Saving Seafood

Maine critics throw cold water on Trump administration’s offshore drilling plan

The proposal to open 90 percent of the nation’s coastline – including the North Atlantic – to oil and gas exploration draws widespread opposition at an event held by federal officials in Augusta.

March 8, 2018 — AUGUSTA, Maine — Fishermen, environmentalists and lawmakers from Maine’s coast called on the Trump administration Wednesday to exclude the North Atlantic from a plan to potentially reopen much of the nation’s coastline to oil and gas exploration.

Representatives with the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management were in Augusta for an open house-style event to field questions about President Trump’s controversial offshore energy proposal. The draft plan released in January calls for reopening 90 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards to oil and gas drilling, a seismic shift from the 6 percent now available to energy companies. The public comment period on the draft plan closes Friday.

Just two of the 47 proposed lease sales would be in the North Atlantic region stretching from Maine to New Jersey. But the mere prospect of oil drilling in the Gulf of Maine or Georges Bank – and the accompanying environmental risks – was enough to draw more than 60 people to a pre-emptive event held before the bureau’s open house.

Kristan Porter, a fisherman from Cutler who is president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, recalled how one of his predecessors told Congress in 1970 that Maine fishermen were “100 percent against” allowing oil drilling in the Gulf of Maine. Nearly 50 years later, Porter said, nothing has changed.

“Allowing the exploration of oil and gas … could devastate our fisheries, our fishermen and our communities,” Porter said at a news conference. “Maine’s fishing industries are dependent on Maine’s clean water. Even minor spills could irreparably damage the Gulf of Maine.”

Porter was joined at the event by representatives of the Natural Resources Council of Maine and other environmental groups, the aquaculture industry, tourism advocates, and Democratic, Republican and independent politicians. All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation also oppose the plan.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Gloucester again at center of drilling fight

March 8, 2018 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — In the late-1970s, an unlikely alliance between environmentalists and commercial fishermen in this storied seaport helped block plans to open up Georges Bank to oil exploration — an effort that ultimately led to a federal moratorium on offshore drilling.

Georges Bank, a shallow and turbulent fish spawning ground southeast of Cape Ann and 100 miles east of Cape Cod, has been fished for more than 350 years. It is once again the center of a battle over drilling, this time stemming from President Donald Trump’s plan to allow private oil and gas companies to work in federal waters.

And, once again, Gloucester is poised to play an oversized role in opposing the efforts.

“It was a stupid idea back then, and it’s a stupid idea now,” said Peter Shelley, a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, which teamed up with Gloucester fisherman to fight the proposal more than three decades ago. “But yet here we are, fighting it once again. It’s ridiculous.”

The Trump administration says existing federal policy keeps 94 percent of the outer continental shelf off-limits to drilling. A five-year plan announced by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke last year would open at least 90 percent of that area beyond state waters to development by private companies.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Protesters rally against Trump’s oil drilling plans

March 6, 2018 — CONCORD, Mass. — Dozens of protesters rallied in New Hampshire on Monday against a proposal by President Donald Trump’s administration to expand offshore drilling, saying it poses a grave threat to the state’s marine ecosystem and economy.

Protesters — some carrying signs that read “Stop Big Polluters” and “No Spill No Drill No Kill”– gathered outside a Concord hotel that was hosting an information session by federal officials to explain the process that could lead to drilling for oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf in the North Atlantic. The hearing is one of 23 the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is holding on drilling plans including one in Maine on Wednesday.

Tom Irwin, director of the Conservation Law Foundation of New Hampshire, told reporters before the protest that oil and gas drilling put fisheries, tourism and recreation at risk. He said ocean resources in New England support 250,000 jobs and $17.4 billion in economic activity.

“The last thing we need are more man-made threats to our oceans and New England’s natural resources heritage,” Irwin said. “The Trump administration’s proposal ignores the will of our coastal communities and millions of Americans who have voiced their opposition to offshore drilling.”

New Hampshire’s all-Democratic Congressional delegation and Republican Gov. Chris Sununu oppose the proposal. Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, said he and a bipartisan group of lawmakers will seek to suspend House rules this week to introduce a resolution making it clear that state lawmakers also oppose it.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portsmouth Herald

 

NEW JERSEY: State Senate Van Drew-Singleton Bill to Stop Offshore Drilling Approved By Committee

March 5, 2018 — TRENTON, N.J. — Legislation sponsored by Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) and Sen. Troy Singleton (D-7th) to help stop offshore drilling in state waters was approved by the Senate Environment and Energy Committee.

The bill, referred to as “Shore Tourism and Ocean Protection (STOP) from Offshore Oil and Gas Act,” would prohibit offshore drilling for oil or natural gas in state waters and prohibit the leasing of tidal or submerged lands in state waters for oil or natural gas production, exploration or development.

“New Jersey’s coast is vital for the fishing industry and recreational fishing,” said Senator Van Drew. “It is home to a wide array of rare fish and other species and a spill in the proposed drilling areas could devastate the sensitive ecologies of the Jersey Shore. Opening up the Atlantic Ocean for offshore drilling would put at risk beaches, fisheries, and marine life all along the coast.”

