560 gallons would be deemed a small spill by industry standards. But such a small spill can have large and damaging ramifications. In June of 2005, 560 gallons of light crude spilled into a national wildlife refuge south of Gulfport, Louisiana. The end effect: over 400 brown pelicans were killed. This spill occured during the evacuation of Breton Sound Platform 51 due to Tropical Storm Arlene. This alone should make you question drillers' claims that not a drop of oil has spilled as a result of hurricanes. For more information on this "incident" (that's how the industry terms them - www.incidentnews.gov), read Environmental News Service's Small Oil Spill Causes Big Trouble for Louisiana Pelicans and visit Save Our Wetlands.

It is virtually certain that if drilling is allowed in Florida's waters, then our state, our citizens, and our birds will have to wrestle with the dirtiness, dangerousness, and ugliness of oil.