news-record.com

UPDATE from the Matter of Trust website yesterday: "SAN FRANCISCO - Matter of Trust is accepting hair, fur, fleece, feathers and nylons! Thousands of booms are being made all along the Gulf Coast by hundreds of volunteers. Supplies are ready to go to official government haz mat teams that have hazardous waste disposal plans in place. Matter of Trust is only giving out boom to official government haz mat teams. We are an environemental charity and would not risk oily boom being left out without proper disposal. BP Public Affairs has told us they have enough of their own boom. And Matter of Trust is now in contact with local parishes and counties in the Gulf states. The question is not whether the boom will ever get used, but if responsible parties will take all clean up materials now and pay for haz waste disposal so that cash strapped communities don't have to pay out of pocket. We will let everyone know as soon as officials take the hair boom."

So what does that all mean? I think the bottom line is they're still taking donations of human and animal hair regardless of whether BP is using it or not. So if you still want to sign up to make a donation, go here.

My post from May 20: This morning, I boxed up all of Cassie's shedding hair, and was planning to mail it on my lunch break to the designated warehouse that Matter of Trust emailed me about. Matter of Trust is stockpiling human and animal hair to be used as makeshift booms to help with the Gulf oil spill.

But according to a story at newsobserver.com this morning, BP is not using the hair that is being shipped to Matter of Trust warehouses. Mark Proegler, a spokesman for BP who is at the cleanup site, said crews are using only "regular, absorbent plastic booms."

Even more puzzling, is that a note at the Matter of Trust website says, "BP has contacted us and wants to use the boom! They will be sending out a press release presently. YOU ALL DID IT! EVERYONE CAN HELP!"

So what's the deal? I have no idea. I'll update as I get more information.