Myrtle Beach Sun News
December 22, 2017
I didn’t know that I was an environmental zealot until I read Stephen Goldfinch’s opinion piece in the Sun News. All this time I thought I was opposed to seismic testing and offshore oil and gas drilling for other reasons. (By the way I put drilling for oil and gas together because you can’t have one without the other. Like a horse and carriage they go together. Testing, which is proprietary information not available to the public, only shows the possibility of deposits. You have to drill to find out for sure. Deep Water Horizon was an exploratory drill.)
I’m opposed to testing and drilling because as an Eagle Scout I learned to appreciate and care for creation. Does that mean the Boy Scouts of America is full of environmental zealots?
I’m opposed to testing and drilling because I studied economics at Georgia Tech. Even with the best estimates of oil and gas revenue, tourism outperforms oil and gas 27-1. And according to professors at Tech, the longterm energy future is renewables; solar, wind, tides, etc. Does that mean that Georgia Tech is full of environmental zealots?
I’m opposed to testing and drilling because as an infantry officer in the Army I saw what human error can do. This notion was underlined for me when as a Congressional staffer I worked for a member of Congress whose committee was charged with the responsibility of cleaning up the Exxon Vadez spill years ago. (It is still not totally cleaned up.) The cause: human error. Does that mean that those who are concerned about human error are environmental zealots?
Finally, as a Presbyterian minister, I believe we are called to be good stewards of God’s creation. Does that mean that people who oppose testing and drilling for faith reasons are environmental zealots?
Mr. Goldfinch seems to be saying that thousands of regular folks and all the county and city councils, mayors, members of the state legislature and Congressmen up and down the coast are environmental zealots or at the least their puppets. Caveat Emptor, Buyer Beware.
Jim Watkins
Pawleys Island
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article191297414.html#storylink=cpy