Riley Disappointed With Boom Distribution

Alabama Governor Bob Riley says he is disappointed with the US Coast Guard's distribution of boom.

One day after oil began washing up on Dauphin Island, the governor admits the boom originally allocated to the state is not here.

The governor's plan to protect the shoreline, which was approved last month by the Coast Guard, included booming off Alabama's barrier Islands, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, but in the past week, the Coast Guard redistributed about 20% of Alabama's boom to Louisiana, according to Todd Stacy, a spokesperson for the governor.

The boom was at a staging area on Alabama's coast ready to be deployed when it was taken away.

"You've got a lot of states that are vying for the same amount of boom," Riley said during a press conference at the Governor's Hurricane Conference in downtown Mobile. "If you send all of the boom that is available on the Gulf Coast to one state, it doesn't leave anything for the rest. If you send 10% more, it takes 10% away from the other states."

Riley also said hundreds of people with boats equipped to skim oil off the surface of the water are waiting on Coast Guard authorization to begin working.

"We probably have 200 to 300 people here in Mobile that are ready to go out to skim, lay boom, tend boom, whatever," said the governor.

A spokesperson for the US Coast Guard told News Five Tuesday only two large skimmers and a handful of small skimmers are actively working off Alabama's coast.