An Appeal from Clean Energy/Clean Oceans Committee Chair Flo Ann Norvell

Why aren't we winning more battles on behalf of the Planet's oceans? Why are the fish kills growing? Why do aging rust buckets still ply the sea with their poisonous cargoes? The wreck of the 26-year-old Prestige off the Spanish coast is yet another oil disaster, with twice as much oil aboard as leaked from the Exxon Valdez. Beaches continue to be blackened and rich fishing grounds destroyed.

The oil industry is winning its war on the planet. According to a new report by the Environmental Protection Agency, nearly half of United States coastal waters are so polluted that marine life has disappeared. Aquatic life in our estuaries, the nurseries of the ocean, are being choked by the runoff of pollution from farms, lawns, roads, industries, and by thoughtless drivers who change their motor oil on city streets and let it drain, ultimately out to sea.

Clean oceans demand a Clean Energy policy and there too we are suffering a defeat. In 1985, the Department of Energy predicted that, with sufficient funding, renewable energy and energy efficiency could meet 100% of America's energy demands. It is now 18 years later. Since this report was issued, the funding for clean energy research and development has been cut 83%.

estimated to cost a trillion dollars. Only $5 billion of that trillion dollars would bring a solar-hydrogen economy to America in five years.

So then, how do we get more political clout for clean energy in order to have clean oceans? How do we get organized? Mendocino Group's Ocean Sanctuary Committee has proposed to Executive Director, Carl Pope and President, Jennifer Ferenstein that we could start with a Sierra Club Membership Drive targeting the 139 million coastal dwellers or "water voters." Those 139 million people, who live on or near America's coasts, including the Great Lakes, make up half of the nation's voters. They could be organized to speak out with one voice in opposing apocalyptic water pollution and the exponential disappearance of our fisheries.

That's a lot of political clout. The Committee speculated that surely out of the 139 million coastal dwellers, a half-million new members could be found who would vote the coast.