I've never been to the west coast. My brother went to UCLA, but I couldn't go to his graduation. My wife went to San Francisco before we knew each other. One of these days it's gonna be my turn to go to the West Coast. I said all that because what I say next may be mistaken for regional bias. I've never seen traffic as heavy as I've seen in pics and video from the Los Angeles area. However, when you go to your beaches you do not have to look at drilling and production platforms so close to shore that you can wade out and touch them. We have to put up with that when we go to our Alabama beaches. I believe it's the same way in Louisiana and Mississippi. I'm not sure about the Texas coast, but you cannot see these drilling and production rigs from the Florida coast. I don't have a point or conclusion yet but somethin' ain't right.

In my environmental law class over 12 years ago I did a video presentation demonstrating the aesthetic impact on our coast from these drilling operations. Most of the comments from the audience were critical because of the money the state gets from those operations so close to shore in state waters.

Now, my stepson is on Dauphin Island. He's going through classes at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab that are offered only during the summer for his marine biology program. Oil began to come up on the Dauphin Island shores yesterday - a day earlier than predicted. There is talk of evacuating the island. That means my stepson will have to go to school an extra summer to take the sea lab classes to graduate assuming that people can return to the island next summer. His degree may be on hold indefinetly or his course of study will be severely impacted because he won't get the hands-on instruction that those before him received.

Tonight, the FOX perspective was finally explained in a way that I could understand it. (I don't watch FOX so it may have been explained before tonight.) The FOX pitch is that it's the Greenies' fault because we've pushed oil companies so far off shore that they can only drill in deep water instead of in shallow water where a problem like the one we have now can be dealt with with ease. What a crock of sh*t!

This problem is overwhelming. The gulf coast has been part of my family history since I was 6 years old when I lived in Mobile and spent family weekends on Dauphin Island. We celebrated my son's birthday on the Fort Morgan Peninsula from age 8 to 20. I haven't felt this kind of hopelessness since watching the footage from New Orleans after Katrina. The only consolation is the loss of life should not be comparable.