We have observed the cavalier attitude of Exxon and the lack of preparedness on the part of the federal government. We have seen, and Congress has seen, that oil spills cannot be cleaned up or contained with existing technology. We have watched a president who has been largely unresponsive to the disaster. And the damage in Alaska goes on and on.
During the month of May, some 40 days after the Exxon Valdez spilled eleven million gallons of oil in Prince William Sound, the spill was coming ashore over four hundred miles away in Katmai National Monument. Along three hundred miles of shoreline at Katmai, hundreds of sea otters and thousands of birds are swimming, and dying, in the relatively unweathered oil from the Exxon Valdez. Eagles, brown bears, and foxes are feeding on the oiled carcasses. Neither Exxon nor the federal government have any plans for cleaning up the spill at Katmai National Monument, nor are there plans for rescuing wildlife there. It is a remote area, off of the route of the television crews.
But the impacts of oil spills know no geographic limits, respect no wildlife habitat, and continue for decades. The coast of Washington state had a near miss during the latter part of April, when an Exxon tanker drifted without power until Canadian tugs could come to the rescue. No part of America's coastline is safe from this scale of disaster, whether it originates from a tanker or a drilling rig.
Even as the catastrophe in Prince William Sound becomes a memory to the media teams, the biological damage will go on in the fjords and estuaries. The public anger and outrage over what has happened in Alaska will continue, but eventually most people may forget their initial shock. While the images are still fresh, we must translate the outrage felt by so many Americans into legislative action in the Congress. Our uppermost goal remains permanent protection for our coastal environment through enactment of "Ocean Sanctuary" legislation.
With three more oil spills following on the heels of Valdez, the need for Ocean Sanctuary becomes even more apparent and more urgent. Americans are increasingly aware that the "greenhouse effect", which creates global warming, comes about as a result of the exploitation of fossil fuels. As contaminated medical waste washes up in beaches around the country, coastal protection has become a national political issue and candidates scramble to embrace it. And now, as the incredible scope of the tragedy in Alaska's once-pristine Prince William sound becomes apparent, the ocean environment has moved to the top of the legislative agenda.
The coast of Kansas is in California, and in Florida, and in North Carolina and New Jersey. As the nation awakens to the possibility of permanently protecting the ocean, a National Ocean Sanctuary bill is taking shape. Beyond California, coastal areas which are imminently threatened by offshore drilling include Alaska's Bristol Bay, the west coast of Florida and the Florida Keys, North Carolina's Outer Banks, the New Jersey shore, the rich fishery of New England's Georges Bank, and the entire coast of Oregon and Washington.
For now, ask your own Congressmember to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 48 in the House. In the Senate, encourage Senator Pete Wilson to become a co-sponsor of S. 49. For more information about the Ocean Sanctuary Movement, contact:
Ocean Sanctuary Coordinating Committee,
Box 498, Mendocino, CA 95460.
Ocean Protection Coalition,
P.O. Box 372, Navarro, CA 95463.
Coast Conservation Committee
P.O. Box 2330, Fr. Bragg, CA 95437
Ocean Protection League
P.O. Box 1214, Gualala, CA 95445
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2003
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited