Pretty lousy about the spill in Rhody. We had a small one in Boston that occured in a fairly dirty/oily area that did some damage. This spill in Narragansett looks worse <img src="/Images/Sad.gif"><!--e2-->

Here is a link to the Boston Globe article (not very infomative)
<a href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/188/metro/Oil_spill_threatens_fragile_area_of_R_I_bay+.shtml" target="_blank"><!--auto-->http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/188/metro/Oil_spill_threatens_fragile_area_of_R_I_bay+.shtml</a><!--auto-->

And to the Providence Journal (more informative)

<a href="http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/news/03938721.htm" target="_blank"><!--auto-->http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/news/03938721.htm</a><!--auto-->

Reading between the lines of the Journal article, it seems like the heavy budget cuts the Coast Guard has suffered are really hitting home. Unfortunately, most politicians seem to under appreciate the armed service that is the most important in peacetime to we who live and play along the coast. More lives will be lost, more environmental damage will occur (due to both delayed or ineffective response and less stringent enforcement) and many fisheries violators will operate with impunity because the sea-going smokies can't do their job.

You are correct, sir!! Mike, you would think that after several years of fiscal surpluss that the trend would be to maintain or at least slightly increase operations budgets of the Coasties but instead reality has the safety net pulled out from under... Imagine taking the $1500 allowance per day per boat for a cod boat to weather this synthetic storm and transferring that into operating funds. Better use of my tax dollars if it were up to me...