Saw on a cable network today that the Senate is considering in their energy bill to drill for natural gas in the eastern gulf including the "destin dome" formation. if this were to happen, how would this really affect our beaches if at all? i understand this has been an issue since the Regan administration. we love this beach and any insights are appreciated!

im for environmental conservation to the extreme, but im also for using our own energy sources. however, offshore drilling scares me. im on these waters often and i cant stomach the fact that a fuel spill could destroy it all. and its not the drilling stations that are risky, its the ships transporting it. we wouldnt see them from short as many believe either, but it still doesnt sit well with me. theres plenty of ways to produce energy right here on shore. there is one positive note to it, the fish habitat will increase greatly. thats always a good thing.

It really depends on where they set the rig limit. If it's out 100 miles or so you wouldn't notice anything.

Also, most of the exploratory drilling on the dome was south of Pensacola.

The report I heard said there was a 10 mi. limit.
That close in, wouldn't there be a pipeline laid to an inshore station?


Offshore drilling: Democrats revising a Bush era decision to allow more » Energy

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" The man who views the world at fifty the same as he does at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life."------Muhammad Ali

Natural gas doesn't leak oil.

As I understand it, there are plenty of banks of natural gas in the Atlantic Ocean, just offshore from the USA, but they don't currently have the ability to harvest it without effing up everything. Not sure how that would differ just because it is in the Gulf.

I'd be most concerned if this lead to drilling for oil, disguised as drilling for natural gas.

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That was my concern- baby steps to the "big prize".

It's natural gas. Kinda hard to spill! You're right about the fish, though. Instant habitats!

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I'd be concerned about the next steps of drilling for oil, but natural gas seems like a plausible venture. Instant habitats = good. I don't know everything about it, however.

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The gas well platforms can really mess up that great Sunset you see off the coast. Drive over to Ft. Morgan in Gulf Shores off Mobile Bay and watch the Sunset. As the Sun goes down the platforms light up. It looks like a K-Mart parking lot.

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" The man who views the world at fifty the same as he does at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life."------Muhammad Ali

There is a place in Oklahoma called the Anadarko Basin. It is said to have billions, not millions,of cubic feet of natural gas. It can't be successfully drilled because environmentalists make it cost prohibitive. Same goes for other off shore areas and ANWR in Alaska. When environmentalists realize we need to drill our own oil and gas until we can develop useable alternative energy sources, we will all be better off and more secure in our national defense posture as well.

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