EASTERN SHORE — The city of Fairhope worked Tuesday to complete its containment boom deployment, and was set to decide when to trigger the deployment of the absorbent boom.

The Pier Street Operations Post has fully moved into the response mode. The vessels of opportunity are the front line initial spotters of oil in the area, and there is ongoing aerial surveillance by several oversight agencies.

The Alabama State Emergency Management Agency and the Alabama National Guard are in the city addressing claims for Fairhope businesses. The team is be going door-to-door with the mission of helping our local business owners regarding potential revenue loss claims related to the oil spill.

The city has allocated a full-time office in the City Services building for this team, and it can be reached directly by calling (251) 928-8003.

Spanish Fort Mayor Joe Bonner said Tuesday morning the booming strategy for three of four key areas along the Causeway have been executed and the fourth has a “one-hour trigger” once oil is detected far enough north in Mobile Bay.

The current at the bulkhead just east of the Tensaw River is too strong for wet staging at this point, Bonner said, but the area is being monitored for immediate wet staging as soon as the oil poses a direct threat. Elsewhere, Bonner said the booming strategy is in place both north and south of the Crossover, where Interstate 10 crosses over the Causeway.

Meanwhile, double boom is in place at the Apalachee River inlet, and the city’s portion of the Blakeley River inlet has also been boomed.

The efforts are part of the state-approved response plan funded with $500,000 of the $25 million BP allocated for oil spill response in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

“I’m not really breathing any better, but I do feel better knowing (the boom) is out there,” said Bonner, who is personally monitoring the booming efforts, “so I can sleep better at night.”

The Daphne City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to declare a state of emergency in response to the oil spill.This move allows the mayor to make purchases of clean up equipment and services without seeking competitive bids for each item, as required by state law. Council members felt that the legal restrictions might delay the response in a fast developing situation.

In a related move, the Council also approved the purchase of 10,000 feet of absorbent boom to be used to protect the city’s 37,000 feet of shoreline. The boom can be used on its own or behind containment boom to prevent oil coming ashore, Mayor Fred Small said. “Some places it is working, some places it is not, “Small said.