For a quarter of a century, Perdido Bay Foundation has been a watchdog for Perdido Bay, maintaining vigilance over environmental issues affecting the small body of water between Alabama and Florida.

Now, with the looming oil crisis, the president of PBF says the environmental group that has taken on such corporate giants as Champion and International Paper Co. can only watch and wait.

“It’s like standing in the middle of a railroad track and watching a train coming and you know it’s coming, but what the heck can you do about it,” said Bob Donnenwirth on Monday in regards to the latest environmental assault on Perdido Bay.

It isn’t as if PBF is only waiting on the oil’s arrival, according to Donnenwirth. They have held meetings and discussed ideas about what residents of this picturesque community can do in the face of the oil making its way to Alabama and Florida coastal areas.

Donnenwirth said one woman got 250 bales of hay that were donated by a farmer. But he acknowledges it would take a lot of hay to line the entire coastal area, and he doesn’t think it would be easy to find that many more farmers who would be so generous with their hay. Besides, he said, once the hay is saturated with oil, “What do we do with it?”

About two and half weeks ago, PBF wrote what Donnenwirth describes as a “nice” letter to British Petroleum (BP) asking for funding for additional boom material to protect the Lillian area. There has been no response to date.

The big discussion among Lillian residents is loss of use and enjoyment of Perdido Bay, Donnenwirth said. North of the Perdido Bay Bridge, the span that joins Alabama and Florida, Donnenwirth said recreational boating is dead at present. A couple of personal water craft and some “tenders” checking boom is about all the activity on the water. Soon the oil smell will make its way to Lillian, Donnenwirth said, and the depreciation of property values is being cussed and discussed by residents even before the odor arrives.

“What if we have a hurricane? How far inland would the oil go,” Donnenwirth asked, noting that’s a question PBF members have already discussed among themselves.

And what about the oil dispersant BP has used? There has been talk that dispersant would be toxic to farmers’ fields should a hurricane roar up this way, Donnenwirth said.

In short, “We’re praying a lot.”

Asked about the boom visible from the bridge and deployed on the north side, Donnenwirth said it’s his understanding that the boom is “stored” there. Service boats can come up and take parts of it and head south with it for “quick use,” he said.

And as if more evidence is needed to prove that the oil spill has led to knee-jerk reactions and short tempers all along the beleaguered coast, Donnenwirth cites the stored boom and the two states that come together at the bridge.

“I’ve heard that people from Florida are complaining that the boom is there to protect Alabama, and Alabama people are saying they’re protecting Florida with the boom.”