Travel Tips
BP Oil Spill & Alabama: Interview With Gov. Bob Riley
From Alabama’s Gulf Shores to New Orleans, Peter’s radio show has been at the epicenter of the ongoing oil spill story.
While broadcasting from the World War II Museum in the Big Easy, Peter got on the phone with Alabama Governor Bob Riley to continue their discussion of how the state is responding to the BP oil spill threat, as well as the destinations and attractions in Alabama that many tourists don’t know about.
Bob Riley: How are you, Peter? Thank you again for being over here in Gulf Shores a couple weeks ago.
Peter Greenberg: We enjoyed our visit even though it was under different circumstances than we would want. I guess the first question I have to ask you, governor, is could you give us a situation report on right now in Alabama?
BR: We had the Jimmy Buffett concert last weekend and it was really fantastic. The beaches have never looked better. The beach itself is just pristine. The water is clean.
The biggest problem we are having right now, Peter, is just public perception of oil washing up on the beach. They assume that is happening everywhere and it’s not.
We are doing everything that we can to continue to bring entertainment down, so we can get people that are within driving distance to come down. Now is the time to come to the Gulf Coast. The water is beautiful, the beaches are beautiful, the restaurants aren’t crowded. A lot of the areas around here are giving huge discounts to get people to come in. It is a wonderful time to visit any place on the Gulf Shore.
Find out where to go: Ask the Locals Travel Guide: Alabama Gulf Coast.
PG: And yet, governor, when I first came down there a couple of weeks ago, I woke up in the morning, looked out my window and the first thing I saw, of course, was the orange oil boom that was out there on the water. That was disconcerting to me. All of a sudden it hit home: You can’t ignore that image, right? You can’t.
BR: You can’t and that is what I am saying. But we check the water quality every day. We post it. We have any type of warning symbols that we need to put out any time. We are never going to jeopardize any one’s safety if they come down here. But again, if you think about most of the vacations that occur on the Gulf Shores, people come to shop, they come to eat seafood. They come to enjoy this atmosphere that we have down here. Sometimes they go on the beach, sometimes they don’t …. people ask me all the time: What can we do to help? The biggest thing that you can to do help right now is help us get through this tourist season. We haven’t had any oil that has flown on to our beaches in the last week and a half now. If you really want to help, the best thing you can do right now is visit.
One cuddly reason to visit: Gulf Shore Zoo Slideshow, Baby Animals & Peter.
PG: So much of your tax base, is based on occupancy taxes of people visiting hotels. How do you fund your essential services if people don’t show up?
BR: That is absolutely true. We actually had a meeting with BP today to talk about that very thing.
PG: I have you ask you this question, Governor: how congenial was that interview with BP?
BR: Like most of them … very, very candid. But they understand exactly that there are certain areas like Orange Beach and Gulf Shores in Alabama that are 100 percent dependent on the tourist trade. Any time you have anything that diminishes that tourist trade coming into the state of Alabama, all of the businesses—the dry cleaners, the shops—everything is going to be affected. We know we are going to be able to come back stronger than we have ever been.
PG: I would presume that you will be, as a state, making some rather large claims with BP.
BR: We will. BP has never said that they would not honor these claims. The position that we are trying to come to some kind of conclusion on today is where does eligibility begin and where does it end?
But on all of the ones that are directly affected, all of the people that are on these barrier islands, all the people that make a living in the shrimping business, the fishing business, the processors … there is not a question about the responsibility.
And the tourist section of Alabama, probably 30 percent to 40 percent of our tourist revenue is because of what happens in one county and they’ve never denied that. We are just trying to work through that now.
PG: Have you been able to put even a ballpark figure on what this is costing you?
Get the latest news on the oil spill in our Natural Disasters section.
BR: We got a lot of people that are working on it. We have had the opportunity to actually have some interim payments to keep these places open. To make sure the realtors are still there, to make sure the rental agencies are still going to be able to operate. But it is difficult because Alabama is not like some of the more metropolitan areas where the tourists might go. Here, most of the people that run these restaurants, most of the people that run the hotels, also own them. These are local people. These are people that their families have done this for generations. They don’t have something in Vail, Colorado or in the Carolinas or in Vermont to subsidize what they might lose here. Here it really is a family vacation spot. We are very, very dependent on those five months, Memorial Day to Labor Day, to get this whole community of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores through until this time next year.
Listen to Peter’s radio show from Gulf Shores, AL here:
PG: And it is going to be tough summer, I know. I only have one more question for you, Governor: Have you gone swimming?
BR: I have.
PG: And how was it?
BR: It was great. And again, we are making sure that we watch this. When you were here, that was probably the worst of any of the oil that was washed up on our shores. I’ll tell you one thing. We have gotten very good at getting it up. These mechanical harvesters can go out and scoop 12 hours at night. They do a great job of cleaning it up. So now, if anyone wants a great deal on a great vacation, now is the time to come to the Gulf Shores, come down to Mobile, come down to Orange Beach. And give us an opportunity to tell you how much we appreciate it.
PG: Governor Bob Riley, thank you again.
By Peter Greenberg for Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio.
If you’d like to listen to the interview with Gov. Riley, you can do so online here: Tourism, the Oil Spill & New Orleans Cuisine.
You can also listen to Peter’s show from Gulf Shores, AL here:
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