Pensacola Beach: The day the oil came
By Troy Moon • tmoon@pnj.com • June 23, 2010 The sign at Pensacola Beach Properties boasted “Always has been, always will be — the most beautiful beaches in the world.’’ The sign was a lie. Because surely, there was a white sand beach somewhere in the world that didn’t look like it was vomited on by Big Oil. Surely, there was a beach somewhere that people could swim in without getting slimed by sheets of oil washing ashore. There had to be a beach somewhere that wasn’t being patrolled by Hazmat teams and work crews shoveling gunk and oily grime from shore. Surely there was a beach somewhere that smelled like sea salt and Coppertone and not like a dirty mechanic’s garage. There had to be a beach somewhere where dolphins frolicked offshore instead of beaching themselves onshore coated with oil to die. Because on Wednesday — a beautiful summer day that seemed perfect if you looked only up, and not down — Pensacola Beach was ugly. And it stunk. And to most everyone who came down to the shore to see the damage with their own disbelieving eyes, it was heartbreaking. “Oh, I’m beyond upset,’’ said Tamara Josey, 49, of Gulf Breeze, as she walked the stained beach with her husband at the public beach area near the Fort Pickens gate. “And this is just the tip of the iceberg in my mind. It’s going to get worse.’’ …
