Citizens hold vigil for oil-rig victims, disaster

Posted on by Margaret Williams

“No more oil spills! We want windmills!” they chanted, holding signs and waving to motorists passing by the Vance Monument in downtown Asheville on Thursday, May 20. The group was protesting the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which cost 11 workers their lives when the rig exploded last April and continues to spew thousands of gallons of crude into the ocean.

“Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed the terrible effects of our dirty, dangerous energy economy, from the mining disaster in West Virginia to the recent BP oil drilling disaster on the Gulf Coast,” said Russ Anderson, co-organizer of the event. “Students and young people are ready for a safe clean energy future, and we are to protect our future from the worst effects of climate change and dirty energy disasters.”

Emma Hutchins, UNCA Student and co-president of Allied Students for a Healthy Environment, added, ““With each day the United States fails to move towards a clean energy future, dangerous, dirty energy continues to hurt our communities, our health, and our environment. Polluters must pay, not the people who have been hit hardest.”

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About Margaret Williams
Editor Margaret Williams first wrote for Xpress in 1994. An Alabama native, she has lived in Western North Carolina since 1987 and completed her Masters of Liberal Arts & Sciences from UNC-Asheville in 2016. Follow me @mvwilliams
View all posts by Margaret Williams →

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5 thoughts on “Citizens hold vigil for oil-rig victims, disaster”

  1. Anne Craig

    Good for you, students! Thanks for speaking up and being visible! You are our future!

  2. isaacnd200

    I am very angry, as we are all.The practices of Big Oil, like the one responsible for the disaster in the gulf are only the tip of the iceberg..Take for instance, “BRIGHTWATER” a product made by BP, NALCO and TIORCO. This is a liquid plastic they pump into the ocean floor that absorbs into porous rock and expands to force the remaining oil out of abandoned wells. All over the world. It is practices like this that are going to be mankind’s downfall

  4. UNaffiliated Voter

    the hell you say, ‘maxine waters’ …that is anti capitalism, which is the american way…but we aint about to ‘nationalize’ oil companies…

    the ‘protesters’ should put down their signs and go BUILD some windmills if that is what they want…otherwise, they are SILLY.

  5. isaacnd200

    You think you know about what is happening in the Gulf ? I have all the secrets they are hiding, Yahoo is censoring me, get in touch with me isaacnd200(at)gmail.c0m and I will send it to you. Together, we can spread the truth

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