BP Burning Endangered Sea Turtles ALIVE: Tantrum Tuesday
BP “controlled burns” used to contain the oil spill have new victims. Endangered sea turtles are being burned alive in Gulf. Rescuers turned away by BP.
One method employed by BP to reduce the amount of oil that reaches shore is a “controlled burn”. Shrimp boats hired by BP create a section to burn by dragging fire-resistant booms. Booms are long tubes which float on the surface and act as a barrier for floating oil slicks. The sectioned off area is called a “burn box” and it set on fire to burn up the floating oil. If sea turtles within the “burn box” zone aren’t removed they are burned alive.
A boat caption had been actively rescuing the sea turtles until BP blocked his crews from entering the burn areas where turtles are trapped.
The sea turtles affected by the oil spill are the Kemp's Ridley species which are covered by the Endangered Species Act which has criminal penalties of jail time plus civil penalties of up to $25,000 in fines. BP’s actions which may be “critical” to the clean up effort certainly violate this Act.
"They ran us out of there and then they shut us down, they would not let us get back in there," said turtle rescuer Mike Ellis in an interview with conservation biologist Catherine Craig that was posted on YouTube.com on June 13th.
How You Can Help
The first step is to sign the CREDO Action petition demanding that BP allow the rescue crews in to capture as many sea turtles as possible.
The second step is to call your Congressional Representatives immediately. The organization Contacting Congress can provide you with the phone numbers.
Tweet and share this message:
Tell BP: Stop burning endangered sea turtles alive. Take action: http://bit.ly/aFrbdv @CREDOmobile pls RT
To Learn More
- Check out the RAW story from June 20, 2010.
- Listen to the NPR broadcast from June 10, 2010.
- Read and donate to National Fish and Wildlife Federation site on gulf spill.
Thanks for listening to my rant today. Let’s ban together to make certain that the Gulf clean-up doesn’t create more disasters.
With BP’s ongoing ineptness in handling this unprecedented environmental disaster, I’ll never run out of Tantrum Tuesday topics!
