Press Mention The Post and Courier June 26, 2010
SACE Quoted
Standing against drilling
In this mention
Over 200 people participated in the "Hands Across the Sand" event at Folly Beach, South Carolina on June 26, 2010, to protest offshore drilling and America's oil dependence. Toni Reale of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy spoke at a press conference before the symbolic hand-holding event, expressing concern about the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Local officials and residents warned of the economic and environmental devastation an oil spill would bring to South Carolina's coast.
We are disheartened by the ongoing devastation in the Gulf. Tens of millions of gallons of oil are still spewing into the Gulf. Enough is enough.
Toni Reale
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Full transcript
Standing against drilling
BY WARREN WISE
The Post and Courier
Sunday, June 27, 2010
FOLLY BEACH -- Monty Miles drove down from Columbia Saturday to take a stand in the sand against offshore drilling.
"I feel that strongly about it," Miles said. "The ocean is the most important resource we have in the world."
Miles added: "I feel like our government is not taking control and stopping what's going on."
Miles wasn't alone.
More than 200 people clasped hands and stood in the surf in a quarter-mile stretch near the Folly Beach pier as part of the international movement "Hands Across the Sand" to unite against offshore drilling and urge politicians to end America's dependence on oil.
Participants joined others in more than 800 events in 35 countries.
"We are disheartened by the ongoing devastation in the Gulf," said Toni Reale of the Knoxville, Tenn.-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in a press conference prior to the symbolic hand-holding event. "Tens of millions of gallons of oil are still spewing into the Gulf. Enough is enough."
Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin looked out across the swarm of beachcombers and sunbathers from the deck of the Holiday Inn and wondered what it would look like if oil was washing up on the sandy beaches of "The Edge of America."
"The beaches would be empty, and this hotel would look like a ghost town," he said. "People are vacationing here because they have canceled their vacations on the Gulf coast. An oil spill, major or minor, near or far would just completely wipe us out here at Folly Beach."
Local geologist and boat captain Anton DuMars echoed Goodwin's sentiments.
"What if the oil came here?" he asked. "This would all be gone. The shrimpers won't have jobs. The crabbers won't have jobs. The tourists won't come here."
He said people can point fingers at BP for the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico after an offshore oil rig exploded April 20, killed 11 workers and sent more than 2.3 million barrels of oil gushing from a leak that still has not been plugged, but he said American consumers are really to blame.