EPA out of region six in Dallas, who's the federal own scene coordinator, as well as the Louisiana also coordinator's office, who's the state responsible own scene coordinator, uh made up of, of those two entities. Crescent Midstream is *** responsible party and Lafoe Parish is the local own scene coordinator. We've been *** part of the unified Command structure over the last couple of weeks or the last couple of days. Very, very great group to work with. I can't say enough about EPA and Losco and what *** great group they have been to work with and all the ideas that have been coming across the table. Uh and also the responsible party in midstream has been *** great group to work with, along with their contractors, the SNH and forefront. No matter what we've asked for, they've been on the ground with us, uh whether it was protecting our drinking water source, uh or by Lafoe is kind of the cultural hub for us here in Lafoe Parish. All of all been *** great, great response overall. So now I'd like to turn over to Mr Mike Smith to give you guys an update on the clean up efforts uh as well as some of the volumes of all that's been recovered from the bayou Mike. Thank you, Mr Parish president. We appreciate very much the level of co-operation, not only from the parish, but also from the Unified Command Structure. Uh that as Archie said, was stood up very promptly uh on uh on Saturday morning uh on behalf of uh uh Crescent mainstream and the Unified Command, my name is Mike Smith. I've been serving as the Public Information Officer. I wanna thank you for uh right off the top for those who were able to visit with us today uh out on the water. Uh I wish that we could have had every member of the press uh that had expressed interest out on the water today. Uh But uh that was just not possible to have that large of *** vessel. Uh So we uh we were able to uh assign *** pool and uh and uh I by now we've spread that information about how all of you can receive the video and uh photographs uh from the tour out on the water today. If you have any follow up questions about that, please see me afterwards and I'll be happy to help uh facilitate that. Our thanks to those who were able to join us uh out on the uh out on the water today. It was my first opportunity to be out on the water uh of Bayou la Fouche. Since Saturday. Uh I'll give you my impression about what, what I saw. And uh and I can say that bayou la fouche uh is in *** much better place today one week after the incident uh than it was back on Saturday. The amount of progress that the workers have made is uh outstanding. Uh Having said that there is much left to do and uh I, I want you to uh take away from today's press conference. One thing in particular and that is uh we are not finished. Uh There is there remains *** significant amount of work uh to do along the shorelines. Uh There remains *** significant amount of work to do to continue to protect the water source, which as we saw today is very protected. And I think that you will see over the next few days, *** transition of sorts as we right size, the number of workers and the number of vessels to suit the amount of remaining oil. And if you just permit me, I'm gonna go through uh *** few key details along that line starting, of course with our workers. As you know, we've been under heat advisories here. The working conditions out on the water are incredibly difficult. Uh We have uh thankfully only suffered three minor first aid incidents since the start uh of this incident back on Saturday. Uh Each of the workers were treated by medical professionals and released and returned to work immediately. After that treatment, we continue to stress heat safety and those of you that were out on the water with me uh this morning can attest even though we were there in morning hours and technically not when the heat advisory started. Uh it certainly can get to you and get to you very fast. I wanted to also stress to you today that with the onset of school and the return of teachers to school in Larouche Parish, particularly to Central Lafoe High school. Uh That uh we are providing proactive ongoing air monitoring between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. In the uh proximity of the high school, we have no reason to believe that there are elevated levels and and indeed data show uh that those uh levels are are normal. Uh but out of an abundance of caution to reassure the teachers and students who will be returning shortly and their parents, of course, uh we uh we took that proactive measure the total volume of liquids recovered uh as of yesterday afternoon in Bayou la Fouche uh is approximately 1300 barrels. Now, you might ask yourself why is that number larger than 820 barrels that were uh that were previously reported as spilled in this incident? Quite simply that 1300 barrel figure is *** mixture of both the crude oil and water from the bayou that are collected at the same time. Those uh that volume is is then taken away, measured and separated and uh and accounted for very, very carefully. So I would encourage uh those that are, are listening and watching to always remember that the number of recovered uh volumes and barrels will always be higher than the amount of crude oil that was spilled because of the introduction of that water. I also wanted to announce to you today the the availability of *** website through the US Environmental Protection Agency uh that will report those volumes on an ongoing basis. Uh The website is very long and I'm going to encourage you to grab it from the Lafoe Parish Facebook page. Lafoe parish government Facebook page. It was in our uh it was in our 5 p.m. report yesterday. But