Oil spill recovery chief says government will listen to residents

Meanwhile, an analytics and business research company released a study Monday estimating that the spill will cause a $648 million drop in home property values over one year and a loss of as much as $3 billion over five years in communities along the Gulf Coast.

CoreLogic Inc. -- based in Santa Ana, Calif. -- estimated that in Mobile County, 10,500 homes will see an average drop in value of $44,662 each.

Some voiced skepticism about the study, which examined records of residential properties within 1,000 meters of the coast along 15 counties. Baldwin County was not included.

"It's still way too early to tell what impact the spill may have on property values," said Jeff Newman, executive director of the Mobile Area Association of Realtors. "There are too many variables and every property is different. If people are curious about their personal property, they should contact a competent appraiser."

Also Monday, Orange Beach officials announced that the Cotton Bayou boat launch has been reopened, but boats must maintain idle speed and create no wake.

Both Mabus and the Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau advocated for Gulf Coast seafood, with the Mobile organization saying that contaminated fish will fail rigorous safety inspections being conducted by the government and never make it to market.

"The one fact that folks can believe in is that the seafood being served in area restaurants and on shelves in stores is as safe and delicious as it ever was," the group said in a news release.

Mabus took questions from the Theodore crowd for more than an hour on issues ranging from the environment to economic recovery to education to mental health. He said his coming recovery report may not approve specific plans but could merely set guidelines for how recovery plans will be approved and funded.

"Whatever decision-making body is set up, it's got to be able to be pretty fast, and it's got to be able to be pretty nimble," Mabus said.

In the evening, Mabus, a former Mississippi governor who once lived in Baldwin County and whose daughter attended kindergarten in Orange Beach, hosted a similar forum at Robertsdale Elementary School.

Mabus told folks gathered there the projects that will have the best chance of being funded should create jobs, correct longstanding problems, such as the degradation of beaches and estuaries and move the economy from its dependence on oil and gas production and toward renewable energy production.

While many along the Gulf Coast have expressed criticism and skepticism about the federal spill response, both the Theodore and Robertsdale town halls ended with applause for Mabus.

(Staff members Ryan Dezember, Kathy Jumper and Jackie Byrd, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.)