New Jersey’s fishing industry supports approximately 50,000 jobs while the Jersey Shore tourism industry is worth $38 billion annually.

Read the full release at the Cape May County Herald

Trump plan to allow oil drilling off New England unites foes in opposition

March 5, 2018 — For decades, they have done battle — through street protests, in courtrooms, on Beacon Hill. It takes a lot, something broadly and viscerally opposed, to unite the traditional foes.

But the Trump administration’s new plan to allow drilling for oil and gas off the shores of New England has done just that, forging a bipartisan coalition of fishermen, environmental advocates, industry groups, and scientists against the plan.

At a recent press conference held to denounce the plan, Peter Shelley of the Conservation Law Foundation noted that the last time he stood on the same side as so many fishermen was some four decades ago, when the federal government last pressed such a proposal.

“It’s ridiculous, and very discouraging, that we’re back here 40 years later,” he said, noting that the previous coalition succeeded in blocking offshore drilling while opponents in other regions failed. “It didn’t make sense then, and it makes less sense now.”

When Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, spoke at the press conference last Monday at the New England Aquarium, she smiled at Shelley, a longtime proponent of fishing regulations.

“Here we are again,” she said, calling the drilling proposal “a disgrace.” “We’re not going to allow it to happen . . . Georges Bank is the richest fishing ground in the world. We have to protect it with our lives.”

In January, the Trump administration announced it was lifting a drilling ban and would allow prospecting for offshore oil and gas deposits in nearly all the coastal waters of the United States.

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which will oversee the permitting process, estimates that opening the proposed areas could tap some 90 billion barrels of oil and 327 trillion tons of natural gas, potentially a major boost to the nation’s energy reserves.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

Rhode Islanders march against offshore drilling

March 5, 2018 — PROVIDENCE, R.I. — More than a hundred Rhode Island residents gathered at the State House Wednesday to protest the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management proposal to lift the long-standing ban on offshore fossil fuel drilling in large swaths of US coastal waters.

The protest, organized by Save the Bay, an independent, nonprofit organization devoted to protecting and improving Narragansett Bay, was preceded by a press conference wherein several state officials spoke out against BOEM’s proposal.

Concerned RI residents packed into the State Room as Governor Gina Raimondo, Senator Dawn Euer, Mayor Scott Avedesian of Warwick and others railed against the expansion of offshore drilling in RI and elsewhere.  The proposal came after President Donald Trump’s latest executive order to reverse existing policy that protects waters from oil and gas drilling.

According to BOEM, the proposal, “The Five Year Program, is an “important component” of the President’s executive order to allow domestic oil and natural gas production “as a means to support economic growth and job creation and enhance energy security.”

“While offshore oil and gas exploration and development will never be totally risk-free, since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill, the U.S. Department of the Interior has made, and is continuing to make, substantial reforms to improve the safety and reduce the environmental impacts of OCS oil and gas activity,” reads the proposal.

However at Thursday’s press conference, Raimondo said the proposal is a “terrifying” move in the wrong direction, citing “tragedies like Exxon Valdez and the BP oil spill.”

“We should be focusing on harnessing our offshore wind power – not digging for oil off our coast. The proposal that came out of Washington in January to open up our coastal waters to offshore drilling is terrifying,” Raimondo said, to thunderous applause.  “Rhode Island won’t stand for it.”

Reaching the coastlines of all five Gulf Coasts, the long-term impacts of the Deepwater spill are still felt today, taking a devastating impacts on birds, mammals, fish, and other creatures.

Read the full story at the Narragansett Times

 

Massachusetts: Trump’s offshore drilling plan panned at hearing

March 1, 2018 — Opponents of offshore drilling on Tuesday blasted President Donald Trump’s proposal to open up the New England coast to oil and gas exploration, saying the plan threatens the state’s fishing industry, coastal economies, public health and delicate marine life.

Officials from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a informational event about Trump’s plans in the Sheraton Hotel in Boston on Tuesday, but they only took written testimony from the public. They set up booths with experts to answer questions and a broadcast a video with information about the proposal.

Opponents staged a protest in another function room. Some wore lobster and shark costumes. Others held signs that read “Drilling is Killing.” A giant inflatable whale was displayed.

“Opening up our coast to offshore drilling would be terrible for Massachusetts,” Emily Norton, chapter director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club, told a packed room of opponents. “We will be fighting this with everything we’ve got, in the courts, on the streets and at the ballot box.”

Democratic attorneys general from a dozen coastal states — including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey — have written Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke protesting the drilling plan. Tuesday’s hearing was one of dozens scheduled across the country through the end of March.

Democratic governors along both coasts unanimously oppose drilling, as do a number of Republican governors, including Massachusetts Gov. Charles Baker. Baker is scheduled to meet with Zinke on Sunday to discuss offshore drilling while he’s in Washington for the National Governors Association’s winter meeting.

