![]() He suggested that it might be OK for a beach town like Old Orchard Beach in Southern Maine to adopt an ordinance against balloon releases, but that would not be practical in a northern city like Presque Isle, in far Northern Maine. I didn’t feel we needed another law for something so trivial.” Peter Lyford said he voted against the bill in committee because “I’ve had a cottage on the ocean for 15 years and I’ve never seen a balloon on it. We have laws against littering this is littering from the air.”īlume said she plans to introduce the bill again next year. Sea turtles think a busted balloon looks like a squid. “We are so reliant on our marine economy in Maine, and lobstermen report seeing balloons everywhere in the ocean. “It’s harmful to our marine species,” Blume said in a phone interview. The Maine Senate approved the bill, but it never reached the House floor. The Maine legislature considered a balloon-release ban during this year’s session, but the bill died, a victim of an overload of environmental bills, according to one of its sponsors, Democratic state Rep. ![]() ![]() Bills are still pending in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York. Of those, five failed, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Such legislation was introduced in another nine states this year. Rather, the laws govern planned releases, usually of around a dozen or more balloons. None of the laws targets an errant 2-year-old who accidentally lets go of a balloon (and who often ends up in tears). ![]() Helium balloons, their strings and ties often end up snaring birds or aquatic wildlife, or get swallowed when the animals mistake the latex or foil for food.īut opponents of bans want to keep their traditions at places such as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - where the release of thousands of balloons to the strains of “Back Home Again in Indiana” has since 1947 signaled the beginning of the Indianapolis 500 car race - and the University of Nebraska, where balloon releases herald the first touchdown of a football game.īalloon-makers also insist the latex balloons decompose eventually and pose no threat to nature.Īt least five states and around a dozen cities have regulations to limit planned balloon releases, including California, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. More states are considering banning planned releases of balloons, following the actions of coastal communities such as Ocean City, Maryland, and Nantucket, Massachusetts. “When you are out on the beach or marsh, it’s litter.” “People put them out as decoration and they almost always get away,” Rettig said. Wildlife can become tangled in them or can eat the balloon scraps, with sometimes fatal consequences. Rettig said she’s frustrated by the public’s lack of understanding about the balloons’ harm when they eventually descend. Every single time you go out on the beach.” “If you would take a walk on the refuge beach, you would gather dozens and dozens of fallen balloons. “I just want to go out there and grab it myself,” she said in a phone interview from Galloway Township, where she manages the refuge. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge about 5 miles north of Atlantic City, New Jersey. This story was updated to correct the number of months equivalent to 720 days.Ī colorful balloon floating over the wetlands might look pretty to some visitors, but it upsets Virginia Rettig when she spots one from her office window at the Edwin B.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |