Hands Across the Sand in Florida; Beaches Protected for a Decade in Oregon

Florida

Hands span coast against offshore oil drilling
http://www.pnj.com/article/20100209/NEWS01/2090315/1006/NEWS01/Hands-span-coast-against-offshore-oil-drilling

Take Action this Saturday to Save Florida's Coasts from Oil Impacts
http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/environmental-letter/take-action-this-saturday-to-save-floridas-coasts-from-oil-impacts_40921/

"Hands Across The Sand" (Opinion Matters blog)
http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/opinion/2010/02/hands-across-sand.shtml


Oregon

Supporters cheer Oregon House vote to ban off-shore drilling for 10 years
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/02/supporters_cheer_house_vote_to.html

Offshore Oil - Bad Deals, Bans and Protests

California

Don't trade oil for parks
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_14352149

Oregon

Oregon House votes for 10-year ban on off-shore oil and gas drilling
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/02/oregon_house_votes_for_10-year.html

Florida

A 'human line in the sand'
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/columnists/a-human-line-in-the-sand-216473.html
“Floridians who don't want oil drilling as close as 3 miles head for the beaches this Saturday for the simplest demonstration ever.”
Also: Join hands to prevent Gulf drilling
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100207/LETTERS/100209780?Title=Join-hands-to-prevent-Gulf-drilling
“Our goal is to persuade legislators and Gov. Charlie Crist to drop the folly of offshore oil drilling. All it takes is one accident -- one oil spill. It is just not worth the risk to our environment and coastal tourism industry.”
Also: Protest aims at oil drilling
http://keysnews.com/node/20676

Virginia

Virginia's misguided rush to drill offshore
http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-op_drilling_0207feb07,0,6391655.story
“In the heated debate over offshore drilling, policymakers have […] largely ignored the coastal environment and economies that would be subjected to potential harm from new offshore drilling such as off Virginia's coast. […] It is disturbing that in their rush to drill, oil and gas drilling advocates in Virginia would oppose prudent studies on the impact of drilling on our precious Chesapeake Bay, our sensitive coastal wetlands, and our highly lucrative tourism and fishing industries that are completely dependent on clean beaches and healthy ocean waters.”

In Virginia, offshore drilling a bipartisan goal
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-drilling-virginia8-2010feb08,0,3211440.story
The space agency, which operates a launching facility on the Virginia shore, says drilling would pose a safety risk because of the rigs' proximity to where rocket components fall into the Atlantic."You'd think 50 miles out would not be a problem," NASA spokesman Keith Koehler said. "But for us, it is. It's right in the middle of our launch range."

Promises of jobs, revenues from offshore drilling just don't add up (FL)
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/jan/04/scott-maddox-promises-of-jobs-revenues-from-just/

A day at the beach (FL)
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100102/OPINION01/912319928/1017
Perhaps the only way to stop this headlong rush to drill is if enough Floridians stand up and say "no way!" Toward that end, a coalition of environmental, local government and business groups are organizing what amounts to a mass day at the beach this coming Feb. 13. The idea behind the "Hands across the sand" campaign is to try to line Florida beaches with drilling opponents. At 1:30 p.m., participants will "hold hands creating human lines in the sand protesting oil drilling in Florida's waters," according to organizers. "This is a simple, nonpartisan way for Floridians to join hands in an effort to protect our state's most important asset — our waterways and beaches," says Dave Rauschkolb, a Seaside business owner who came up with the idea. "Our goal is to convince legislators and Gov. Charlie Crist to drop the folly of offshore oil drilling." Would legislators take notice if tens of thousands of Floridians joined hands on Feb. 13 to protect Florida's beaches? We hope so, right now they only seem to be taking notice of Big Oil's money and influence.

McDonnell: no delay in offshore exploration (VA)
http://www.newsobserver.com/business/local_state/story/260191.html
Also see http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1853594

Those elusive oil royalties: It's far too early to get pumped up about the dubious rewards of offshore drilling (VA)
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3749290

Moratorium on drilling in Oregon waters expires today (Jan 2)http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2010/01/moratorium_on_drilling_in_oreg.html

Offshore Oil Drilling - Not the Answer in Oregon

In Oregon, Rep. Ben Cannon, chairman of the House Environment and Water Committee, says he’ll ask the Legislature in its February session to renew the state’s oil-drilling moratorium and turn it into a permanent ban. Portland-based Environment Oregon and Surfrider Foundation's Oregon chapters support this action.

Cannon stated that there’s not enough oil and gas in Oregon coastal waters to risk marring the state’s fishing and tourism industries, and the state is promoting wave energy as a cleaner, renewable energy source. “As far as Oregon is concerned, it’s just a poor economic use of our ocean,” Cannon says of oil drilling.

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