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Gulf Oil Spill: An Open Letter From Coastal Scientists to Adm. Thad Allen

July 27, 2010 | Posted by Michael "Aquadoc" Campana
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Ken Reid sent me this letter. It’s from twenty-one coastal scientists, written by Dr. Robert (Rob) S. Young, who directs the Program for the Study of Developed Coastlines at Western Carolina University.

Download Thad Allen Letter Open Letter

The letter, addressed to Admiral Thad Allen,  expresses concern over the re-engineering projects that are being employed to mitigate the effects of the Gulf oil spill, with little regard for or study of the potential long-term impacts of these efforts:

Our concern is that the cumulative, long-term impacts of all these projects are not being examined in any scientific or thoughtful way. As individual projects, we believe that they would fail a reasonable scientific evaluation. As a cumulative re-engineering of the US Gulf coast, they become a major problem.

The letter concludes:

We urge you to halt the construction of all exisiting projects and place a hold on new permits until an expert review of the cumulative impacts of all coastal engineering in response to the spill can be conducted. We are confident that this could be done quickly, and offer any assistance needed. There is time to do this. Most of these proposed structures are not blocking oil at the moment. We are having success attacking the spill through traditional means. There is growing faith among scientists working on the ground that fisheries and ecosystems will recover from the spill, given enough time. And, there is a growing concern that all of these proposed engineering projects will do little good, waste resources, and cause greater, loing-term harm.

Sounds like a really good idea to me!

Here is a story about the letter from a New York Times blog. It includes some comments by Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA).

“No good deed goes unpunished.” – Clare Boothe Luce

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