Print

Mail

wiki links

`Stealth' clause threatens Redneck paradise

It's called the Redneck Riviera -- a thin string of islands with snow-white beaches off the coast of Mississippi that is home to an array of protected fish and birds, sea turtles and the Gulf of Mexico's largest concentration of bottlenose dolphins.

Officials have been so intent on protecting the federally designated wilderness area that even jet skis are banned from its sparkling blue waters.

But now the Gulf Islands National Seashore is under threat from what environmentalists are calling a "stealth amendment" tucked away inside the 96-page emergency military-spending bill signed by US President George W. Bush last month.

Written by Republican Senator Thad Cochran, the amendment allows the state of Mississippi to claim mineral rights under federal lands and allow drilling for natural gas under the national park. As a preliminary step it will permit seismic testing -- detonating soundwave explosions -- to locate oil and gas deposits in the park, a practice that has been linked to the deaths of whales and demonstrated to damage the hearing of fish.

Those in favor of the drilling claim federal regulation of national parks will continue to protect the islands. Jack Moody, a geologist with the Mississippi Development Authority, told the Los Angeles Times that there was no cause for alarm.

"We want the right to develop the minerals that the state owns," he said. "But that does not mean we will go through there with a bulldozer."

But environmentalists are viewing the move as the latest assault on protected lands by Republicans beholden to the oil and gas industry.

It follows the Bush administration's decision to allow oil drilling in Alaska's pristine Arctic national wildlife refuge as well as several other examples of a gradual erosion of energy development near parks, forests, grasslands and wilderness areas.

"What we have seen in recent years is the oil and gas industry drilling in places that were once sacred," said Maribeth Oakes, the director of lands protection for the environmental pressure group the Sierra Club.

"This is a clear example of an area that should be protected for people and wildlife, but they are taking a back seat to these private companies that are going to get unrestricted access to oil and gas. What we are seeing is a very unbalanced policy," she said.

Environmentalists are particularly angry because they believe the amendment was sneaked through in an attempt to avoid any public debate.

"The idea was that because it was an emergency military bill there would only be limited public debate, very few people would question or even see what was in the bill, and it would move fast. It was a stealth amendment," Oakes said.

But while the oil and gas industry may have won this battle, a recent demonstration that brought together environmentalists, fishermen and the local tourist industry suggests the war over the Gulf Islands National Seashore has only just begun.
This story has been viewed 1726 times.