Surfriders team up with researchers as DEP resumes testing for oil, dispersants

The Walton Sun: Surfriders team up with researchers as DEP resumes testing for oil, dispersants

Emerald Coast Surfrider Foundation has joined with University of South Florida researcher Rip Kirby in its quest for answers on the conditions of area beaches.

“Surfrider will be joining his team and assisting with his sampling effort,” chairman Michael Sturdivant said at the organization’s February chapter meeting, where he introduced the coastal geologist.

The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enhancement of the world's waves and beaches.

Following an announcement from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in regards to its stepping up its water testing, the foundation plans to switch much of its testing energies to soil sampling.

“Hopefully we will show the beaches are clean,” Sturdivant said.

The testing is important for the protection of community health and trust, Sturdivant said.

At the meeting, Kirby brought in the “latest and greatest” in fluorescent light technology to show how crude oil that has come into contact with dispersants will glow bright orange when illuminated.

“If the isotopic signature fluoresces in orange and gold, it has Corexit,” Kirby said.

Kirby predicts oil will be impacting the beaches in some form for the next three to five years.

“With our warmer temperatures, we are hoping the bugs will break it down faster,” Kirby said. But his fear is “oil coming onto our beaches by an offshore wave event.”