Following is from the Nature Blog Network:
Congress comes back this week for the short lame-duck session. They failed to pass a oil spill bill before the election, and if they don’t do it during lame duck, it’s not likely to happen next year, or the year after, which would mean that they failed to address the biggest marine oil disaster in our history. Dwell on that.They will have done nothing to hold BP legally accountable for the environmental destruction they’ve wrought. Nothing for the ecosystems. Nothing for the threatened and endangered species. Nothing for those of us who care about them.
During the 2010 lame-duck congressional session, the U.S. Senate should pass legislation dedicating Deepwater Horizon disaster Clean Water Act (CWA) penalties to environmental restoration of the Gulf Coast. Without Senate action, billions of penalty dollars will likely disappear into the federal treasury and never reach the Gulf Coast. But clearly, this money should be used for environmental restoration in the region that was most directly affected by the oil disaster.
The point of this whole post is therefore this: the squeaky wheel gets the grease. We need to make that wheel squeak like heck.
We as bloggers have the ability to spread the word in a way that didn’t exist 21 years ago, when the Exxon Valdez ran aground. Don’t let the Gulf become another Valdez disaster – don’t let BP get away with it the way Exxon did. Contact your senator, your local papers, whomever else might make a difference. And spread the word: on your blog, on Facebook, on Twitter.
The Nature Blog Network is leading a Blogging for the Gulf campaign to raise awareness and encourage action on the subject.
I encourage you to CONTACT your SENATOR to VOICE your stand on this -- barbara
While I'm in Oz and have no Senator within the American political system to contact, I hope 'just another blog voice' can help.
ReplyDeleteSuch a crime. And worst of all, it seems to be out of sight, out of mind. Nothing seems to have been learned and it's business as usual. Canada has drilling in even more dangerous offshore locations by the Grand Banks.
ReplyDeleteJayne -- a voice always helps -- one person can make a difference -- barbara
ReplyDeletebarefootheart - I am going to check out the Grand Banks drilling. There is a fine article in Orion Magazine on the Gulf. It was wrote by Terry Tempest Williams, a naturalist. Perhaps you have read it. If not here is the online link to the article:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/5931/
Thanks for all the comments -- barbara