Public News Service-FL nc@publicnewsservice.org]

February 10, 2010

A Line in the Florida Sand

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On Saturday, thousands of Floridians will literally draw a line in the sand to fight near-shore oil and gas drilling. The “Hands Across the Sand” protest is aimed at putting the brakes on a proposal many feel will damage the environment and jeopardize Florida’s beach-dependent tourism industry.

Organizer Dave Rauschkolb says people will be holding hands, along beaches from Pensacola to Key West and Miami to Jacksonville, to make a point about Florida’s ecology and economy.

“Every Chamber of Commerce from Pensacola to Panama City Beach has passed resolutions against oil drilling.”

The group Defenders of Wildlife predicts that a bill to allow drilling off the Florida coastline will be the defining issue of the legislative session that begins in March; a similar measure failed last year when the state Senate refused to consider it.

Supporters of drilling say it would help ease the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and create jobs, but Shannon Miller with Florida’s Defenders of Wildlife chapter, warns the potential damage is not worth the gamble.

“It will leave us with damaged coastal and marine habitats and lead us away from a healthy, sustainable and renewable energy future.”

Rauschkolb adds Florida’s beaches are the key to the state’s economic health, and doing anything that might endanger them is a foolish risk.

“Florida’s legacy is clean water, clean beaches, sunshine, lots of fun – and why would we want to risk that coastal legacy?”

Participants in Hands Across the Sand will gather at their local beaches at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 13. For more information about the protest, see www.handsacrossthesand.org.

Special thanks to Richard Charter