A new pressure campaign claims the county is trying to hand propaganda gifts to America’s adversaries, and that a face-saving secession still exists.
FORT WALTON BEACH — Okaloosa County commissioners thought they had a winner: sinking a famous old ship, rebranding it as the “world’s largest artificial reef” and gaining tourist buzz. What they didn’t expect was that the ship they chose happened to be named the United States and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Sinking this ship during the nation’s 250th anniversary and in the midst of a war with Iran means it might not go as well outside Okaloosa as it does inside the county seat.
This is the claim the United Maritime Patriots Alliance is making this week. This allegation is the result of a newly launched advocacy campaign that has released (twice) 90-second social media ads targeting all five commissioners by name and photo, making the decision seem like an impending national disgrace. The ad includes a public photo and contact information for the commissioner and ends with a direct call to action: “Rethink the sink.”
The campaign is the public face of the SS United States Preservation Foundation, Inc., a Florida nonprofit that has spent the past two years fighting to save America’s last and largest ocean liner from extinction. The Foundation’s continued efforts focus on legal and regulatory channels, but this time it’s focused directly on the voters who elected the five commissioners to move the plan forward.
different types of counties
This argument is not aimed at environmentalists or historic preservationists, but at the kind of voters who know what the American Merchant Marines did in World War II and need no explanation.
The SS United States is the iconic flagship of the U.S. Merchant Marine. The fastest ocean liner ever built, it was designed under a secret Navy contract to transport an entire Army division across the Atlantic in 72 hours in the event of war. It is the only ship in American history to carry the name of a country on its bow without a prefix or modifier. She still holds the transatlantic speed record, which she set in 1952.
County commissioners approved the purchase and reef plans before the conflict with Iran changed the news landscape. The Alliance warned county commissioners that the world has changed enough to warrant a review, and that doing so is a patriotic choice, not a step backwards.
Erin Brockovich and the Toxic Reef
Beyond the symbolism, the campaign also focuses on growing concerns about what ends up at the bottom of the American Gulf. EPA-certified laboratory tests have identified levels of hexavalent chromium in the Cold War-era ship’s coating that researchers describe as catastrophic. This is a legacy of the zinc chromate primer system, which is now prohibited by federal law. Dr. Todd Osborne of the University of Florida’s Whitney Institute of Marine Biological Sciences warned that if the ship were submerged, it could become a “toxic coral reef” and create a “Superfund site.”
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, whose name became synonymous with hexavalent chromium contamination after her landmark lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric, also weighed in on the environmental dangers posed by the ship’s sinking, adding a nationally recognized voice to concerns that county officials have largely ignored.
In a Feb. 18 Facebook post about the SS U.S., Brockovich warned county commissioners to “clean the ship before you sink it…or be stupid and harm thousands of people and spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 20 years cleaning up the damn thing.”
The proposed reef site is located 20 miles from shore and 180 feet below sea level, with no civilian hyperbaric chambers within viable range. This detail has been publicly acknowledged by Secretary Mixon. Any diving emergency at that depth results in a U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue operation.
off ramp
The campaign is careful to offer commissioners an escape route that doesn’t require them to admit they were wrong. The Foundation is pursuing a proposal, dubbed Operation Liberty Shift, under which the U.S. Maritime Administration would offer one or more all-steel, non-historically significant, non-toxic coating SL-7 high-speed sea transport vessels already slated for retirement as potential reef replacements. At approximately 946 feet, SL-7 would still give Okaloosa the title of the world’s largest artificial reef.
“For the veterans of World War II and the merchant sailors who built and served on the SS United States, this is a sacred maritime heritage,” said Carlos Camacho Jr., co-founder and chief communications officer of the foundation. “It’s a tourist attraction for Okaloosa County. There are other ships that can be scuttled right now, ships that don’t have the history, the toxins, the political influence that would sink the United States on our 250th anniversary. The choice seems obvious.”
The foundation has briefed the U.S. Department of Transportation, provided documentation to the Department of the Interior, and has received support from members of Congress. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officially determined that the sinking would adversely affect the National Register of Historic Places. The Section 106 review under the National Historic Preservation Act remains ongoing and incomplete, as does the required review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Foundation remains a federally recognized consulting party in the ongoing review.
clock
According to the county’s schedule, the sinking is scheduled for this spring, creating a narrow window for the alliance. This campaign is built for speed. That means circulating ads on social media, attracting media attention and creating enough political noise to make at least one or two commissioners reconsider their decisions before they become irreversible.
So far, the battle has paid off for the five county commissioners and the voters who pushed them into it. What the Alliance is asking loudly and in paid media is whether these commissioners are prepared to defend their decisions on a national stage for all of America to see.
Okaloosa has never been short on patriotic pride. The campaign is betting that pride will undermine both sides.
