A group from the Baum Center will clean up a section of the beach on April 18, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., in honor of Earth Day which is April 22 (It is also Good Friday).

After this, the group will return to the Baum Center for a cook-out with hot dogs, chips, baked beans and drinks. Sign up at the front desk.

As a follow-up to the March panel discussion on beach nourishment, the League of Women Voters of Dare is hosting a public “go see tour” along South Nags Head beach where the effects of beach erosion can be seen first-hand. It will be held April 15.

How beach nourishment efforts could mitigate some of the impacts as well as some of the environmental impacts of beach nourishment will be discussed.

Gathering for the tour begins at 10:30 a.m. at the parking lot located on E. Seagull Drive off S. Old Oregon Inlet Rd. The actual tour begins at 11 a.m. and will conclude around 12:30 p.m. The optional lunch will begin at 1 p.m. at Sugar Creek restaurant. For lunch reservations, call Carole Burchett at 252-261-6380. The tour is free of charge, but those attending lunch will be responsible for their own meal. The alternative rain-date will be two weeks later, Friday, April 29.

Marvin Demers, a resident of Nags Head since 2007 and one of the speakers at the recent panell presentation, will lead the tour. (Courtesy Dare LWV)

THE GOVERNOR’S OFFSHORE ENERGY COMMITTEE are shown here, from left, chairman Willis Whichard, Larry Baldwin, Gary Perry of Kitty Hawk and Milton Heath.

The public was invited to speak to this group, offering their opinions on offshore energy Thursday, March 24, in Manteo. They spoke on offshore oil drilling andwind power. Their comments would go to the Department of the Interior as it studies offshore energy policy. Whichard said following last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, oil and gas drilling won’t be allowed offshore on the mid-Atlantic coast for at least seven years.

The comments have been heard before, with Manny Medeiros repeating his oft-spoken and written opinions on wind energy, namely that it will not provide enough energy to justify the expense, and he added, federal subsidies for it is are waste of public money. “Wind power is about as advanced as it ever will be.” He said Germany is building four new coal-fired plants to back up windmills they have built.

Matt Walker of Outer Banks Surfriders said his group is opposed to offshore oil and gas drilling. He said the surfriders have gathered 2,000 signatures on a petition opposing this policy. “Don’t let the industry tell you what you want to hear,” he said. “Look for what would happen of the unexpected happens.”

Local environmentalist Jan DeBlieu of the N.C. Coastal Federation said offshore drilling is not safe, pointing to last year’s blow-out off Louisiana shores. The most practical thing we could do in the short-term, and the most effective, is making everything we use more energy-efficient, she said. If we consider wind energy, we need to make sure turbines and transmission lines are not in environmentally-sensitive areas where wildlife and fish habitat could be threatened. Community wind turbines that could provide energy for a community are feasible and could offer many benefits, she added.

Dare County attorney Ben Gallop spoke on behalf of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, urging that tourism be considered in any offshore energy policy. Tourism, he said, creates many jobs.

Wallace Harvey III said he had interviewed the head of a wind farm company which had built a huge turbine that had provided enough power to reduce the electric bills of the area it served. He said if we decide to go with a wind energy company, it should find one that would do something for the area.

By Nancy Proctor

www.obxcommongood.org

  The more I hear and listen, the more concerned I’ve become of how climate change is being presented by the media. Scare tactics don’t work. Overstatements by credible television makes it worse. On Dec. 28, I watch “Nova, Secrets beneath the Ice.”

  The introduction contains so many alarming statements, I was talking back to my television. Yes, if the total ice cap melted, London and New York would no longer exist. But why not give us information about this century, not 200 or 300 years (from) now if then. The show was interesting enough with hyperbole. Check out Nebraska Public Television site with interesting graphics.