Mustang Daily Staff Report
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Music and nature will join hands this Sunday when the Citizens Opposing Acoustic Seismic Testing (COAST) alliance hosts the “S.O.S. Save Our Seas” music festival in Morro Bay.
The festival is an effort “to give people information about how destructive the intensity of the seismic testing is to the oceans and other information that’s ocean-related that is key to our ocean legacy,” COAST spokesperson Mandy Davis said.
Davis is fighting to stop what she calls “the biggest threat to our local oceans.”
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is proposing to use High Energy Seismic Surveying (HESS) in the Morro Bay area to better understand the ocean fault lines in the area.
According to Davis, the incredibly loud blasts of noise the testing will emit every 15 seconds during the process will be at 250 to 260 decibels — or 60 decibels higher than the lethal level for a human being.
“It will destroy the base of the food chain anywhere within the vicinity,” Davis said. “You have to stop to consider that most marine animals rely on hearing to be able to find food, to be able to communicate, to be able basically to navigate at times. Most of those animals are very, very sensitive to sound, including marine mammals and fish species, and this will impact their ability to hear, if not deafen them. And it will absolutely kill some of those animals, if they’re too close. They’re toast.”
Davis added that the blasts will affect humans, too, namely surfers, divers, swimmers, boaters and the local fishing and eco-tourism industry.
In order to achieve COAST’s goal of “saving the seas,” Davis said a variety of groups including Mothers for Peace, ECO SLO, Pacific Wildlife, potentially Greenpeace and several others will be tabling the event while the bands are performing. In between the acts, different representatives, from the fishing industry to Davis herself, will speak onstage to educate and rally people against the testing.
The musical performers are all supporters of COAST’s goal, and are volunteering their time, Davis said. Alongside a number of solo artists, three bands will be on stage that day.
“I was stoked to get these bands,” Davis said. “We have three of the best bands in the county … What’s cool is all of the bands have different styles.”
While New Times’ “Battle of the Bands” winner Dr. Danger will provide the rhythm and blues, and Los Osos-based Matthias and the Cry is the “standard rock band,” Davis said Zongo Allstars’ Cuban fusion energy and rhythm is a blast to dance to.
“I am so ready to blow off some steam, and I am so looking forward to dancing to Zongo,” Davis said. “They are the epitome of ‘blow off some steam’ band.”
The musicians are not the only ones donating their time. The power source will also be donated, and will be solar.
“I mean, we can’t protest PG&E and use their power, can we?” Davis said.
With the increased awareness on PG&E’s seismic testing proposal, Davis said she hopes that people will leave the festival more knowledgeable on the topic, and that people will make the effort to contact the Coastal Commission to share their opinion on the testing.
Mechanical engineering senior Graham Garvin is already decidedly against the testing and believes that mapping the quake faults is unnecessary and will only cause harm to local fishing businesses and local ocean sports.
“I am familiar with the Diablo Canyon Power facility,” Garvin said. “I know the degree to which it has been built to withstand natural disasters and how it was designed. … I read from one of the designers that it will ‘sink into the earth before the cooling systems fail.’”
Davis said a number of Cal Poly students have been helping with the alliance, and she believes the younger generation should care about it most.
But, ultimately, Davis also hopes people will have a good time at the event.
“We want people to dance their little feeties off,” Davis said. “We want people to really enjoy the estuary environment. We want people to embrace their responsibility to the oceans. We want people to realize they have a choice, and they have a voice. And utilize it.”
The festival is free to attend and starts at 11 a.m. at Tidelands Park.
Allison Montroy contributed to this article.