Dunedin Joins Hands Against Efforts To Revive Offshore Oil Drilling

DUNEDIN, FL — Blue-Green Connections, the city of Dunedin and Keep Pinellas Beautiful will take part in the national environmental initiative, Hands Across the Sand, Saturday on the Dunedin Causeway.

Residents are invited to join other beach communities around the country to protect the oceans, lakes and rivers and oppose resuming offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

The event will take place from 8 to 10:15 a.m. on the south side of the Dunedin Causeway just east of the restrooms and kayak rentals.

• 8 a.m. — registration
• 9:40 to 10 a.m. — causeway cleanup
• 10 a.m. — Words from city commissioners, staff and environmental groups
• 10 a.m. — Join hands (or not) and form a line in the sand to stand in solidarity against offshore drilling.

Sign up here.

Dunedin is the home city for the Florida Gulf Coast Hope Spot, designated areas along the Florida coastline that have been designated as critical to the health of the ocean.

Escalating gas prices in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine have fueled efforts to revitalize abandoned offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

While President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill, approved in November, includes among its climate-related plans a permanent ban on offshore drilling off the eastern Gulf Coast, oil companies are challenging that decision.

Offshore drilling has been banned in federal waters off Florida since 2006 through a series of time-limited moratoriums. The current moratorium is scheduled to expire in June 2022.

In September 2020, just weeks before the general election, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order to extend the ban for 10 more years, until 2032.

However, last year a bipartisan group of Florida representatives reintroduced legislation originally reviewed in 2019 for a permanent ban. While it passed in the House, it died when the Senate refused to vote on it.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, has continued to not only push for a permanent ban but to urge the government to close out the dilapidated oil rigs in the Gulf that leaking oil into the waters.

Biden temporarily halted new oil and gas leasing on federal land and waters a week after taking office. But after a Louisiana judge struck down his moratorium last summer and the administration says it's now legally obligated to continue leasing.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers, capitalizing on Americans' frustration over rising gas prices, have launched an effort to permit offshore drilling in state waters.

In 2018, nearly 70 percent of Floridians supported Amendment 9 banning offshore drilling for oil and natural gas on lands beneath all state waters.

Environmentalists argue that the risks of offshore drilling to the environment far outweigh pain at the pump, pointing to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf that crippled the seafood industry, hurt tourism and cost states millions to clean up.

“Big Oil is using anything they can find to try to extend the life of a dying fossil fuel industry. They are lying when they say they need more leases,” said Diane Hoskins, a campaign director with the environmental group Oceana. “We cannot drill our way out of high gas prices, and it would take years or decades for any new leases to begin producing.”

To ensure that the offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf remain shut down, Oceana, Citizens' Climate Lobby Florida and other environmental groups are mobilizing residents for a series of "gatherings," including Hands Across the Sand, intended to send a message to the president that Americans want clean energy and an end to dependence on fossil fuels.

In addition to the Dunedin event, a Hands Across the Sand event is planned Saturday in Indian Rocks Beach, 1700 Gulf Blvd., starting at 11:30 a.m.

The event is hosted by Hands Across the Sand Indian Rocks Beach and Citizens' Climate Lobby Florida. Click here to register.

Similar events will take place Saturday at Miami Beach, Fort Myers Beach, Jacksonville Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Satellite Beach and Palm Beach.

If attending Hands Across the Sand Dunedin or another event, bring sunscreen, a hat or sunglasses and a reusable water bottle. There will be a limited number of Hope Spot water bottles for sale at the Dunedin event.