Florida Panhandle Oil Spill

Dan Clark gave up life as a banker on Dec. 31 to run a clothing and gift store in Mexico Beach, Fla.So far, he's been hit with everything but a hurricane, beginning with a stalled economic recovery and one of the coldest Florida winters on record.On some days, in January and February, his homey seaside town was even colder than Denver, Colo., where he'd given up his job at a major bank."I'm talking to former peers and they're saying, "You're down on the beach with a margarita," and I said, "No, it's freezing...The pipes are breaking around here."The cold even put a chill on spring break. Then, just as Clark's sales at Beachwalk Clothing and Gifts began to warm, BP blew up its oil well on April 20.BP's spewing pipe filled TV screens. Americans watched cleanup workers comb the shoreline in white, protective suits, picking up tar balls, and laying booms from boats. Thousands who'd planned Florida vacations canceled. But the big disaster, the one Americans feared would blacken the Florida ...

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