DIRTY BIRDS - Oil spill soaks pelican refuge (Mississippi Coast)

[merh]

Posted on Thu, Jun. 16, 2005
DIRTY BIRDS
Oil spill soaks pelican refuge



By KAREN NELSON
[email protected]

A crude oil spill due south of Gulfport has soaked a national wildlife refuge, killing pelicans where they nested and bringing to the forefront the issue of drilling near national parks along the Mississippi Coast.

An oil rig crew with Amerada Hess evacuated a rig near the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, directly south of the Chandeleur Islands, over the weekend for Tropical Storm Arlene. They returned on Sunday to find that 550 gallons of light crude oil had spilled from the rig, according to the Coast Guard, which is overseeing the investigation and cleanup.

Bird rescue crews from Delaware, Houston, California and Chevron's Pascagoula Refinery were either in Louisiana on Wednesday or en route to help handle the aftermath.

By Wednesday night, 597 oil-soaked birds had been taken to Venice, La., 124 of which were dead or died on the mainland. Hundreds are estimated to be dead on the island and rescuers expect to bring in another 500 to 600 contaminated birds.

(snip)
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/11905440.htm

GOVERNOR - WE DON'T WANT NO STINKING NATURAL GAS RIGS IN THE MISSISSIPPI SOUND :mad:


:cry: :cry:

[UpInArms]

1. ....

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[BayouBengal07]

2. What the hell!

Motherfuckers soaked my state bird in oil!

[merh]

3. Isn't it terrible.

:cry:

[Roland99]

4. Freeper responses from another board:

"Oh no, the pelicans!"



:eyes:

[merh]

9. Freepers are just vile, evil creatures.

:mad:

Our environment means nothing to them. They claim to be God fearing and Christian, yet they have no concern or respect for God's creatures, for his gifts to us! :nuke:

[XemaSab]

5. This company is going to be in deep, deep doodoo

Brown Pelicans are listed as an Endangered Species.

The fines for this are going to be THROUGH THE ROOF.

As they should be.

Hope it doesn't affect the breeding Kelp Gulls, or any other breeding birds for that matter.

[amazona]

11. they are not an endangered species in this area

The only reason they are still listed as an endangered species is because of the huge backlog of other cases that Fish and Wildlife have to consider. The Brown Pelican has made a full recovery in Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast regions. The company in question should pay for the clean-up, however, it is not reasonable to refuse to drill offshore Louisiana. I would say that the overwhelming majority of people in Louisiana, including environmentalists, support drilling here. We even have rigs in Lake Ponchartrain. Oil/natural gas drilling is a pillar of our economy.

The situation in Mississippi is different, as their Coast is very dependent on tourism and shrimping/fishing, and their relatively short area of coast could be devastated by a major spill.

[XemaSab]

14. They may not be endangered in fact

but they're still listed. Here in California too. Pretty dang common along the coast, but still listed.

The question of oil drilling is such a tough one.

I've done post oil-spill cleanup, and it's really pretty grim. Even the smell of oil just brings me back.

I think oil spills are inexcusable, and it seems like too many of them are caused by complete carelessness.

[funkybutt]

6. This is in my neck of the woods and I'm pretty upset about it.

This island has been noted as being a major breeding place for the pelicans. I see pelicans all the time so the thought of so many of them being harmed really affects me.

And if the pelicans are affected, so is everything else. This is not good. And in response to the freeper comments, not funny at all!

[merh]

8. My back yard too.

I am disgusted by their greed. :argh:

:cry:

[HeeBGBz]

13. This will be my neighborhood in two weeks

It pisses me off.

[kineneb]

7. From out west: "Remember Santa Barbara"

After the oil spills in Cal. in the 1960's, they have pretty much stopped drilling off our coast.
Didn't the whole CA congressional delegation recently leave the floor en masse when the Rs brought up drilling off the CA coast?

To paraphrase the song:

how many spills will it take till we know,
that too many birdies have died
the answer, my friend is blowin' in the wind...

[amazona]

12. we have to drill somewhere

Most folks in Louisiana support drilling. Petroleum is among our most important resources.

I agree that folks where the population is overwhelmingly opposed to drilling should not be forced to drill.

[merh]

10. kick

:kick:

[shockra]

15. Got an e-mail today from the League of Conservation Voters

Hands Off Our Coasts: Say No to Drilling

This summer, the Senate is debating an energy bill that could open up America's most beautiful coastlines -- to oil exploration. A so-called coastal "inventory" has been added to the energy bill that would require invasive exploratory activities throughout sensitive coastal areas. And this could be just the first step towards allowing more oil and gas exploration in areas where it is now banned. If they win this one, you can bet they'll be back for more.

From California to Virginia to Florida, oil companies and anti-environment lawmakers have been trying to open our protected coastlines to oil drilling. Emboldened by their push to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they're risking environmental disaster for our beaches and marine wildlife.

Email your Senators today to ask them to support the Nelson-Martinez(FL) amendment to protect our coasts.

To sign the petition, go to:

http://action.lcv.org/campaign/coastal01/6kub6sr055eimt?

[merh]

16. Thank you for the link!

And welcome to DU! :hi:

[shockra]

17. You're welcome.

And Thank you. :hi: