{"id":501,"date":"2010-05-11T18:45:43","date_gmt":"2010-05-11T18:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/?p=501"},"modified":"2010-05-12T18:50:35","modified_gmt":"2010-05-12T18:50:35","slug":"miami-herald-activists-protest-offshore-drilling-at-miami-beach-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/2010\/05\/11\/miami-herald-activists-protest-offshore-drilling-at-miami-beach-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Herald: Activists protest offshore drilling at Miami Beach rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/2010\/05\/11\/1624127\/activists-protest-offshore-drilling.html<\/a><\/p>\n

BY JENNIFER LEBOVICH<\/p>\n

JLEBOVICH@MIAMIHERALD.COM<\/a><\/p>\n

Environmental activists rallied against offshore drilling Tuesday
\nmorning in Miami Beach.<\/p>\n

With large, black-plastic tarps — meant to replicate oil slicks —
\nblowing in the wind, several dozen people passed over sunbathers and
\ntourists in beach chairs in an attempt to show the impact oil would
\nhave on the pristine beaches.<\/p>\n

“The cost of offshore oil drilling is tremendous,” said Jonathan
\nUllman of the Sierra Club and one of the organizers of Tuesday’s
\nevent. “We’re seeing the environmental loss, the tourism loss. We’re
\ncalling for no more offshore oil drilling.”<\/p>\n

Representatives from groups that included the Sierra Club, Greenpeace
\nand Surfrider gathered with politicians on the beach off of Ninth
\nAvenue and Ocean Drive.<\/p>\n

“Let me assure you of something, if the oil lobby has the opportunity
\nto put rigs within four miles of our coast, they’ll do it,” said Sen.
\nDan Gelber, a Democratic candidate for Florida attorney general, who
\nlast week joined other Democrats in calling for a special session to
\nput a drilling ban on the November ballot. “This is our time to stand
\nup . . . so Florida can say we do not want oil rigs near our shore.”<\/p>\n

Gelber was joined by commissioners from Miami Beach, who also called
\non emergency managers in Miami-Dade County to be prepared should the
\noil slick come to South Florida.<\/p>\n

Adding his voice to those opposing oil drilling was Joe Garcia, who is
\nvying for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart,
\nwhose district spans western Miami-Dade, eastern Collier and Monroe
\ncounties.<\/p>\n

“I oppose drilling for oil anywhere near Florida’s beaches,” said
\nGarcia. “It’s simply a risky proposition that Florida cannot afford.
\nThis issue goes beyond party lines.”<\/p>\n

The ralliers held signs that read “Save our state” and “Clean
\nbeaches are our birthright.”<\/p>\n

One surfer was painted in head-to-toe black, holding a blackened surfboard.<\/p>\n

Their message didn’t resonate with Krisann Robar, 40, visiting from Wisconsin.
\n“I personally think we need to drill more,” said Robar, who
\nidentified herself as a Tea Party member.<\/p>\n

The protesters tried to pass over the sunbathing Robar with the
\nmakeshift oil slick, but she declined.<\/p>\n

“We need to find out what happened and make it safer for next time,”
\nshe said about the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig.<\/p>\n

Special thanks to Richard Charter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/2010\/05\/11\/1624127\/activists-protest-offshore-drilling.html BY JENNIFER LEBOVICH JLEBOVICH@MIAMIHERALD.COM Environmental activists rallied against offshore drilling Tuesday morning in Miami Beach. With large, black-plastic tarps — meant to replicate oil slicks — blowing in the wind, several dozen people passed over sunbathers and tourists in beach chairs in an attempt to show the impact oil would have on the pristine … Continue reading Miami Herald: Activists protest offshore drilling at Miami Beach rally<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":508,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions\/508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}