VCN Update on Oil Spill (May 13, 2010)
It has been 23 days since the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon tragically exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. In that time, some 5 million gallons of crude oil have gushed to the surface according to the Times-Picayune. The effects are being felt by shrimpers, fishermen and their families along the Gulf Coast. Hoteliers and outfitters are bracing for what could be a summer without tourists if the oil spill, now hovering in the water southeast of Venice, La., makes landfall. As observed in a recent Daily Press op-ed: ‘When man-made disasters harm fish and wildlife, they harm people too.’
According to NOAA,
some 13,000 personnel are responding to the spill and have already deployed 1.5 million feet of boom to contain the spill. We wish them safety and success—but surely those aren’t the jobs that Gulf Coast residents were promised when oil companies were lobbying congress for a cap on liability.
In the recent past, politicians of all stripes asserted that a stellar safety record for drilling in the Gulf was reason to expand offshore drilling to places like Virginia. Those politicians are now backpedaling en masse … with a few notable exceptions. This presents an opportunity for conservationists like us.
First, educate yourself. The Virginia Conservation Network’s primer on offshore drilling is a good place to start (linked below), and our partners at National Wildlife Federation have set up a special webpage
with videos from Louisiana. Then, take the opportunity to educate your friends and neighbors:
- Talk to them about clean, renewable energysources like wind and solar.
- Tell them about ways they can get involved in conservation, like supporting the Chesapeake Clean Water Act.
- Write a letter to the editor of your local paper to help keep this issue on the front page, where it belongs.
It may be several more weeks before BP can staunch the oil leak on the ocean floor, and many months before the spill is cleaned. We can’t afford to let this tragedy without learning its lessons.