Coast with a Cost

“A [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] forecast released [July 2^nd] shows a 61% to 80% chance of sheen, tar balls or other oil remnants coming within 20 miles of Florida's eastern coast, from the Keys north to the Fort Lauderdale area, by Aug. 18, the Associated Press reported… Other areas of Florida, including the Florida Panhandle, which has already seen beaches littered with tar balls, show low probability of ‘oiling,’ the agency said. Florida's West Coast has a 20% chance or less of seeing oil from the l eak that began with an explosion on a BP-leased drilling rig on April 20. Parts of southwest Florida have less than a 1% chance, NOAA said.” DailyFinance.com (July 2^nd). Florida’s Gold Coast is clearly at significant risk, even though it is not on the Gulf itself.

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand blogs. Let’s hope we can change the assumptions upon which the above governmental projection is based. The death and destruction to wildlife and the environment as well as the losses to the people and businesses that depend on this coastal resource are intolerable. “The oil stopped flowing from the well around 2:25 p.m. [July 15^th] when the last of several valves was closed on a cap that the company succeeded in installing at the top of the well…” New York Times (July 16^th). Let’s hope it holds, and let’s also hope that the oil that has leaked doesn’t spread to more innocent shores.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I’m deeply saddened.