Our Ocean Legacy In the News

Tallahassee Democrat 
Letters To The Editor 

An Oct. 30 Zing! implies that hurricanes cause no damage to the drilling rigs in their paths. Here are the facts:

According to the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling, hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed 113 oil platforms and damaged 457 pipelines. These hurricanes caused six oil spills of 1,000 barrels or greater into the Gulf; the largest was 3,625 barrels.

The MMS reported 124 spills totaling 741,000 gallons of petroleum from offshore rigs, platforms and pipelines caused by hurricanes in 2005. One of the larger spills occurred when a double-hulled tanker hit a submerged oil platform toppled by Hurricane Rita. A gash in the tanker's hull emptied 3 million gallons of fuel oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Opening Florida's shores to drilling would put our beaches and marine waters at great risk for a small, short-term supply of oil and gas. There are quicker, cheaper and cleaner ways to meet our nation's energy needs.

MARK FERRULO
Director, Environment Florida
mark@EnvironmentFlorida.org