the short version of that URL is Story Maps dot arc gis.com story ma PS dot *** rcgis.com. You can find your way to it from there or get the exact link on the Facebook page that I mentioned. I want to encourage you to, to monitor that. Uh it will be updated on *** daily basis. Uh And as are the uh the air monitoring data as well. *** few reminders, I would like to make sure that residents uh continue to uh join with us in reporting any oiled wildlife that they may see. Uh that again, the phone number for that is area code 83251496638325149663. I was very pleased that, uh, we did not see, uh, any oiled wildlife out on the water today, uh, on our visit, uh, in, in regards to wildlife, we continue to have, uh, the, the, uh, 21 deceased species that were previously reported to you. Uh, and we also have the three species that are in captivity and, uh, doing just fine. Uh, that is one American alligator and two mallard ducks. Also, I'd like to make sure to remind the citizens of Larouche Parish that the conservation advisory that was touched on uh by the parish president was lifted. Uh And uh that was for all the customers of Lafoe Parish water district number one south of Louisiana Highway 182 bridge. In addition to that the no fly zone that remains in place by the Federal Aviation Administration, the bayou does continue to be closed to Mariners uh from the uh highway 182 bridge in Raceland to the Lockport Bridge. We did notice *** robust presence uh out on the water today of law enforcement officials uh in support are the uh the Lafoe Fair Sheriff's office and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Our media hotline will continue for the uh an email address will continue for the foreseeable future uh BL media relations dot G at gmail.com, that's BL media relations at gmail.com. *** couple of notes regarding the f the future dissemination of information. Uh you may see uh it uh uh in, in the next uh several hours uh uh that the Unified Command has decided that it will stand down its in person operations effective at the close of business today. However, let me stress that the clean up on the waterways of Bayou la Fouche remains robust. Add what I also wanted to make sure you realized is that even though the unified command structure is going to be shifting to *** virtual format starting tomorrow, vigilance has not disappeared, there will remain uh *** variety of both state, federal and local officials available to respond if needed. I think what that signals to the citizens of Lafoe Parish is that the uh the work inside the bayou uh is uh is going quite well and it's going well enough that the commanders have said that look, we could stand down our ongoing Unified Command at the end of business today, move into this virtual posture and still provide the same level of service that the uh that the incident requires. Uh at this time in closing, let me just say and remind you that our Larouche Parish government Facebook page remains the official source of information uh for our unified command even in the virtual setting. Uh We will continue to put out the reports that you've become accustomed to uh on *** regular basis. Although you might also see those uh uh scale back to perhaps uh once *** day uh going forward over the weekend and beyond in uh I also uh before we take your questions, uh I'd, I'd just like to commend again, the workers. Uh Not only those that are on contract here with ESNH, all of the folks at the Unified Command structure uh who have given of their time in many cases 24 7 uh since last Saturday, uh without their assistance in some challenging conditions, we would not be as far along as we are. Uh We are very pleased with the progress. Uh The bayou is looking much better, uh but there still remains work to be done with that. I'll pause and let you uh ask any questions for the parish president and me. So the, the, the operator error was *** result of our preliminary investigation uh inside present midstream, uh that investigation is being reviewed by our federal regulator. In this case, Femsa Femsa will uh return *** broader finding on that in the next few weeks for the, the viewers and listeners benefit. I would, I would, um uh I would, uh I would give you this. That is if there's an unfortunate airplane crash somewhere in the United States, there's always an initial uh cause uh uh uh uh you know, initial cause that is uh uh that is spoken about sometimes it's pilot air, sometimes it's mechanical failure. But then the N TSB, the federal agency always comes back within *** few weeks. And gives *** more precise view on what happened. That's exactly where we are today with this particular incident. Uh We believe it to be operator error as *** uh as, as something that was *** participant. Uh and uh at *** participating um uh cause of that, of that release. Uh But the final ruling will come out by films in the next few weeks. Our preliminary findings are that there was *** valve left open inside of the facility. Uh And that that crude oil was allowed to escape. Uh in that way, that was one of the, the key findings of that preliminary again investigation that you're getting from the resident in the area. I know some people have called. Can you describe some of the symptoms you hear about how? Yeah, one of one of the good things we did early on in the Unified Command Group was set up that phone number where residents can call if they had *** personal or property issue. Uh And we did, we got *** few calls with people talking about their noses, burning and throats, hurting headaches, stuff like that. Uh But again, working with, with our federal partners who had air monitoring constantly