Today, at Siesta Key Public Beach, 1 p.m, there will be a protest led by the Sierra Club Manatee-Sarasota expressing opposition to offshore oil drilling.
The protest is called “Hands Across the Sand” — kind of like the idea of drawing a clear line in the sand against offshore oil drilling.
If you care about the beaches, about the water, the environment, and about all the creatures and humans and plant life (not to mention tourism and economies) that would be affected by the construction of drilling rigs and any oil spills — you might want to show up.
Posted on February 13th, 2010Comments RSS Feed
Scott D
February 13, 2010 at 11:26 amIt’s too cold on the beach MC
isn’t there a pub with hot chocolate and pepermint schnapps
in that we could all huddle in and complain.
Driling bad
icy weather. Worse
Scott D
February 13, 2010 at 11:36 amMaybe they won’t be so bad
like cell phone towers
we have one near us painted green and looks like a 300 ft pine tree
Maybe they can make the oil platforms and rigs look like big sailboats
just think positive
they may be beautiful art like that amazing statue near the Ringling Bridge
Steve
February 13, 2010 at 12:32 pmI care about everything but we still need offshore oil drilling.
John W. Perkins
February 13, 2010 at 1:51 pmDRILL BABY, DRILL !
AND, DRILL NOW !
Scott D
February 13, 2010 at 2:21 pmProbably not the responses u wanted.
But truth be told it is a finite resource
Noone likes to be held hostage by the middle east .
Currently we have no other great option
So I agree
Drill baby drill
I hope they make it look like a schooner though
MC
February 13, 2010 at 3:08 pmNo, I welcome all comments — even the ones that disagree with my POV. Maybe I actually like seeing those better in some ways — it challenges my thinking. Thanks for weighing in….
The Hawk
February 14, 2010 at 4:19 pmDrill baby drill – “Not in my backyard !”
Well, please read what the Big Oil Companies do not want the general public to know and have thus far, succeeded in not getting these “facts” made public.
If you have any doubt what so ever that the items listed below are not to be true, I ask that you call upon the world renowned Marine Biologist; Dr. Eugenie Clark of the Mote Marine Laboratories. There is not a marine biologist alive today, that has not only accomplished more, but has unselfishly donated more time and money to the betterment and sustainability of our world’s oceans. Dr. Eugenie Clark won the acclaim of Jacques Cousteau for her scientific research.
First, oil is not found by one taking a shot at a rabbit, missing and shooting a hole in the earth until oil came gushing up, as Jed Clampett did when he struck oil on “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
Secondly, I would like to point out an important issue, perhaps one of the most important regarding oil drilling off our shores and one which the oil companies would prefer everyone not be aware of: They attempt to locate oil through seismic testing. This is done with an array of 15-45 air guns that send explosive shock waves every 10 to 25 seconds into the seabed that then echo back through the water. The sound is loud enough to disrupt and injure sea dwellers and possibly lead to the deaths of fish and marine mammals such as dolphin, whales and manatees.
Seismic testing occurs throughout the time the offshore oil and gas industry operates in a particular region – months, even years. The sounds emitted from seismic air guns travel far in the ocean environment – so far, that when seismic testing was performed at Cape Breton, off the coast of Nova Scotia; the shockwaves were recorded as far as the Bahamas!
According to Dr. Chris Clarke, director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University, “Seismic testing is the modern form of exploratory dynamite. Air guns represent the most severe acoustic insult to the marine environment, just short of naval warfare.”
The high pressure can also harm the fishing industry. The deafening noise can cause some fish swim bladders to explode. In some places where seismic testing has been performed, the disturbances have resulted in commercial fish catches declining by as much as 50 percent.
Marine mammals living in underwater darkness rely on sound to navigate, communicate, find and capture their prey, and to avoid predators. Increased noise such as that from seismic testing affects their ability to survive.
With this being said, if we allow seismic testing to happen off our coast, the next dolphins you will see won’t be the ones you find at the North Venice Jetties, as they search for mullet and put on great shows for the tourists. Rather, you will find them washed up on Nokomis Beach, dead from both being disoriented and losing their way or from having their eardrums crushed by the sonic blasts of seismic testing.
Within the next few months, the oil companies will be furiously lobbying local governments in their attempts to get the offshore drilling bill reversed.
They will be saying how they’re going to take every precaution available to avoid an environmental accident. There will be commercials, pamphlets sent to homes, and advertisements in magazines – much like the ones used by the phosphate corporations. You know the ones: They show soft butterflies, rainbows and green trees, depicting the businesses as environmentally friendly.
What they won’t show is the boats that operate during the night to collect the dead marine life as it floats to the surface, killed by the sonic underwater blasts.
So before the 8-mpg Hummer driver slaps on the next “Drill Baby, Drill!” bumper sticker, would we rather keep our shores and our oceans life-sustaining for generations to come, or are we merely going to rape our ocean floors, much as Canada is stripping millions of square miles of national forests for a few drops of oil, for a short-term fix. Are we going to roll up our sleeves and find alternate methods of achieving clean energy, such as President Obama wishes to accomplish? I for one prefer going the later route.
Also, say the oil companies did drill, and give the state governments a few pennies of their billions, what happens when that money is gone? We strip the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains for oil?
How about the bumper sticker that reads, “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less”? I find this one the most amazing! Do you, readers, truly feel that Exxon and Mobil will really pass along any savings to their customers? Of course they would; just like the money made from the Florida State Lottery goes towards the funding of our schools…ha!
You get the picture.
John W. Perkins
March 31, 2010 at 3:04 pmSo, Obama may have actually done something right, today.