http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/11/1624127/activists-protest-offshore-drilling.html
BY JENNIFER LEBOVICH
Environmental activists rallied against offshore drilling Tuesday
morning in Miami Beach.
With large, black-plastic tarps — meant to replicate oil slicks —
blowing in the wind, several dozen people passed over sunbathers and
tourists in beach chairs in an attempt to show the impact oil would
have on the pristine beaches.
“The cost of offshore oil drilling is tremendous,” said Jonathan
Ullman of the Sierra Club and one of the organizers of Tuesday’s
event. “We’re seeing the environmental loss, the tourism loss. We’re
calling for no more offshore oil drilling.”
Representatives from groups that included the Sierra Club, Greenpeace
and Surfrider gathered with politicians on the beach off of Ninth
Avenue and Ocean Drive.
“Let me assure you of something, if the oil lobby has the opportunity
to put rigs within four miles of our coast, they’ll do it,” said Sen.
Dan Gelber, a Democratic candidate for Florida attorney general, who
last week joined other Democrats in calling for a special session to
put a drilling ban on the November ballot. “This is our time to stand
up . . . so Florida can say we do not want oil rigs near our shore.”
Gelber was joined by commissioners from Miami Beach, who also called
on emergency managers in Miami-Dade County to be prepared should the
oil slick come to South Florida.
Adding his voice to those opposing oil drilling was Joe Garcia, who is
vying for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart,
whose district spans western Miami-Dade, eastern Collier and Monroe
counties.
“I oppose drilling for oil anywhere near Florida’s beaches,” said
Garcia. “It’s simply a risky proposition that Florida cannot afford.
This issue goes beyond party lines.”
The ralliers held signs that read “Save our state” and “Clean
beaches are our birthright.”
One surfer was painted in head-to-toe black, holding a blackened surfboard.
Their message didn’t resonate with Krisann Robar, 40, visiting from Wisconsin.
“I personally think we need to drill more,” said Robar, who
identified herself as a Tea Party member.
The protesters tried to pass over the sunbathing Robar with the
makeshift oil slick, but she declined.
“We need to find out what happened and make it safer for next time,”
she said about the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig.
Special thanks to Richard Charter