Press Mention Asheville Citizen-Times May 20, 2010
SACE Quoted
Asheville vigil puts focus on all victims of oil spill
In this mention
An Asheville vigil on May 21, 2010 gathered about 20 people to protest the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and advocate for clean energy. Mandy Hancock of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy spoke about the need to change energy production methods and consider environmental implications. The article frames the disaster as a catalyst for clean energy advocacy, with protesters calling for renewable alternatives like wind power.
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Asheville vigil puts focus on
all victims of oil spill
Disaster cited in clean energy push
By Josh Boatwright • JBOATWRIGHT@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM • May 21, 2010
ASHEVILLE — As oil continued washing into the marshes of Louisiana on Thursday, a group gathered downtown in Pack Square to speak out against BP and the country's reliance on fossil fuels.
"This is a clear signal that we really need to change the way we're using and producing our energy and really consider what the implications of that energy is on our environment," said Mandy Hancock of the nonprofit Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "We can't continue to do things that will decimate entire ecosystems and multiple states' economies."
About 50 groups held vigils across the nation Thursday for those affected by the massive spill that happened one month ago in the Gulf of Mexico, said Russ Anderson, North Carolina coordinator for the Southern Energy Network, a youth-led nonprofit that promotes clean and sustainable energy.
At least 6 million gallons have gushed into the Gulf — more than half the amount the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled in Alaska in 1989 — since the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded 50 miles off the coast April 20. Eleven workers were killed.
Brown and orange globs, sheets and ribbons of foul-smelling oil the consistency of latex paint started coating the Louisiana wetlands for the first time Wednesday, and BP officials conceded the spill is bigger than previously estimated.
Anderson said BP has neglected to work with environmental groups to find better solutions to the problem, and he criticized the company for employing methods to stop the oil slick like a chemical dispersant that some lawmakers and environmentalists have said can be harmful.
"I think there's a level of responsibility in the cleanup, in how it's been handled, and there's not been a lot of transparency from BP," he said.
The 20 people who joined Anderson in front of the Vance Monument held signs stating, "This is our crude awakening," and "drill = kill" while chanting: "No more oil spills, we want windmills."
One man, apparently advocating for a different cause, stood among the group holding a sign with the Bible verse, "John 3:16."
At least one local BP station has received customer complaints about the oil spill and how long it's taken to clean up, though most the customers of the service station on east Tunnel Road are just concerned about gas prices rising as a result of the spill, store clerks said.
"They realize they're going to increase the gas prices and oil prices; they know they don't have to have much of an excuse to raise prices, so that's what they'll do," clerk Terry Trull said.