Israel, Girl Scouts tout clean energy at beach cleanup

Seven-year-old Caroline Hines marched up to Rep. Steve Israel Saturday morning, showed him a stamp of a windmill on her right hand and suggested people use wind energy instead of oil.

"I love thinking about the environment," Caroline said later. "Earth is the only planet we have so we have to keep it clean."

Caroline, of East Northport, was one of 100 Girl Scouts who picked up litter, cigarette butts, water bottles and an errant flip-flop at Crab Meadow Beach in Northport alongside Israel, who used the event as an opportunity to discuss the oil spill in the Gulf Coast and the importance of keeping Long Island's shores clean.

"We're working very hard to make sure what happened in the Gulf doesn't happen here," said Israel, adding, "It would strangle our economy, so this has got to be a major priority."

Other scouts had energy- and environmentally-conscious suggestions as well.

Olivia De Sonne Ammaccapane, 12, of Commack, who has done projects on solar panels, said America should stop its dependence on oil.

"America is use, use, throw away, throw away," she said. "We need to come up with something that we can keep and is solid forever."

Jenna Kaiser, 10, of Port Jefferson Station, has participated in many cleanups, including one at Jones Beach last month. She said she hopes Long Island's beaches remain an oil-free zone. "I think they should clean up their mess," Jenna said of the BP oil spill, "because what we do to the environment [now] can help in the future."

Israel showed the scouts the smoke stacks of the nearby Northport power plant, where tankers routinely deliver crude oil. The Town of Huntington recently updated its own plan to cope with an oil spill, beginning with first-aid response and including deployment of a boom to safely collect the oil in both the wetlands and the sand.

Likewise, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, responding to demands from Israel and other congressmen, is modeling a plan in case the oil in the Gulf reaches the Long Island Sound or the Atlantic Ocean, Israel said.

"We have to learn from the Gulf that you can't have a 40-year plan on a shelf," Israel said. "What happened in the Gulf of Mexico is a teachable moment for us to get our act together now."