Posted by mike on May 18, 2001 at 14:50:20:
In Reply to: Support and Opposition Details posted by Eric Frasco on May 18, 2001 at 14:30:36:
now i will chime in again, by saying that many of the NRDC, Sierra Club and others have never even been in the f**king water, know nothing of marine biology, are reflexively opposed to anything that would even seem to remotely benefit the oil companies etc etc. As for these "student groups" they are beyond my contempt. I was in several of these "student groups" as an undergrad, an its mostly a contest to see who is the most politically correct. The student groups on the left have about as much credibility as the oil companies on the right. Notice that their objections are largely based on legal technicalities. Get those legal objections placated and see what reasons the opposition comes up with then!
as for the scientific evidence; the folks at UCSB are supposedly undertaking a 3 to 5 year research project to determine whether or not the rigs enhance productivity.
I would argue, that there is no scientific evidence that the simple presence of a steel jacket (minus the oil spills, grounded tankers, global warming ..etc) DECREASES productivity. We simply don't have peer-reviewed evidence either way. Anecdotal evidence however supports keeping the jackets in place.