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Oil Spill News
 Faraway Inn was pleased to welcome Admiral Thad Allen and his team from the USCG and NOAA as guests during their mission to release 23 sea turtles rescued from the oil spill in the Gulf.
“This area near Cedar Key provides excellent habitat for Kemp’s ridley sea turtles and has long been known as an important habitat area for this species,” said Barbara Schroeder, NOAA’s national sea turtle coordinator. “Thanks to the efforts of our rescue teams and rehabilitation facility partners all of the turtles we released today have an excellent chance of surviving in the wild and contributing to the recovery of this species.”
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While there continues to be no impact to Florida shores from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, VISIT FLORIDA's focus is on providing open, transparent and proactive communication to consumers, industry, travel partners and the media. Stay informed and get the latest information via our corporate blog, Sunshine Matters. We encourage you to sign up for the RSS feed or e-mail alerts from the blog.
Monday Governor Charlie Crist declared a State of Emergency in Levy and 12 additional counties in response to the to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So far Crist has declared a State of Emergency in 19 coastal counties along the panhandle and the west coast of Florida.
The oil spill is located approximately 250 miles from Cedar Key and is discharging approximately 210,000 gallons per day.
“By including these counties, it activates the U.S. Coast Guard St. Pete Sector to implement contingency planning,” said Levy County Emergency Manager Mark Johnson.
The Levy Emergency Operations Center has decided not to activate for now, but continues to monitor the oil spill’s progression.
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Cedar Key's most imminent risk is not oil in the waters, Leslie Sturmer, University of Florida Aquaculture Extension Agent, said after a briefing Tuesday.
“The biggest risk right now is losing market. We don’t want people to be afraid of the seafood. It’s safe,” Sturmer said. “Our growers, our harvesters, our wholesalers, our buyers and our consumers need to know – our seafood is safe. We don’t have oil here.”
Sturmer said that aquaculture is a strictly regulated industry. “The state agency has an emergency plan. They will close the waters prior to any potential contamination.”
A representative from the Department of Agriculture, which regulates the aquaculture industry, said that waters would be closed if oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill comes within 24 hours of Cedar Key. It is unclear at this time how far off the coast that would be.
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“Due to operational changes in the trajectory of the oil spill, we have decided not to activate the Levy EOC at this time,” Levy County Director of Emergency Management Mark Johnson said. “We are ready to go to a Level 2 activation at a moments notice.”
Johnson said the decision came late Wednesday afternoon, after the announcement was made that the EOC would activate earlier that morning.
“We don’t want to wear people out too early,” Johnson said. The Levy EOC will wait to activate until the oil threat reaches a 72-hour window of Levy’s coastline, Johnson said.
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