Blue Voces: ‘Offshore drilling poses an imminent threat to Florida,’ says Miami-Dade Mayor
When it comes to the urgency of climate action and the need to act to curb offshore drilling, Miami Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava doesn’t mince words: “Our tourism economic is already in a tailspin; devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. Offshore drilling would be the nail in the coffin.”
While president Biden signed an executive order extending a ban on drilling in U.S. waters in the Atlantic, a small company in the Bahamas recently received permission to begin doing exploratory drilling just 150 miles from the Florida coast, according to NPR. Needless to say, this has alarmed environmentalists and a coalition has already gathered some 50,000 signatures asking the Bahamian government to cancel all oil exploration licenses and ban offshore drilling.
There is too much at stake. “It takes only one spill or accident to deprive lower-income Hispanic communities access to the shore, which is an important form of escape from the stress of urban areas where many minorities live,” says Marce Gutierrez-Graudiņš, Founder and Executive Director of Azul.
In the latest installment of #BlueVoces, Azul reached out to Miami-Dade Mayor (aka @MayorDaniella on social media) who spoke up about the urgent need to address climate change; rising sea levels, stronger storms and hotter summers.
As Mayor Levine Cava says, the time to act is NOW. Not tomorrow; not next week, in a month or next year.