Saturday, June 26th, people across the country (actually, across the world) met along the coastline at 12pm and joined hands in in opposition to off-shore drilling and in support of clean energy solutions. The “Hands Across the Sand” movement began in Florida back in February in protest to efforts by the Florida legislature to lift a ban on drilling off the Florida coast. We celebrated success on that front, thinking we had protected our shores from the threat of oil. Now here we are, a few months later, saddened as we see our Panhandle beaches fouled, see wildlife killed, see our economies suffer just as they were beginning to rebound. We continue to watch, wondering how much damage will be done before this disaster is over.
With the ongoing environmental and economic disaster spreading across the Gulf of Mexico, the Hands Across the Sand movement has also spread to become an International movement. On June 26th, more than 700 events were held across the globe. With several events taking place in my immediate area, it was hard to choose which one to attend. I ended up selecting the event held at Ft. Desoto, my favorite beach (voted #1 beach in the US by Dr. Beach in 2005). It was great meeting so many like-minded people, concerned about the current disaster and the future health of our wonderful Gulf Coast.
It was nice doing something positive, something other than angrily watching the news. In my last blog entry, I wondered how long it would be before heads were buried in the sand with regard to the risks of off-shore drilling. The past week confirmed it wouldn’t take long. With a federal judge in Louisiana lifting the moratorium on off-shore drilling in the Gulf, I was stunned. How was this possible? No one can argue the fact that the oil companies have no effective safety or response plan. That was made perfectly clear during the recent hearings in Washington. It seems the drilling permits should be revoked until the oil companies can demonstrate they are capable of preventing a similar disaster from occurring. The oil companies should not be rewarded for knowingly offering up bogus safety protocols in order to be awarded the permits in the first place.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal wants us to buy into the idea of resuming drilling for the sake of the oil workers who now have no income. We’re not talking about the vast majority of oil workers here. Most of them continue to work on the production wells that were not effected by the moratorium. We’re talking about workers who would have been working on the 33 exploratory (drilling) platforms, very much like the Deep Horizon, that would be drilling in deep water (new wells that would take at least a few years before they actually produced oil). Ummmm…If I’m not mistaken, there’s a $20 Billion escrow account set up for compensating those who have lost their livelihood due to the disaster. It seems BP would have it’s own workers at the top of the list to receive benefits. No, this has nothing to do with those workers, the same workers whose lives are deemed less important than profits. This is all about politics and has nothing to do with reasonable and rational decision making.
As frustrating as the past week has been, the positive support of so many people during the Hands Across the Sand event does give me some hope. While some heads will remain buried in the sand, the eyes of others are being opened wide. My hope is this new awareness can be nurtured and sustained, that our lawmakers will take note, that real progress can be made to limit our dependence on oil while developing clean energy sources. I hope we finally get it right.
Here’s a shout out to all of those who participated in a Hands Across the Sand event and especially those who made the event at Ft. Desoto both successful and enjoyable!
by LME
no comments