A few excerpts from Surfing Magazine's Matt Walker who thinks you should attend the hearing on new offshore oil drilling being held in San Francisco this Thursday (4/16).
In the days before San Francisco’s public hearing on offshore energy, a note from North Carolina’s “don’t drill” delegation. All two of them.
That’s right: while every state from Virginia north sent at least one energy expert or elected politician, my home’s official opinion came down to two average shmoes. And when Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar finally asked if there was “Anyone -- ANYONE -- here from North Carolina?” Bob happened to be in the bathroom. Meaning — of more than 9 million potential voices —Salazar heard only one: mine.
We’re lucky; Georgia, South Carolina and Florida sent nobody at all. The point? You can’t count on someone else to speak your mind in these fights. So as we head toward the West Coast energy hearing in San Francisco on April 16, think long and hard on how much you can depend on your fellow surfers to show up. And, assuming they do, consider whether they will actually echo your personal views.
