Seadog
04-04-2006, 03:36 PM
PENSACOLA BEACH PRESERVATION AND HISTORIC SOCIETY
MEDIA STATEMENT ON APRIL 6, 2006 PUBLIC HEARING
FLORIDA’S GULF COAST PROPOSED OIL AND GAS DRILLING
Date: April 4, 2006
Contact: Victoria Clarkin, PBPHS President
The Pensacola Beach and Preservation Society (PBPHS) will not be able to send representation to the April 6, 2006 public hearing in Tallahassee on the Minerals Management Service proposed plan to open two million acres off Florida’s Gulf Coast to oil and gas drilling.
The location, date and time of the public hearing is inconvenient, at best, for those people who this plan affects most. The fact that the public hearing is not being offered in coastal towns, where residents can participate or at a time other than the middle of the day when most are at work, is disturbing. Also, the Interior Department is offering only one public hearing on the subject.
Given a valid opportunity to participate, the PBPHS would have loudly voiced an opinion against opening up two million acres in the eastern Gulf of Mexico to new oil and gas drilling.
Proponents of the plan, which would set federal oil and gas policy until 2012, say that gas production off the Panhandle coast can not become a threat to the marine or coastal environment, to the tourism economy or the coastal residents. The Clean Water Network of Florida Inc., states that routine offshore drilling activity releases thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, harms fish and marine mammals and places Florida at risk of a large catastrophic spill.
The Florida PIRG tells us each drilling platform would legally dump over 90,000 tons of heavy metals, mud and toxic chemicals into the Gulf of Mexico annually. Pollution from offshore drilling causes a wide range of health and reproductive problems for fish and marine life. A 500 gallon spill, such as the one from a Louisiana rig this past June, would be common. A catastrophic spill could spoil the ecology and economic value of Florida beaches completely.
The Gulf of Mexico has recently suffered an onslaught of devastating hurricanes with waves of 50 feet or more. Waters off the coast of Alabama and Louisiana are already cluttered with oil industry waste and debris scattered by hurricane force winds. Warmer waters and climate changes are predicted to bring more severe storms. Now is not the time to build new rigs in the Gulf.
The EPA has already issued a warning that the Gulf of Mexico is polluted. The Gulf’s fisheries are currently in a state of collapse. For over a year now, red tide has plagued the Gulf Coast of Florida like never before. This created a 2000 square mile dead zone which killed hundreds of dolphins, sea-turtles and manatees.
An overall environmental picture tells us any further industrialization of the Gulf is in violation of the Clean Water Act, and would be unconscionable. So why are lawmakers ready to risk Florida tourism, fisheries and military activities? Pro-drilling advocates claim an immediate need for the oil and gas and this need justifies the risk. The truth is drilling in the eastern Gulf will do nothing to reduce prices or alleviate shortages for years to come, if ever.
Pensacola Beach Preservation Society is contacting our legislators today to ask they attend the public hearing in Tallahassee and speak against opening more acres in the gulf for oil and gas drilling. Concerned individuals can do the same through the following
Internet link: http://floridapirg.org/FL.asp?id=464&id4=ES
Contact forms:
Representative Jeff B. Miller: http://jeffmiller.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Senator Bill Nelson: http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Senator Mel Martinez:
http://martinez.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactFor m&CFID=68226908&CFTOKEN=46217204
If you would like to send a copy of this to your local representative and add a comment at the end please use this link below:
Representative Dave Murzin and Senator Charlie Clary
http://citizenspeak.org/node/177
MEDIA STATEMENT ON APRIL 6, 2006 PUBLIC HEARING
FLORIDA’S GULF COAST PROPOSED OIL AND GAS DRILLING
Date: April 4, 2006
Contact: Victoria Clarkin, PBPHS President
The Pensacola Beach and Preservation Society (PBPHS) will not be able to send representation to the April 6, 2006 public hearing in Tallahassee on the Minerals Management Service proposed plan to open two million acres off Florida’s Gulf Coast to oil and gas drilling.
The location, date and time of the public hearing is inconvenient, at best, for those people who this plan affects most. The fact that the public hearing is not being offered in coastal towns, where residents can participate or at a time other than the middle of the day when most are at work, is disturbing. Also, the Interior Department is offering only one public hearing on the subject.
Given a valid opportunity to participate, the PBPHS would have loudly voiced an opinion against opening up two million acres in the eastern Gulf of Mexico to new oil and gas drilling.
Proponents of the plan, which would set federal oil and gas policy until 2012, say that gas production off the Panhandle coast can not become a threat to the marine or coastal environment, to the tourism economy or the coastal residents. The Clean Water Network of Florida Inc., states that routine offshore drilling activity releases thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, harms fish and marine mammals and places Florida at risk of a large catastrophic spill.
The Florida PIRG tells us each drilling platform would legally dump over 90,000 tons of heavy metals, mud and toxic chemicals into the Gulf of Mexico annually. Pollution from offshore drilling causes a wide range of health and reproductive problems for fish and marine life. A 500 gallon spill, such as the one from a Louisiana rig this past June, would be common. A catastrophic spill could spoil the ecology and economic value of Florida beaches completely.
The Gulf of Mexico has recently suffered an onslaught of devastating hurricanes with waves of 50 feet or more. Waters off the coast of Alabama and Louisiana are already cluttered with oil industry waste and debris scattered by hurricane force winds. Warmer waters and climate changes are predicted to bring more severe storms. Now is not the time to build new rigs in the Gulf.
The EPA has already issued a warning that the Gulf of Mexico is polluted. The Gulf’s fisheries are currently in a state of collapse. For over a year now, red tide has plagued the Gulf Coast of Florida like never before. This created a 2000 square mile dead zone which killed hundreds of dolphins, sea-turtles and manatees.
An overall environmental picture tells us any further industrialization of the Gulf is in violation of the Clean Water Act, and would be unconscionable. So why are lawmakers ready to risk Florida tourism, fisheries and military activities? Pro-drilling advocates claim an immediate need for the oil and gas and this need justifies the risk. The truth is drilling in the eastern Gulf will do nothing to reduce prices or alleviate shortages for years to come, if ever.
Pensacola Beach Preservation Society is contacting our legislators today to ask they attend the public hearing in Tallahassee and speak against opening more acres in the gulf for oil and gas drilling. Concerned individuals can do the same through the following
Internet link: http://floridapirg.org/FL.asp?id=464&id4=ES
Contact forms:
Representative Jeff B. Miller: http://jeffmiller.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Senator Bill Nelson: http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Senator Mel Martinez:
http://martinez.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactFor m&CFID=68226908&CFTOKEN=46217204
If you would like to send a copy of this to your local representative and add a comment at the end please use this link below:
Representative Dave Murzin and Senator Charlie Clary
http://citizenspeak.org/node/177