I don't want to say "I told you so!'

I am writing today from my somewhat imperfect memory. I encourage the gentle reader to check my facts and remind me of the true and narrow way if necessary. I recall an episode of the "Beverly Hillbillies" where Jed and Jethro were driving nails with the rifle. Ellie May says "Shucks that ain't no sport, we should be bouncing them off a flat rock first."

But as I remember, on April 19 of this year I spoke to you of the pending transportation bill in the Alabama Senate. I suggested that perhaps it would be wise to secure the Alabama Trust Fund for use in emergencies like Katrina, or for economic development for rural areas, instead of passing a billion pound pork roast around the populous areas of the state.

Then on April 20 the top blew out of a BP oil rig fifty miles from the Louisiana Coast. First land fall of the oil slick was right below the place where Katrina landed in 2005. The explosion instantly killed eleven men and injured several others. As you know drilling into a pressurized oil dome is dangerous. Doing it safely on the open ocean is almost impossible.

The origin of the spill is within 200 miles of the Gulf of Mobile and is presently spilling between 200,000 and 500,000 gallons of oil a day into the gulf.

In that time span the Gulf will have seen four and a half times the oil from the Exxon Valdez in 1989. Valdez was the largest oil spill in US waters and is still regarded the worst man made ecological disaster of all history. This is worse. Much worse.

What has this spill to do with the transportation bill?

Well, it has to do with the origin of the Trust Fund. It is my recollection that the State entered into an agreement with the oil and gas industry to produce oil and gas in offshore wells in the Alabama waters and forgot to pay.

The state sued and got a judgment for 20 Billion for back payments.

The companies appealed.

The judge reduced the payout to 6 billion.

Which they still did not pay.

The final payment amounted to an agreement to pay half and and to pay monthly payments. ( Of which we lost a third in the crash of 'ought'seven)

Natural Gas payments and a recovering market got the balance up to near the 3 billion dollar mark in 2009 and the Hogs began to squeal. This resulted in the present transportation bill that allocates the majority of a billion dollars to less than 5% of the State.

So; it appears the cost of tourism lost, (10 billion) the cost of Shellfish lost (5 Billion) the cost to the shrimp industry (15 Billion) makes our 2 Billion remaining trust fund seem like a bag of peanuts in the elephant exhibit. The total cost to Alabama could easily break 30 Billion. Louisiana says it will cost them 65 Billion to recover. If they ever do. The effects of this spill will be seen on our beaches for a hundred years. Never again will we advertise " The Pristine White Sands of Alabama"

The spill will reach Alabama within the next week despite all possible efforts to contain it. BP says they are drilling an intercept well that “should” stop the flow in about 100 to 150 days. This solution, provided by BP, is to drop a drill through a mile of water then drill another half-mile of rock and hit a four inch unseen target to divert the pressure. Sounds a lot like Jed Clampett shooting a possum in the eye at 100 yards off the reflection in a wet rock. Good luck with that.