New drilling puts coastline at risk

July 20, 2008

In the summer of 1984 my family vacationed in California. During our drive down the coast, we stopped overnight at a campground just north of Santa Barbara, a beautiful setting overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In the evening we took our blanket and towels and walked to the deserted, sandy beach.

While walking across the sand, we noticed black spots on the bottoms of our bare feet.

We soon realized the entire beach was covered with small globules of oil. Now we understood why we had he beach to ourselves ("Its time to drill for oil, Bush tells Congress," July 13).

Later, I asked the campground attendant if there had been an offshore oil spill. I still remember his response: "Yes, about 15 years ago."

Imagine the economic and quality-of-life impact of such a spill off the coast of the Delmarva Peninsula.

George Demko

Salisbury

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