happening, working with the private contractor that was brought in by the responsible party, all of those claims were found to be non existent, right? Uh And again, as, as Mike mentioned, we we are going to have continuous on and continue around central high school as those teachers come back on Monday, as our kids come back on Wednesday, just as *** precaution. Right. Um That, that will run from six in the morning until six at night. So it's there before the kids and the teachers enter school and after extracurricular activities are over with. Uh, but again, nothing, nothing has come back over those actual limits. Um No things with vol of our organic compounds, those vo CS that you've heard us talk about, uh, our levels of benzene, uh, all of those negative readings come back. And again, if you visit that, that story map that EPA has put together the link that's on the press briefings that we send out every day. Uh You can see the actual zoom in and see the dots of where that monitoring has happened. So if you had *** particular issue where you thought something happened around your home, you could zoom in and there's probably *** green dot or *** green square, uh, whether it was EPA S contractors or the private contractors. Uh, but *** lot of those things have been found to be zero levels, Mr President, if you give us your impressions of what you saw. Yeah, look in, in the early days, there was *** lot of oil in the bayou, right? I don't think there's any, there's any doubt between the, the video footage that you guys have all seen and saw in the, in the first few days. Uh, but I will say the amount of oil left on ba la fouche is, is minimal. Right. *** lot of what you're seeing now is, is the oil that's left in the vegetation. Uh, that's gonna have to work its way out through flushing operations and through just Mother Nature. Right. As we see cycles in, come up and down, that stuff is going to wash out as the ES and H crews continue to work their way south through the impacted area. They're going to do that. Copious flushing and you're going to see it come out. And that's something that I think as Mike alluded to is the reason nobody's going anywhere. We know that there's still some pockets left. We know we're going to see some of that flushing happen. So the maintenance operations are going to be here for *** while and I'm happy about that. You said more workers are coming in important that I can be with you. Mhm. Uh With the question was about the number of workers uh out on, out on the bayou. Uh We are confident that the uh that the initial surge of workers that were brought in and, and at one point numbered close to 100 and 60 at its height uh that those workers have, have completed their initial task, which is to uh which is to retrieve most of the oil. Uh These would be individuals that would be on some of the larger vessels that you might have seen. The Marco skimmers, the drum skimmers as, as Archie mentioned. Now that most of the crude oil is entrained in some of the vegetation, uh that response looks *** little bit different and, and because of that, the number of workers uh that are needed for that is less and obviously the fewer workers that we have to uh uh that we have to uh to have uh out in this heat. Uh And, and, and in harm's way in that regard, the better. Uh But certainly the level of work has decreased because uh we have gotten uh ahead of uh that cleanup. So I think what you'll see is *** declining number of both workers and uh and vessels. And again, over time, uh we're probably talking about uh *** number of weeks that you'll see uh *** lingering number of, of, of vessels and, and workers to do the types of operations. Uh That, that Archie was mentioning just now police, I guess yesterday, today, do you have any estimate as to how much crude oil is comprised of? We do not at this time because there is *** uh there's *** process uh that is that our, our regulators uh uh uh uh have that we follow where the oil and water are separated and counted. Um So, uh that, that is *** number that we, we will, we will have over time. Uh Right now, the the process is to uh to, to skim and to retrieve as much crude oil as possible as quickly as possible. Uh But to uh to get that into containment, uh and, and go off and start that process that I just mentioned if that storm, they're predicted. Now, moving in the fall of the ship further west, what does that do to hold clean up? You know, we will certainly monitor it as *** unified command. Uh uh We will be watching that very, very carefully. Of course, our hope is that uh that, that we'll remain storm free here in, in Lafoe Parish. Uh But, you know, should *** storm come, I can assure you that the Unified Command will take that under consideration and make the right decisions uh in the interest of safety again, for the Mariners that are on the water that are *** part of the cleanup. Uh It's probably *** little early to speculate. I know that uh uh you know, they're, they're monitoring it right now. Uh But the fact that it seems to still be *** little ways off and *** little more unknown about what's going to happen with that storm. Uh You know, our focus remains right here uh on this waterway today. Yeah, all of that will come out in the final investigation uh with, with FSA. Uh I, I, I'm not in *** position to get ahead of their investigation which they are commencing. Uh The FSA regulators are on site and have been on site for several days. Uh So I would defer those questions to them about their process uh that they will follow and their timeline uh when they've asked us for information, we have certainly provided it. Uh right away. In fact, we have employees