Baker wrote to Zinke last year expressing concerns about the impact of oil exploration along the outer continental shelf on the state’s fishing industry and marine resources and ecosystems. He also noted the state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop offshore wind resources.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Gov. Charlie Baker, Massachusetts congressional delegation asks Trump administration to scrap offshore drilling plan

March 1, 2018 — Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and all 11 members of the state’s congressional delegation urged the Trump administration this week to back away from its plan to open new areas off the United States’ East Coast to oil and gas drilling.

Baker, a Republican, joined Massachusetts congressional Democrats in calling on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to not include Massachusetts waters in the administration’s five-year drilling plan, which seeks to open areas from Florida to Maine for oil and gas exploration purposes, in a Tuesday letter.

Noting that the North Atlantic has largely not been eligible for oil and gas drilling for more than 30 years, Baker and Massachusetts congressional lawmakers said they “unequivocally” oppose efforts to open the area up for such exploration, as proposed in the administration’s National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing program for 2019 to 2024.

The lawmakers stressed that the Outer Continental Shelf’s resources and uses “are critically important to the health and well-being of Massachusetts;” support local, state and national economies; and “are intrinsic to the social fabric and heritage of our coastal communities.”

Baker and the Massachusetts congressional delegation offered, for example, that the state’s marine economy generated a total economic impact of more than $17.3 billion in output in 2015. That included revenue from tourism, marine trades and the fishing and seafood sectors, the lawmakers said.

The Port of New Bedford, they added, “continues to be the number one port in the U.S. for landings value, while Massachusetts ranks third in the nation for fisheries landings values and fifth for volume.”

Beyond the economic impact, Baker and Massachusetts lawmakers argued that the waters of the state’s coast are a vital habitat for endangered marine species and have significant potential for sustainable renewable energy, like wind power.

Read the full story at MassLive

 

Gloucester Times: Government must listen on ocean drilling

March 1, 2018 — Opponents of drilling for oil and gas in the offshore waters of New England are legion, and they have plenty to say.

If only they could find a way to get their government to listen.

What was touted earlier this year as a public hearing on the proposal by the Bureau Ocean Energy Management was anything but Tuesday. The event, which had been postponed and seen its location shift a handful of times, could be better described as an infomercial. There were business expo-style booths aplenty at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston, and even a promotional video touting the plan.

But if you wanted to let government leaders know in person how you felt about drilling into the seabed, you were out of luck — the bureau was accepting written comments only. It’s a common tactic used by officials to stifle public debate. By accepting written comments, you can pretend you’ve listened to the people without having to actually face them in an open, public and often messy forum.

And folks in these parts are demanding to be heard on the Trump administration’s plan to open 90 percent of the nation’s offshore waters to oil and gas exploration. When it was announced a few months ago, the proposal garnered immediate praise from the giant energy conglomerates who seem to have the president’s ear on issues ranging from the Keystone XL pipeline to so-called “clean coal.” Every other interest, meanwhile, came out against the plan. Republicans and Democrats — including Gov. Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey — are united in bipartisan opposition. The commercial fishing industry and the environmental lobby, which have been bitterly at odds over the last 30 years, are standing side-by-side.

“Opening up our coast to offshore drilling would be terrible for Massachusetts,” Emily Norton of the Massachusetts Sierra Club said Tuesday. “We will be fighting this with everything we’ve got, in the courts, on the streets and at the ballot box.”

Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, who cut her political teeth opposing drilling as a member of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association (she is still the group’s vice president), noted a single leak from an oil well in an offshore fishing area “could devastate us all.”

She’s right. It would be the end of New England commercial fishing, which is less an “industry” like the oil and gas behemoths and more a loose confederation of small businesses ranging from shoreside bait and ice providers to marine repair yards to the boats themselves, the oceangoing equivalent of a mom-and-pop store. Together, however, they comprise a $7 billion-a-year piece of the economy.”

And that’s not taking into account Massachusetts’ recreational fishing and tourism businesses, which rely on clean water and pristine beaches to attract visitors.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Don’t expect oil drilling off Jersey Shore, Trump official tells N.J. Republicans

February 28, 2018 — WASHINGTON — Don’t expect to see oil rigs off the Jersey Shore.

That was the message the state’s Republican lawmakers walked away with following a meeting Tuesday with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

“If it’s not off the table, it will soon be off the table,” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., one of four GOP representatives from the state who joined other Atlantic Coast lawmakers and Zinke at the U.S. Capitol.

President Donald Trump, overturning a five-year plan that excluded the Atlantic Coast until at least 2022, proposed opening almost the entire continental shelf to oil drilling.

Zinke plans more meetings with state officials on proposal, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has planned 23 public meetings, and those who cannot attend a session can comment at www.regulations.gov by submitted by March 9, Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said.

Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., said Zinke acknowledged that the area off the coast off New Jersey met none of the criteria for opening the area to oil drilling.

Read the full story at NJ.com