09/26/2008
House Caves To Oil Drilling Pressure
House Democrats are planning to let a twenty-five-year ban against coastal oil drilling expire next week, which House Republicans are taking as victory in the short-sighted frenzy to "drill baby drill." Both parties have been battling for months over this issue and spiraling gas prices have added fuel to the fire even though new drilling will not impact prices at the pump. Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama--who once stood against lifting the ban--has felt the pressure and changed his stance to allow "some drilling" in order to get a more comprehensive energy policy eventually approved. The recent House concession still needs to be ratified by the Senate but it looks likely that they will follow suit. However a new President could reinstate or modify the ban "with the stroke of a pen." The Surfrider Foundation adamantly opposes opening up new areas to offshore oil drilling.
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To learn more about the dangers and futility of offshore drilling please click here.
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09/26/2008
Save Trestles—The Face Off!
The day was long, the venue was hot, the acoustics were terrible and still thousands of you showed up, stayed for hours, spoke from the heart, followed on line and sent your letters to government officials to help Save our State Parks and Trestles. Here at Surfrider we couldn't be more proud of the citizen-activist turnout and engagement at Monday's toll road hearing. You all truly rock!
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The decision on the appeal hearing will likely be made by the end of the year and we will definitely keep you posted. For a blow-by-blow account of Monday's hearing click here and remember to check out our Save Trestles blog that will be updated daily to keep you in the loop! Save Trestles!
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09/26/2008
California Sea Lions Know How To Party
This is pretty funny if it's not your boat. :) California sea lions have sunk yet another boat in Newport Harbor (it happens every couple years). The raucous pinnipeds hauled out to sun themselves on a 24-foot Star sailboat, but what is a great sun deck for one doesn't bode so well when you invite three more of your friends. The weight of all four sea lions sunk the boat. Every summer hundreds of California sea lions flock to Newport Harbor, but are expected to be on their way next month (like all the other OC-vacationing fashionistas). Could it be the abundance of fish, all the pretty boats lined up in a row or the "illegal feeding of french fries" that keeps them coming back?
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09/26/2008
"Public" Beach Access in Florida
Florida is no stranger to beach access issues and many of our local Surfrider Chapters are involved in battles to preserve public beach access in their areas. However, a recent beach access issue has brought the definition of "public" beach access into question. Developers in Collier County are trying to build a beach club next to one of the recently approved condominium projects. They're arguing that this would allow up to 250 more people public beach access, but the public in this case is not “the public” as we usually define it. It will most likely be available only to people who can both afford and qualify for membership in this beach club.
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09/12/2008
Medical Waste Dumper Confesses
As Soup reported last week, New Jersey beaches were subject to about ten recent beach closures, some of which were due to medical waste contamination. Some of the medical waste found had serial numbers so officials speculated that it was just a matter of time before the culprit was nabbed. Fifty-nine year old dentist, Thomas McFarland gave himself up late last week and admitted to dumping the medical waste in Avalon from his boat (moored behind his house). He is facing charges of unlawful discharge of a pollutant and unlawful disposal of regulated medical waste, both third-degree crimes which carry up to five years each.
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09/12/2008
Arctic Gulls Most Polluted Birds
The small ivory gull, which calls the Arctic "home" was recently deemed the most polluted bird on the planet, due to the large concentrations of PCBs and DDT found in this species' body and egg shells. Although both chemicals are banned in many countries, amounts already present in the environment from past use get concentrated in the Arctic Ocean by prevailing winds and water. The chemicals are then consumed by fish and other animals. The ivory gull—being a top predator and scavenger—consumes said fish and the tainted flesh of mammal carcasses which leads to high levels of contamination. Scientists still don't know why contamination levels in ivory gulls are so much higher than in other local birds.
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09/12/2008
Physically Challenged Gain Beach Access in Florida!
The City of Destin, Florida has given wheelchair-bound beach lovers an amazing opportunity to enjoy the surf and sand up close. The City has provided two wheelchairs with inflatable tires that are specifically designed to traverse sand. Destin's Beach Safety Patrol says the chairs have been used every day!
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09/12/2008
Costa Rican Beaches Suffer Eco-tourism Growing Pains
Thirteen Costa Rican beaches (including tourist hot spots like Puntarenas‘ province’s Jacó, Quepos, and Tambor, Guanacaste’s Playa del Coco and Limón’s Cieneguita and Portete) were all recently flagged for high fecal contamination levels. The poop pollution is coming from sewage runoff from businesses, hotels and homes that don't have adequate sewage treatment facilities. Warnings have been posted at contaminated beaches and the country's Ministry of Health recently met with the Costa Rican Water and Sanitation Institute (AyA) to try to combat this nation's water pollution issues. In the past 20 years, Costa Rica has seen a boom in eco-tourism. Ironically, as a result of this boom, the once pristine coastline now suffers from increased water quailty issues and sea turtle habitat disruption. Surfrider Foundation's Tamarindo Organizing Committee came together in 2006, to specifically combat these issues. We partner with Blue Flag, which conducts Blue Water Task Force testing on a regular basis at several beaches in the region.
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09/12/2008
Big Bucks For Bomb Removal
Surf City, New Jersey has become more than a vacation destination, it has become a mine field of World War-I era munitions that are lurking just below the sand. The materials were accidentally deposited in a beach fill project two years ago. The Army Corps of Engineers has been using metal detectors to try to locate the potentially dangerous materials (more than 1,100 pieces have been found since March 2007). However, the detectors are not strong enough to locate all the munitions so a $17 million removal project has been approved. The real kicker (as if bombs buried on your beach weren't enough) is that clean up efforts will cost triple what the beach fill costs were in the first place.
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09/03/2008
Urban Turtles?
Green sea turtles usually make their homes in tropical waters, however there is a group of "odd ball turtles" that have turned an area of the San Gabriel River (more than a mile upstream from the beach) into their regular stomping grounds. Scientists are stumped by the behavior of the seven turtles that have been discovered living in this 100-yard-wide river channel at the Los Angeles County-Orange County line. Green sea turtles are an endangered species and date back as far as 30 million years.
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