[Coral-List] Stop Belize offshore drilling

Ed Blume eblume2702 at gmail.com
Mon May 2 18:08:07 EDT 2011


With all due respect, Gene, I found a couple of your statements as over the
top as
you felt about the original post.

*You said:* 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.
*Response #1:*  Nigeria, an oil-rich poor country torn by violence.  It's
large oil resources have done little for the average person.  Belize could
follow that route, I'd suppose.
*Response #2:  **Confessions of an Economic Hit Man* by John Perkins.  He
explains how the U.S. uses various forms of economic aid to enslave
developing countries for the benefit of multinational corporations, not the
benefit of the average person.

*You said: *You can be sure that no one is going to drill right on top of a
coral
reef.
*Response: *We could be just as sure that cruise ship lines never dynamited
coral reefs to build docks.

I'd certainly raise big, bright-red flags over the possibility of oil
exploration leading to severe and unpleasant environmental and economic
consequences in Belize.  (I'm trying not to use the word disaster.)

Ed Blume
Not a scientist, but a bit of an energy geek
Madison, WI


> 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.

On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 12:48 PM, Belize Marine TREC <trec at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> I would like to hear the thoughts of other coral list members concerning
> Eugen Shinn's response to the danger of oil drilling along the second
> longest
> barrier reef in the world.  Here are some of mine.
> 1. Thank you for forwarding the article on oil exploration in Florida.
> 2. I can't really say that I appreciate being referred to as "hysterical
> and emotional" -
> lets keep your personal judgments out of it and stick to the facts.
> 3. Your work refers to exploration only - oil has been found inland in
> Belize making it
> quite possible that it will be found off shore.  The impact of oil
> extraction and a possible oil
> spill is not even touched upon and of course this is what we fear.
> 4. Your work looks at the impact on corals only.  I did not state that
> exploration would lead to an impact
> that the reef would not recover from but rather that "Belize would not
> recover from".  Belize is a small country.
> Its reputation in tourism would be seriously injured by an oil spill, to
> say nothing of the other habitats and communities of
> organisms like mangroves.  We are presently being threatened will the loss
> of our United Nations World Heritage site designation.
> 5. The contracts for exploration have not been granted to stellar companies
> that take every possible precaution and have
> impeccable safety records like "BP".  They have been granted to companies
> with no experience in oil exploration and no resources
> to deal with a spill.  This is not the U.S.  We do not have the regulations
> to minimize the chance of oil spills.
> 6. I'm surprised you didn' say, "Drill, baby, Drill" - the recent outcry in
> the U.S. to decrease gas prices.  As has been proved in the
> past -oil is a world wide commodity.  Increased domestic oil production
> does nothing to decrease the price.  It did nothing when
> Belize struck oil on land either and we have seen this by experience.  It
> also did not produce many jobs since the drillers brought
> people in from outside the country.
> 7.  Tourism and fishing make up a large percentage of our GDP.  Anyone who
> thinks an oil spill will not irreparably damage Belize does
> not know this country.  I am surprised and saddened to find such an
> attitude on the Coral list.
>
> Disappointed,
> Dr. K.C. Mattes
> www.BelizeMarineTREC.com
>
> > From: coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > Subject: Coral-List Digest, Vol 33, Issue 2
> > To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > Date: Mon, 2 May 2011 12:00:02 -0400
> >
> > Send Coral-List mailing list submissions to
> > coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> > coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >
> > You can reach the person managing the list at
> > coral-list-owner at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >
> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> > than "Re: Contents of Coral-List digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> > 1. Status of Bonaire coral reefs (Sander Scheffers)
> > 2. Help Ban Oil Exploration on the Belize Barrier Reef.
> > (Eugene Shinn)
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 09:21:38 +1000
> > From: Sander Scheffers <sander.scheffers at scu.edu.au>
> > Subject: [Coral-List] Status of Bonaire coral reefs
> > To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > Message-ID: <97FA8D45-7412-4533-8AE8-A022E6E60D01 at scu.edu.au>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> >
> > Dear colleagues,
> > Following up on the IUCN report of the Bonaire Marine Park, I would like
> to draw your attention to a recently published article in Bulletin of Marine
> Science:
> >
> > "Coral community decline at Bonaire, Southern Caribbean"
> >
> > Website:
> http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/umrsmas/bullmar/pre-prints/8737;jsessionid=3qmvimw0g0nli.alice
> >
> > Abstract:
> > We assessed the status of coral reef benthic communities at Bonaire,
> Netherlands Antilles, in December 2008 and January 2009 through aprox 5 km
> of photo transects taken at depths of 5, 10, and 20 m at 14 locations around
> the island. Univariate and multivariate analyses detected significant
> variation in benthic communities among depths and locations, as well as
> between leeward and windward sides of the island. Mean percentage cover of
> scleractinian corals ranged between 0.2 percent and 43.6 percent at the
> study sites and tended to be lowest at 5-m depth. The survey recorded 40
> scleractinian coral species from 19 genera, within 10 families. Faviidae
> were by far the most abundant scleractinian family at all depths
> (predominantly Montastraea spp.), followed by Agariciidae at 20 and 10 m,
> and by Astrocoeniidae at 5-m depth. Macroalgal cover exceeded scleractinian
> coral cover at nearly all sites, averaging 34.9 percent (all samples
> pooled), compared with a pooled mean coral cover
>  o
> > f 15.4 percent. Windward reefs were characterized by prolific growth of
> the brown algae Sargassum spp., and leeward reefs by growth of turf algae,
> Dictyota spp., Trichogloeopsis pedicellata (Howe) I. A. Abbott and Doty, and
> Lobophora variegata (Lamouroux) Womersley ex Oliveira. Damage from recent
> hurricanes was evident from the presence of toppled and fragmented corals,
> the movement of sand, and exposure of cemented Acropora cervicornis
> (Lamarck, 1816) rubble on the shallow reef platform. The combination of
> algal dominance and low to moderate coral cover are symptomatic of partly
> degraded reef systems, particularly as they coincide with elevated nutrients
> and reduced herbivory.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Sander
> >
> > Dr Sander Scheffers
> >
> > Lecturer & Senior Research Fellow Southern Cross University
> > Honorary Research Fellow University of Queensland
> > Deputy Director Southern Cross Marine Science,
> > Associate Researcher Caribbean Research Institute for Management of
> Biodiversity (CARMABI), Cura?ao (Netherlands Antilles)
> >
> > Southern Cross University
> > PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia
> > Email: sander.scheffers at scu.edu.au
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 13:18:16 -0400
> >
> From: Eugene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
> > Subject: [Coral-List] Help Ban Oil Exploration on the Belize Barrier
> > Reef.
> > To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > Message-ID: <a0623090bc9e345ca9402@[131.247.137.127]>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
> >
> > "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
> > --
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> > No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
> > ------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
> > 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----------------------------------
> > -----------------------------------
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Coral-List mailing list
> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >
> > End of Coral-List Digest, Vol 33, Issue 2
> > *****************************************
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>



More information about the Coral-List mailing list