A couple of local articles....
Beach 'goo' finding disputed
Experts suspect sewage, not algae
By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
Some water quality experts are disagreeing with state environmental officials' conclusions regarding a sticky substance in the shallow waters and along the shoreline at Wakulla Beach in Wakulla County.
A Florida Department of Environmental Protection inspector earlier this month determined that the material wasn't sewage. A DEP biologist examined samples and determined that it was a microscopic algae called diatoms, department spokeswoman Sally Cooey said.
Sean McGlynn, who was Leon County's lake testing contractor until earlier this year, said the material seems like sewage but he can't be sure without more testing.
He said the material contains few diatoms and is almost all organic matter and fiber. He also said there were high bacteria levels in the water consistent with sewage.
"I have never seen or smelled anything like that," McGlynn said. "It was absolutely awful."
"I would suspect something was dumped or spilled in that area," he said. "If it was a bloom, it should be more widespread coming from offshore. It also was odd for an algal bloom (to be) in just one little inlet."
A research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said she also concluded that there was not a diatom bloom in the samples she examined.
Jennifer Wolny, a research scientist with at the commission's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, said Wednesday she didn't know the source of organic material.
"There were diatoms in the water but not at bloom concentrations," she said. She also said she did not see high concentrations of bacteria.
Cooey said a report from the DEP inspector has not been written. She said a local Health Department official also made the determination that it wasn't sewage.
"We were not the only agency that made that evaluation," she said.
A Wakulla County Health Department employee determined on Sept. 15 that there was no signs of dumping or sewage, said Padraic Juarez, the department's environmental health director.
The department last week issued an advisory against swimming as a precaution. Juarez said samples were collected Wednesday to determine whether the area was safe for swimming.
McGlynn said he didn't know how so much of the material could have been dumped at Wakulla Beach, which is at the end of a dirt road in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.
Jack Rudloe, vice president of the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea, said the state should launch a criminal investigation to determine the source of the material.
"I am outraged DEP is calling this a diatom bloom," Rudloe said. "There is serious negligence going on here. I don't know why it's being covered up. I don't know why it's being ignored."
Cooey responded that DEP will return to the area to look for a potential source of the material. She also said department officials will contact Rudloe and McGlynn to learn about their analyses.
Go to Tallahassee.com to watch a video report on Wakulla Beach.
Many theories to Wakulla Beach goo mystery
By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
Democrat readers are offering various theories on what's causing the sticky, foul-smelling substance along the shoreline and in the shallow waters of Wakulla Beach.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says the goo that was first reported Sept. 15 is a die-off of microscopic algae called diatoms. DEP and local health officials say they ruled out the possibility of it being sewage.
But water quality specialist Sean McGlynn said the samples he examined contained few diatoms. He said the material contains fibers and is more consistent with sewage, though he doesn't know how it could have gotten to tiny Wakulla Beach.
Some readers suggest that a septic tank pump-out service may have dumped its tanker truck at the end of the road in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.
But McGlynn said it would have taken many trucks to dump that much material, and he said there was no signs of heavy trucks being on the dirt road. He said it could have been dumped from a boat or a barge.
One theory offered by Jennifer Wolny, a research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, is that the organic material from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico was stirred up and washed ashore during a storm.
McGlynn said there haven't been any recent hurricanes and tropical storms in the area.
Another theory offered by readers is that the material may have floated across the Gulf of Mexico from the Buckeye Florida cellulose mill in Perry.
McGlynn said the material could be pulp mill fibers, dead seaweed or sewage and it would be difficult to tell the difference. He said that's why it should be investigated as soon as possible to learn what the material is.
"The longer we wait, the more rotten that is getting and the more unrecognizable it will be," McGlynn said.
A DEP spokeswoman said Wednesday that the department is going back to Wakulla Beach to look for a source of the material. The Wakulla County Health Department also collected water samples to determine if there is bacteria in the water.
I remember. Pretty stinky.
but it do seem coincidental that this occurs around the same time as the work going on at Shell Point 
