More than 100 Fort Myers Beach business owners, fishing captains and tourism industry personnel crammed into Pink Shell Resort’s Lido Grand Ballroom to listen to six town and county officials speak and answer questions on the impending oil spill impact in the Southwest Florida area Tuesday evening.

The informational meeting focused on updates and important contact numbers and websites from the panel of experts which featured FMB Mayor Larry Kiker, Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah, Lee County Emergency Operations Manager John Wilson, the Department of Environmental Protection’s Rhonda Haag, FMB Town Manager Terry Stewart and Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau’s Pam Brown.

“Right now, the latest forecast says that the oil spill has entered the (Gulf) Loop Current,” said Wilson. “That may be good news to us. Whatever product gets into the Loop Current may go far away from our area. We are watching that very closely.”

The Gulf Loop is a clockwise current that carries water from the Yucatan Channel north into the Gulf of Mexico, then back down south off Florida’s west coast, past the Dry Tortugas and into the Gulf Stream.

Once the oil slick reaches the Gulf Loop, reports say it should take roughly 10 days for any oil to travel almost 450 miles to the vicinity of the Dry Tortugas, according to NOAA oceanographers. The Tortugas chain of islands begins about 70 miles to the west of Key West.

Wilson described the product as a South Louisiana crude oil which is less toxic than regular crude oils. He said the plan which will be used involves an updated area contingency plan by the U.S. Coast Guard.

“That is the plan that they will use is to put out booms,” he said. “The question is whether the booms will actually be a less protective measure for tar balls versus the oil sheen. Right now, the experts are telling us that more than likely what we’ll be seeing down here is tar balls.”

Haag said water baseline samples have been conducted along Florida shore lines and sent out for analysis.

“Prior to anything that arrives along our shores, we now have a documented basis for what the conditions of those shores, beaches and estuaries were before,” she said.

Brown wanted to inform everyone that her department is monitoring tourism cancellations and asked anyone to report such information related to that issue. She encouraged all businesses to communicate with potential visitors to show Florida is alive and well.

“Lee County is currently not in an emergency zone,” she said. “We want our consumers calm and to keep coming down. We have industry partners assuring international guests that are beaches are clear and beautiful.”

Judah disclosed a ‘heavy heart’ and assured anyone who has fears and concerns that Lee County will be prepared for the impact. He also spoke about the county’s involvement with alternative energy and fuel.

“I would send a one-way ticket to any “Drill, Baby, Drill” advocates to the former site of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill site,” he said. “It is so frustrating to me that people don’t understand that we are not taking about true energy independence by continuing to push for drilling offshore. I’m thankful that Lee County in its own small way has taken steps to pursue working with companies like Algenol to convert algae into ethanol or ethanol bio-fuels which takes grease and waste vegetable oil and converts that to bio-diesel.”

Stewart’s situation report explained that Lee County Emergency Operations Center is working in conjunction with the local U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Coast Guard St. Petersburg Sector.

“This provides an integrated, unified command structure that enables the resources to be brought together to deal with a massive emergency such as this,” he said. “It’s really important that the Back Bay area, our estuaries and areas that provide for marine growth are protected. We’re staying on top of this. Lee County EOC is the driving force behind this.”

The two-hour session presented an opportunity for anyone to ask questions and hear replies. There were questions asking for subject clarification and dealing with hurricane issues, a contingency plan for wildlife, insurance claim information and what can be done before the oil spill impact reaches the Beach shoreline.

“If we get an early season storm coming into the Gulf of Mexico, it may push some of the oil on the water closer to the Loop Current,” Wilson replied to a question about the oil spill with an hurricane impact. “A large hurricane (Cat. 3 or 4) may help disperse the oil to a larger area.”

Another inquiry questioned what measures will be taken before the oil impact reaches the Beach shoreline, since one speaker said officials are declaring war on this situation. Contractors, shrimpers and fishermen are expected to skim oil and put out dispersents if needed.

Regarding claims, officials urged businesses to collect names and contact information to support claims for cancellations.

Kiker, who offered opening remarks at the meeting, also consoled listeners with closings remarks.

“As far as Fort Myers Beach goes, I think we can handle this,” he said. “We are all here in this room, and we’re communicating. We will continue to communicate with you often. That’s important.”

Important contact information regarding Oil Spill Impact:

Florida Oil Spill Information Line: 1-888-337-3567

Latest News Information: www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon

Report Tar Balls or Oil Sheen: 1-877-272-8335

Report Wildlife Impact from Oil Spill: 1-866-557-1401

Lee County Industry Partner information: www.leevcb.com

The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association is recommending all businesses that have experienced a loss of income due to the oil spill open a claims account with BP by calling 1-800-440-0858. Claims can only be made by those businesses that have already seen a loss of income.

On May 17, 2010 Governor Charlie Crist announced BP will provide Florida with an additional $25 million for a national tourism advertising campaign. These funds are in addition to the $25 million Florida has already received.

On May 14, 2010, Governor Charlie Crist announced that the U.S. Small Business Administration approved disaster loan funds for businesses along Florida’s Gulf coast that have been impacted by the Deepwater Horizon incident. Learn more at: www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance.

To assist Visit Florida with images, please continue to send your photos of people enjoying Lee County to KMeckley@leegov.com and we’ll tweet these links to Visit Florida as well as post them on our own social media sites. This will allow residents to share Florida Live! Or, to contribute directly, simply become a Share a Little Sunshine fan at www.Facebook.com/FloridaSunshine and post a current photo of our beautiful Sunshine State.

–the bullet points were provided by Lee VCB