Saturday, January 31, 2009

Stop Insanity Island!

Mom's sea turtle buddy Carole e-mailed us this morning about a meeting she attended on Tuesday. The meeting was sponsored by Clean Ocean Action, whose mission is to improve the degraded water quality of the marine waters off the New Jersey/New York coast. What a great idea! These guys really have their work cut out for them this time because Atlantic Sea Island Group, ExxonMobil, and Liberty Natural Gas are trying to build man-made islands off the New Jersey/New York coast that would bring us an unwanted, unneeded, foreign fossil fuel...Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). YUK!


Carole went to the meeting as a concerned citizen and an ocean lover. Over 500 people were at the meeting in Eatontown, NJ, showing once again that there is power in numbers and that we can make a difference. Almost 100 people testified and all but two opposed the project. One of the most compelling statements was made by 9-year-old Peter Donnelly, seen below, who said, "The Coast Guard's job is to protect our waters. I look to you for leadership. How can you ever think of approving this disaster? Our President said we would find clean power through wind and sun-not LNG. It's Un-American. It's time we think about the future, not just the now. The world already has put a lot on our shoulders...please don't add any more." Doesn't this just break your heart?

Carole witnesses the beauty of the ocean almost daily and she will not let anyone, big business or otherwise, destroy it. Please read what these business are proposing and then click the link to go to the Care2 Petitionsite to sign the petition. My little ocean buddies are in big trouble if these fake islands get built.

Petition to Save Our Ocean from Attacks by Big Oil
Target:New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine & New York Governor David Patterson
Sponsored by: Clean Ocean Action

Three industrial port facilities for liquefied natural gas (LNG), a polluting, climate-changing, expensive, foreign fossil fuel, are proposed just off the south shore of Long Island, New York, and the New Jersey shore, threatening our beaches, marine life, and economy--in short, our way of life. Alternatives exist and we do not need this foreign fossil fuel.
1) Atlantic Sea Island Group: ironically called, "Safe Harbor Energy," this insane proposal by a private investor firm seeks to build a massive manmade island for a LNG facility by dumping millions upon millions of tons of unknown material in the open ocean.

2)
ExxonMobil: one of the most notorious oil polluters is out to use our ocean as a lab rat with "BlueOcean Energy," a plan to build an experimental massive floating LNG terminal. A similar project was rejected by NY and CT. Also, California Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed this type of project due to threats to air quality and marine life.

3) "Liberty Natural Gas" Project: Excalibur Energy (a new conglomerate of Canadian Superior Energy and Global LNG) proposes an LNG importation facility for 15 miles off Asbury Park, NJ. The source of the LNG is drilling and extracting off Trinidad and Tobago. Thus supporting this facility would promote offshore drilling in a country that already has environmental problems with oil pollution on beaches.NY Secretary of State and Connecticut's Governor and Attorney General rejected the LNG project from Long Island Sound, and instead said to dump it off the south shore of Long Island, NY, and the NJ shore.We, the undersigned, oppose fossil fuel facilities in the ocean off New Jersey and New York, and support the Clean Ocean Zone, which would prohibit polluting and destructive activities and facilities, such as "Safe Harbor Energy," "BlueOcean Energy," and "Liberty Natural Gas."

2 comments:

lady jicky said...

This is difficult for the world wants oil so much and then there is the shocking plastic bags flooting around in the seas killing all sorts of sea wildlife!

Stubby said...

Lady Jicky - This is a very difficult and touchy situation, but there must be a better way. I cannot even think about all the plastic bags floating around in the seas - you must see some in your part of the world that have traveled all the way from the U.S. - yikes!
Give Kenzo a big hug for me. xoxo