If oil drilling is to take place on the Atlantic coast of the United States how will it affect the Brown Pelican in Charleston, South Carolina? This question pertains to the area that I have grown up in and have fallen in love with after years of learning to appreciate my home, Charleston, South Carolina. Over the past five years my work also played a huge roll in why I chose this topic, my job is to educate people who visit Charleston about the diverse coastal environment and the animals who call it home. With prior knowledge of how and what makes Charleston's ecosystem work and knowing the harm a major disaster similar to the BP oil spill can have on environments similar to those of Charleston this question is important to me. The Brown Pelican specifically is one of my favorite animals that calls the Lowcountry home, this bird has been one I use to locate bait for fishing, a major point of my tour, and also uses an island in the river that I give tours on as it's major nesting sites in South Carolina. 

In Debbie Elliot's article "5 Years After BP Oil Spill, Effects Linger And Recovery Is Slow" the affects of the BP oil spill on the Brown Pelican's nesting area in Louisiana is discussed through a first hand account of an avid outdoorsman talking about the damage oil has had on the mangrove nesting areas of the Brown Pelican. This individual discusses the oil first hitting the coast and specifically how it affected the Brown Pelican during the peak of it's nesting season. This first hand look at the damage addresses the major issue of Pelicans and how oil can harm not only the bird, but its nesting sites as well. The author Debbie Elliot is credible in this topic because she specifically examines the effect of humans in the BP oil spill. Although there is a slight bias due to the focus of her article she also discusses how the area has recovered from the spill while still leaving the important question of how the spill will go on to affect the Louisiana coast as years go on.


Next Rob Simbeck's article "For Wildlife Watchers: Brown Pelican" discusses the history of the Brown Pelican in South Carolina and how their nesting patterns have fluctuated over the last century examining affects of natural disasters and also human interacts. This article's purpose to me is to show the significant nesting sites located in South Carolina for the Brown Pelican in order to compare the possible consequences of a major oil spill in the Atlantic to that of the BP oil spill. Rob is a credible writer for this article because he has many different works for similar magazines, books, and involvement in numerous other associations that work to protect birds and their environments.


Opposing views suggest an influx in jobs in markets pertaining to the oil industry which they say would benefit the economy enough to justify the drilling of the Atlantic. For example, in Coral Davenport's article "Obama's Plan: Allow Drilling in Atlantic, but Limit in Arctic" offers view supporting drilling in the Atlantic while also acknowledging the opposing views from several sources. This article directly addresses the potential harms that could come to coastal communities along the eastern seaboard of the United States by using the BP oil spill as an example. Coral is qualified to write about this because she reports on energy and climate change for The New York Times and whatever bias may be present is eliminated by offering up both sides of the argument in this article.

This question is arguable because it is a current issue that has major controversy that I have been able to derive a specific focus on with the Brown Pelican as the center of my argument. My sources all support my argument by providing evidence of destruction of habitat and harm done to the bird itself, due to the nature of my argument none of my sources have disagreed with each other. I cited one opposing view in the exploratory analysis that offers up supporting viewpoints, however still directly addresses the comparison I am making with the potential harm drilling in the Atlantic can have. The views of my sources have only encouraged my own and also helped me narrow down how I want to argue my point. I am considering adding another animal to my argument such as the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin or the Black Skimmer both of which can be found both in the gulf and on the coast of South Carolina.

