[Coral-List] Trading reef destruction for progress

[Steve Palumbi]

The most telling aspect of the article to me is that there is no indication that the Army Corps ever slowed or halted dredging when their coral protection efforts failed. It appears that once a plan was in place to dredge, it was followed in spite of severe damage. And the Corps spokesperson said over and over that all regulations were followed. I suppose someone was supposed to sue them in the middle of the dredging to fix the procedures. 

Steve


**********************************
Stephen R. Palumbi
Harold A Miller Director, Hopkins Marine Station
Jane and Marshall Steel Professor of Biology
Stanford University




> On Mar 8, 2015, at 7:52 AM, Phil Dustan <dustanp at cofc.edu> wrote:
> 
> This in Sunday's NY Times concerning the dredging fiasco off Miami.
> http://nyti.ms/18rofPD
> 
> ​It really is not a surprise seeing how the economy and "progress" always
> trump conservation​. What is a surprise is that it finally got some
> national press. The premier government agencies overseeing this economic
> development project  (NOAA and the Army Corps) can't  chalk this one up to
> global warming or climate change. Anyone who has a basic understanding of
> reefs and their ecology could have predicted this would happen......
> 
> What is so sad to me is the way our government agencies get away with
> duping the nation into the allowing economic progress to overwhelm our
> natural infrastructure over and over and over.........
>  Pete Seeger asked "where have all the flowers gone" and the same question
> can be asked about  reefs..............and forests, and marshlands, and
> someday humans?
>  In a time when people become outraged about email servers and sexual
> preferences maybe, just maybe there could be a little more outrage and
> action to cease and desist the destruction of our home Biosphere.
> 
> Warm wishes to the people who allowed these permitting decisions,
>    Maybe their wisdom won't shine on Fort Lauderdale quite as brightly?
>       And maybe, hopefully, just maybe, the community of  coral reef
> science community will begin to speak out with more unity, conviction, and
> political pressure.
> 
>         Phil
> 
> -- 
> Phillip Dustan
> Department of Biology
> College of Charleston
> Charleston SC  20401
> Charleston SC
> 843 953 8086 (voice)
> 843-224-3321 (m)
> 
> *"When one tugs at a single thing in nature *
> *he finds it attached to the rest of the world."*
> *   John Muir*
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