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Here's beach; here's beach with oil spill

Protesters use trash bags to show beachgoers what an offshore oil spill would look like during a rally at Howard Park in Tarpon Springs.

By JANE MADDEN WELCH
Published July 3, 2006

TARPON SPRINGS - The worst case scenario was represented by black plastic trash bags held in place with seaweed and sand at Fred Howard Park.

Tarpon Springs resident Sue Salhany spread out the trash bags Saturday morning with her daughter Shannon Iacovacci, a marine biology student at St. Petersburg College. The black bags covered an area about 6 feet wide and 25 feet long parallel to the shore. They were meant to show what would happen to the beach in an offshore oil spill.

"I don't think we're that desperate for oil that we have to risk Florida's tourism industry or our natural resources," Salhany said.

She drives a hybrid vehicle and e-mails her legislators twice a month, but she said that's not enough.

"This is my back yard," she said. "This beach could potentially be severely damaged by an oil spill."

About 30 protesters and a half dozen candidates for state or county offices attended the rally, organized by the nonprofit group Communities in Aid and the Sierra Club.

Chris Hrabovsky, Democratic candidate for Florida House District 45, led the crowd in a chant: "Say no to oil!"

"I believe that the people of the United States have been lied to about oil," he said.

He wants to see support for alternative sources of power, including solar, water and wind.

"That's why we're out here today," he said, "People are sick and tired of the games."

They may be fighting a losing battle. The U.S. House passed a sweeping bill Thursday to reduce restrictions on oil drilling off the nation's coasts. It would allow drilling as close as 50 miles offshore and would give states the option of voting to keep it as far as 100 miles offshore or to allow it as close as 3 miles from the beach. Fourteen Florida delegates voted for the measure, 11 against.

The Senate must pass its own version of the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act before it is sent to the president to possibly become law.

The Tarpon Springs rally was one of many organized in coastal communities nationwide to oppose legislation that reduces restrictions on offshore oil drilling. A similar event in St. Pete Beach on Saturday drew more than 125 supporters.

"I caught wind of the event in south county and thought we needed one in north county, too," said Christine Stover of Communities in Aid, volunteer organizer of the Howard Park rally.

Stover lives in Tarpon Springs and said she frequently visits Pinellas beaches, especially Howard Park, with her two children.

The rally took place on the south end of the beach area at Howard Park, where the mock oil spill reflected the hot morning sun and caught the attention of other park visitors.

"This is great. I'm excited," Stover said. "We're all here for the same thing, a gathering of like-minded people concerned about our beaches."

Gail Parsons drove from Odessa to attend the event. A Sierra Club member, Parsons recently went to Tallahassee to oppose oil drilling.

"I've been to a lot of beaches," said Parsons, a Florida native for 66 years. "There are no beaches like our beaches."

Organizers had intended to gather signatures on a petition opposing the proposed law but were told by parks officials that they needed a permit for that.

At 10:40 a.m., the rally disbanded. Plastic beach balls with "Clean Beaches, No Drilling" written on them were handed out to children. The trash bags were removed from the sand - a lot faster than a sticky layer of oil could be - to be reused under mulch for weed control.

Keeping an eye on her two children, Kristina Wallen of New Port Richey sat on the beach under an umbrella. When told what the rally was about, she said she agreed with the purpose but wasn't optimistic about the outcome.

"Everybody has a say," she said. "Most likely their say won't be heard."

[Last modified July 2, 2006, 21:05:58]