tallahassee and President of the Florida League of Cities.