[Coral-List] Help Ban Oil Exploration on the Belize Barrier Reef.

[Eugene Shinn]

"offshore drilling in Belize will lead to an environmental disaster 
from which Belize will never recover."
Now that is as hysterical and emotional as it can get! It would be 
good to get your facts in order before making such knee-jerk 
reactions. Several wells have already been drilled along the Belize 
shelf during the 1960s and 1970s and there were no "disasters" other 
than the fact that they did not find any oil.
It would be good to know if they (who ever they are) are planning 
deep water drilling or shallow water drilling as was done there in 
the past? It makes a big difference. Of course actual discovery of 
oil might have a large impact. It could bring big bucks and jobs to a 
relatively poor country and hopefully  bring down the cost of fuel. 
You can be sure that no one is going to drill right on top of a coral 
reef. What does a gallon of gasoline costs in Belize? I assume it is 
all transported there in tankers which is well known to be the 
largest source of oil pollution in the oceans worldwide. Gene
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No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
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E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
Marine Science Center (room 204)
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158---------------------------------- 
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