Target: David Fotouhi, Deputy Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Goal: Stop illegal fuel dumping that endangers marine ecosystems and inhabitants.
The seas have gone quiet from the singing of blue whales. Sounds once a fixture around the ocean have followed suit (from frogs to birds), indicating something is amiss with nature. Scientists attribute the alterations of blue whale singing to a drastic drop-off in food supplies. The animals must expend more of their energy to hunt the ever-dwindling populations of krill that sustain them. Climate change is one obvious culprit of these ecosystem-wrecking cycles, but another human-inflicted action also causes great harm.
A fisherman made headlines when he posted a video to TikTok of a seeming oil slick clogging up a river. He alleged the slick resulted from fuel being consistently pumped into the water. This incident is just one example of the thousands of petroleum dumps or spills reported annually by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Everything from aviation fuel to leftover oil from companies finds its way into rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans. The cleanup – when and if it happens – almost never removes the substances entirely.
Sign the petition below to demand America’s leaders do more to curtail this clear and present danger.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Deputy Administrator Fotouhi,
Exposure to even a small amount of kerosene can kill microbial species and aquatic plants in high numbers. Just imagine how much havoc is wrought by the thousands of illegal fuel dumps and spills that happen in America every year. The effects will not be limited to waterways, as the ecosystems of the world are too closely intertwined. Contaminated water can directly impact humans, or it can take a slower but no less devastating toll by destroying food supplies in the ocean and rippling on outward.
Prevention, accountability, and punishment for any person or company that willfully and illegally contaminates rivers, lakes, and oceans must be enhanced, or this nation and this world risks a catastrophe of its own making.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Anim1754
