BP (NYSE:BP) had set up a command center in Miami, Florida, on the possibility oil would be caught in underwater currents and spread to the Florida Panhandle and ultimately up to the eastern coast of the United States.
Concerns were based on NOAA scientists saying in a report there was an 80 percent chance oil would eventually reach Miami and head up the eastern coast. That never materialized, and in the latter part of July, Thad Allen, the point man for the government for the crisis, said the chances of it affecting the South Florida or the Keys area was "very,very low."
Right after that NOAA revised their findings in saying oil from the spill wasn't a threat to the area, although they used the term "surface oil" when making the assertion.
The oil threat really never materialized in this region, and the issue was more the perception than anything else which hurt the area.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Lee Schlesinger said "We never had the big oil problems that everybody thinks we had. It's just been a perception that's really hurt the industry."
As a result, the size of the force set up in the area to help coordinate efforts if the oil did come has been reduced from about 120, to approximately 45 at this time.
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