that are embedded with them to provide them whatever they need as soon as they need it. So that's where we are today. This is not again, that that will be up to Femsa to help decide once they come out with their final investigation. Uh We're assisting them in every way possible to understand exactly how this, you know, went wrong and uh and how we were able to discharge this water. Uh and uh and crude oil off property, how that's affecting your customers the point for. So the uh Femsa did order that both pipelines at the Raceland pump station uh be shut down out of an abundance of caution. Uh Back on Monday, the company provided *** restart plan for one pipeline that was not *** part in any way. Uh In fact, we call it the unaffected pipeline if you will. Uh that was uh had no role at all uh in uh in, in this particular incident. Uh And we await their concurrence uh on that plan. I understand that it's under review. Uh And uh we anxiously await their, their answer uh to your point. Uh You know, we, we understand that the needs of uh the, the needs of, of Louisiana for energy are robust. And likewise, we know empirically uh that this pipeline in particular plays *** very significant role in the energy security of our state. Uh And we're watching that very, very closely uh at present. Uh We have no uh uh no uh immediate concerns. Uh But should the uh should it linger uh any longer? Uh then we'll need to take *** closer look at that. Uh So again, it's um it affects the entire supply chain uh because o ob obviously, if you have *** significant artery uh such as this pipeline that is shut down, uh it affects either end uh of of the system. Is there any concern about the pipe with regard to safety or when you see that? Now, that's ***, that's an excellent question. The question for those of you that might not have been able to hear uh was about the affected pipeline because we're, we're, we're looking at one is affected and unaffected, doesn't mean that the affected pipeline leaked. Uh In fact, we know that it didn't. Uh and, and, and our, our, our focus remains on the tank, the valve that was spoken of *** minute ago and that operator Air which is all again been turned over to Femsa uh for their review and we await uh their review of that unified always. Does that mean that standing or is it please? The, the Unified Command is not disbanding. Uh The Unified command is moving into *** virtual uh *** *** virtual structure uh starting tomorrow. Uh The reason for that is is that the Unified Command believes that that's *** right size move at for where the oil spill is at this time. Uh I think what that really demonstrates is that where they are satisfied as commanders of the progress that's being made for the last week, that level of vigilance, as I mentioned absolutely continues and they will be available on *** moment's notice to return uh if need be. But for now, uh beginning tomorrow, that will be *** in ***, *** virtual stance which we look at as *** good signal of the level of progress being made. What why is the answer questions? But what role is the NBA plan? I can, I can get that board if you like uh on behalf of the Unified Command, I'd be happy to answer that question, which was if you couldn't hear it, the role that the EPA provides. This is *** really terrific opportunity for the citizens of Larouche Parish to understand and see firsthand how *** unified command structure works. Standing behind me are what we call our three pillars. Uh You have the United States EPA which is our federal on scene coordinator. You have uh Losco, otherwise known as the Louisiana Oil Spill Cord, the office, they fill the pillar role of the state on scene coordinator. And then of course, you've met and know very well, Archie Chesson, who is the parish president of Lafoe representing the local on scene coordinator. The three pillars of this response are absolutely pertinent because it allows for direct, consistent timely and accurate decisions to be made uh inside *** room with concurrence from all parties. And I think that's one of the reasons why. And I was asked this earlier, how have you been able to move so quickly toward cleaning up the oil? In the first week? I give credit to that unified command structure and their ability to make decisions, deploy assets and to determine precisely where to place those assets inside *** bayou Lafoe to be as effective as they have been. Any other questions? Let me turn it over to the parish president uh for *** word of closing and we will be available to you afterwards if you have any additional follow up questions. Thank you. Thanks, Mike. Just, just as *** reminder, *** couple of key points that Mike touched on. You know, the conservation order was lifted from our water district. Uh, the water intakes and the, and the water system here in Larouche bar are still very safe to drink. Uh As I've joked all week, you know, I've made my coffee with it and took my medicine with it. Uh So it's very, very safe for our, our uh our residents to drink again. Cleanup will continue. You're going to see some things start to start to ramp down, some vessels start to disappear. Boat launch in Lockport will be used as one of the decon facilities as those boats come off the water. Uh So we do have *** portion of that area closed as well just for safety of, of the residents and the boaters. Uh So that'll be closed through the weekend as those deco decon operations start up and cease. Uh But overall great impression of the bayou today. Lots of work still, still left to go. Uh But we're very hopeful in the coming weeks, we'll get the bayou back to normal. So we thank you all for being here today and God bless you.