FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Assistant Public Works Director Ken Eslava, the coordinator of oil spill response operations for the city, said Monday that additional protective boom was being sought to extend further north along the city's coastline than initially announced.

Instead of ending just north of the Fairhope Yacht Club at Fly Creek, the city was trying to "get enough boom to run north of Rock Creek," he said during a status report at the June 14 City Council meeting.

Eslava cautioned, however, that the boom was just part of a larger protection strategy for the Fairhope waterfront.

"The booms are not going to keep the oil out," he said. "It's just the first line of defense."

He described a second line of defense that involved absorbent booms to be deployed behind the initial booms when landfall by the oil spill was imminent in the Fairhope area.

Eslava said he has also developed a plan that will cost approximately $1.3 million for a "beach attack" strategy to use between 60 and 80 people over 24 hour periods to clean beaches contaminated by oil.

He hoped those funds and additional money for more boom would be obtained soon, he said.

For the rest of this article see the June 16 copy of The Fairhope Courier