http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/mar/24/mark-strain-mark—oil-and-tourism-not-good-mix/
Naples News
On The Mark – Oil and tourism: Not a good mix
By MARK STRAIN
Posted March 24, 2010 at 5:18 p.m.
It is surprising how quickly some Floridians are willing to reduce their standards if there’s money involved. It was easy during the boom years to initiate costly government programs, yet when the easy money is gone, instead of cutting not-so-necessary programs the first thing some elected officials do is support sources of revenue they may never have considered in the past. The most recent is offshore oil drilling.
There is a wide range of estimated revenues that could be realized by Florida from offshore oil royalties in addition to the benefit of the thousands of new jobs that would be created. But oil derricks moving into areas close to our shorelines can also have a negative impact on another industry that brings in a lot of revenue and provides a lot of jobs: tourism. Tourism figures are not estimated, they are real and well documented. Yet we are seriously considering jeopardizing not only that industry, but our fragile ecology as well in exchange for some quick money from a non-renewable resource.
Oil drilling is not foolproof and with the constant threat of annual hurricanes it would only be a matter of time before large blobs of black goo start to show up on our beaches. As someone who spent nearly two decades living in an oil area in Southern California, I can attest that the damage to the shoreline from oil is very real. One oil spill would eliminate millions in tourist revenue and we can certainly count on more than one occurring. While technology may have advanced a long way and some believe it to be foolproof, nature is not.
It is absurd to think the fact that oil derricks would be small, hard to distinguish silhouettes on the horizon, would mitigate their presence. Their appearance is far from the point. Our beaches are the asset that drives local tourism and a recreational source that many of us constantly enjoy. There is no comparison to losing that amenity in exchange for oil royalties.
When talking about oil it is easy to claim patriotism is the reason why we need to take action. Such claims stir folks up, especially in hard times. Our oil dependency needs to stop, but the best way for that to happen is not with a quick fix of oil from the Gulf. Oil from anywhere is non-renewable and has consequences to our environment that are still not completely known, despite being constantly debated. Drilling for more oil in very limited quantities at such high risks does nothing for America’s oil dependency.
For America, oil is easy. It is much easier for Americans to sit back on their laurels and enjoy the benefits of petroleum over the hardship and challenge of inventing new and alternative resources to meet our needs. Our country was founded by men and women of invention, who would try new things and fight with a problem until a solution was found.
That was once our way. Like many other aspects of our lives, until we reach a crisis we tend to not work as hard as we could. Making oil easier will only slightly delay the inevitable crisis we will have if we are not pushed harder to find viable alternatives. We can do it; the incentive just needs to be realized sooner rather than later.
We do not need to buy into the oil pitch. Politicians like to claim the only alternative to less revenue is cutting popular programs. If they were working for the interests of the citizens who elected them they would be cutting government waste, which includes the perks, benefits and freebies they all enjoy at our expense. We can survive without oil royalties. Less easy oil will strengthen America; not make us more dependent.
Many people were riled up over a potential challenge when Moraya Bay reduced the public use of a fractional piece of the beach; just one mistake on an oil rig will have far greater impacts on use of our beaches.