As we witness a major environmental disaster unfold in the Gulf of Mexico, it's time for President Obama to reconsider his recent support for more drilling off our nation's shores.

Tell the president and his administration to reject new drilling off America's coasts.

By Wednesday, the oil slick emanating from BP's Deepwater Horizon rig had spread over 3,200 square miles of the Gulf. That's more than three times the size of Rhode Island and the slick is growing by the hour.

It's hard to overstate the likely ecological damage. Already, as much as 200,000 gallons of oil per day are bubbling up through waters populated with endangered bluefin tuna and sperm whales. The Breton Island National Wildlife Refuge -- established 100 years ago by Teddy Roosevelt and home to thousands of brown pelicans -- stands right in the oil slick's path. As the oil oozes towards the shore, Louisiana's famed seafood -- fish, shellfish, oysters -- will be hit hard as well.

This is the catastrophe that the oil industry has been telling us is impossible. We can expand drilling, they've told us, because new technology has made drilling "clean and safe." As it turns out, not so much.

Yet it was just a few weeks ago that the Obama administration announced plans to open another 165 million acres off our Atlantic coast (an area almost the size of Texas), and another 40 million acres off Florida's west coast, to more oil drilling. The administration's Minerals Management Service is accepting public comments on part of their offshore drilling plan now.

http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/action/oceans/gulf-oil-spill-disaster?id4=ES

Last fall, the governor of California reversed his earlier opposition to offshore drilling and backed a plan to drill off of Santa Barbara. Luckily, this proposal was defeated, but these threats will surface again, which is why increased protection is needed.

This should be, as the president himself might say, a "teachable moment." As Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, a recent supporter of some offshore drilling until he flew over the spill, said, "If this doesn't give somebody pause, there's something wrong."

Disasters happen, especially when drilling holes thousands of feet into the ocean floor for an inherently dirty fuel. Tell the Obama administration that "drill, baby, drill" is not the answer to our nation's energy future.
posted by Brandy at 10:56 AM

Brian Toth and Gabe Kling got into town yesterday. Today we went down to Salt Creek to get some shredding done in preparation for next week's 6-Star Prime contest at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, Ca. When Kling & I pulled into the parking lot this is what we were greeted with from Tothy. Now, I'm not sure but I think Tothy jogged here from Puerto Rico. Either way the kid was looking fit as a fiddle and ready to do battle at the comp and if that doesn't work out he could jump into a triathlon.
posted by Brandy at 6:05 PM

If you are in the North Florida area then get ready for the Cinco de Mayo surf contest this Sunday In St. Augustine. Check the Surf Station's website for more information and look out for Zander Morton who will be not only running the event but also surfing in it as well.
posted by Brandy at 8:56 AM

Brian Toth posted some video on his blog, the Toth Froth, from when he was in Scotland while the volcano in Iceland was erupting. Toth and the rest of the ASP touring crew got stranded for a week after the Cold Water Classic was over because all air travel was grounded due to the ash cloud spewing over Europe.
posted by Brandy at 1:21 PM

Ricky Whitlock just tweeted the following - got 2nd in the Sun Diego comp. Got a 9.25 on my first wave but couldn't get a 2nd score! Congrats to Timmy Reyes! I’ll get u next time! The Pro/Am comp was at Mission Beach, San Diego and Whitlock picks up $800 for second place and more importantly he remains in the hunt for the overall tour title with one contest left. The last event is at Oceanside Harbor May 22nd and is triple AAA rated so a big result will be needed for Whitlock to secure the $10K bonus that comes along with winning the title.
posted by Brandy at 4:06 PM

Happy Earth Day everyone! Can you imagine if our oceans got as polluted with plastic and trash as in the video above? That's the way we're heading if we don't change our habits. At Matix we are trying our best to change our ways. Read the press release below on our latest green initiative. What you may not realize is that almost every company out there ships their products from factory to warehouse to retail in a plastic bag or some kind of packaging where it gets removed before making it on a stores shelves. We are talking about a lot of trash and plastic so the step we have taken is a big one. Please do something good today for our environment and get out in nature, hopefully in the surf!

Starting with our Spring 2010 line over 70% of Matix goods sold are packaged in OXO-BIODEGRADABLE polybags as part of the Matix Pollution Solution program.

Conventional Plastic remains in the environment for hundreds of thousands of years. Plastics block sewers and drains, they kill wildlife in the rivers and oceans, and they pollute our streets, beaches and countryside and Matix is doing the best it can to reduce our company's dependence on harmful plastics.

OXO-BIODEGRADABLE plastics are entirely compatible with recycling and are Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) Certified. OXO-BIODEGRADBLE plastic harmlessly fragments and biodegrades into nothing more than water, with a tiny amount of Humus carbon dioxide.

The Matix Pollution Solution program was initiated in 2008 with the removal of the plastic "Shred-it Card" that came standard on all Matix boardshorts. Those were replaced with one biodegradable Pollution Solution trash bag in an effort to encourage everyone to pick up just one bag of trash when they hit the beach, imagine the positive impact on the environment if everyone did so! Matix would like to encourage everyone out there to reduce, reuse and recycle, as we can either be part of the problem or part of the solution. Be part of the solution and protect what you enjoy!

The other 30% of our goods sold are packaged in #4 low-density polyethylene (LDPE) poly bags, which are safe and recyclable. We will continue our efforts till 100% of Matix goods are sold in biodegradable polybags.

posted by Brandy at 9:26 AM

I want to start out by congratulating Sebastian "Bash" Mendes making the finals and placing 6th in the Micro Grom Division at the WSA at Salt Creek, Ca. Bash is on the far left in the photo with the Matix tail pad. Brian Toth made it from Scotland down to London but won't be making it back to Puerto Rico in time for today's Rip Curl Pro Search press conference which will be taking place on Tothy's home island later this year.

Tomorrow is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day and want to encourage each and everyone out there to get a little more green the just on St. Paddy's Day.

To a sea turtle, a plastic bag floating in the ocean looks a lot like dinner: a jellyfish, to be precise. That's why the plastic bags that find their way into the Pacific pose an often fatal risk to wildlife.

California uses 19 billion plastic bags per year.

A key committee has approved a bill to ban single-use plastic grocery bags. This one simple step could have a huge impact, but it's going to take a big push to win the votes we need for final passage.

Tell your state senator and assemblymember to support the ban on bags!

It might seem like a simple step -- just having everyone get reusable grocery bags -- but it could have a big impact on how much waste we're contributing to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and lead the way for other states to join in.

That's because we use a lot of bags. If you put 19 billion bags end to end, you could cover the distance between the earth and the moon ... 15 times.

Despite recent efforts to beef up recycling programs, very few of California's 19 billion plastic bags, less than 5 percent, get recycled. And all those bags have to go somewhere -- it isn't surprising that so many of them end up in the ocean, after being blown into rivers, storm drains or off the beach.

Heavy industry opposition is expected -- The American Chemistry Council and other plastics industry lobbying groups have fought these kind of measures in the past.

They started a front-group called "Save the Plastic Bag!" to fight a Seattle-area measure to encourage re-usable bags. And in Sacramento last year, they brought in a panel of lobbyists to talk about how banning Styrofoam would hurt business, and even the planet, as ridiculous as that sounds.

That's why California needs you to help us build support by e-mailing your state senator and assemblymember.

http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/action/oceans/bag-ban?id4=es
posted by Brandy at 11:18 AM