Saving Seafood

Official: Plan to Exclude Florida From Drilling Isn’t Final

An Interior Department official says the Trump administration’s promise to exempt Florida from an offshore drilling plan is not a formal action.

January 22, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s promise to exempt Florida from an offshore drilling plan is not a formal action, an Interior Department official said Friday in a statement that Democrats said contradicted a high-profile announcement by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Zinke has proposed opening nearly all U.S. coastline to offshore oil and gas drilling, but said soon after announcing the plan that he will keep Florida “off the table” when it comes to offshore drilling.

Zinke’s Jan. 9 statement about Florida “stands on its own,” said Walter Cruickshank, the acting director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, but there’s been no formal decision on the five-year drilling plan.

“We have no formal decision yet on what’s in, or out, of the five-year program,” Cruickshank told the House Natural Resources Committee at a hearing Friday.

Zinke’s announcement about keeping Florida off the table, made during a Tallahassee news conference with Florida Gov. Rick Scott, will be part of the department’s analysis as it completes the five-year plan, Cruickshank said.

Democrats seized on the comment to accuse Zinke of playing politics by granting the Republican governor’s request to exempt Florida while ignoring nearly a dozen other states that made similar requests.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News & World Report

 

Cooper: NC will sue if it has to over offshore drilling

January 22, 2018 — WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, N.C. — Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday promised legal action if North Carolina is not exempted from the Trump Administration’s offshore drilling plans.

Florida won an exemption shortly after the administration announced plans to explore new drilling operations up and down the Atlantic Coast. The decision drew speculation that Florida was treated differently because it has a Republican governor or because President Donald Trump owns coastal property there.

But Cooper said he’ll stick with what Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said publicly at the time: That Florida’s heavy reliance on tourism and consideration of the “local and state voice” led to his decision to remove Florida from the plan.

“If that’s the reason to exempt Florida then it’s the reason to exempt North Carolina,” said Cooper, who was backed during a news conference Monday at Wrightsville Beach by locals opposed to offshore drilling.

This rationale has been repeated up and down the Atlantic Coast and in Pacific states that would also see their coasts open to offshore drilling, should the Trump Administration’s plan continue to advance on its current trajectory. Cooper joined governors from six other Atlantic states last week on a letter asking Zinke to reconsider the drilling plan. The governor also spoke to Zinke on the phone, he said, and the secretary agreed to visit North Carolina at some point.

Read the full story at WRAL

 

States seek exemptions from Trump’s offshore drilling plan, citing economic value of fisheries

January 18, 2018 — Newly released plans for an expansion of domestic offshore drilling from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump could come at a significant cost to the country’s seafood industry, according to  environmental advocates and public officials.

As the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a public comment meeting in an Annapolis, Maryland hotel on Tuesday, 16 January, those opposed to the plan met at the same hotel.

William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, reiterated his opposition to leasing drilling rights in Maryland waters and elsewhere. The bay is a critical nurturing ground for blue crabs.

“One oil spill at the wrong time at the wrong place could wipe out an entire year’s class of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, several hundred million dollars worth, and all the jobs that associate with it,” Baker said at the rally, according to the Capital Gazette.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke unveiled the administration’s proposal, which would open nearly all the country’s coastal waters for oil and gas drilling over a five-year period. Proponents of offshore drilling say it would create new jobs and reduce the country’s reliance on foreign oil supplies.

The first public meetings to receive input into the plan were held Tuesday, 16 January in Annapolis and Jackson, Mississippi. According to the Associated Press, the Mississippi meeting drew a small crowd due to snowy conditions.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

New Jersey: Local Politicians Against Offshore Drilling

January 17, 2018 — OCEAN COUNTY, N.J. — Local politicians expressed their opposition to a draft plan to open almost all of the U.S. outer continental shelf to oil and gas exploration and drilling.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced a Draft Proposed Program that initially included 47 potential lease sales to energy companies in 25 of the 26 planning areas – 19 sales off the coast of Alaska, 7 in the Pacific Region, 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, and 9 in the Atlantic Region.

County and federal elected officials representing the shore came out against this measure, sending press releases to media.

“I absolutely am opposed to any offshore drilling of any kind off the coast of New Jersey,” said Ocean County Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari, who serves as liaison to the county’s Division of Tourism and Business Development. “Drilling for oil and natural gas off our coastline would pose more problems than it would remedy.”

The Freeholders are expected to pass a resolution opposing offshore drilling at the board’s Jan. 17 meeting. It would be one of many resolutions that they have passed in opposition to drilling over the years.

Such drilling would seriously impact the county’s tourism industry, which brought $4.68 billion into the local economy in 2016, Vicari said.

“(Tourism) generates jobs, supports businesses and provides tax revenue, all of which could be endangered should offshore drilling be permitted,” Vicari said. “It doesn’t matter who proposes offshore drilling, it’s not good for New Jersey. It’s not a partisan issue.”

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) said that New Jersey and other states with serious concerns about drilling should be exempt the same way Florida is.

“Florida is not ‘unique’ in this situation,” said Smith, who has historically been against offshore drilling here. “New Jersey—along with other coastal states—has serious concerns about the potential consequences of offshore drilling and exploration for its $8 billion commercial and recreational fishing industry and its beach tourism, which contributes significantly to its over $40 billion tourism industry.”

Since Zinke said a discussion with Florida Governor Rick Scott prompted him to leave Florida out of consideration for oil and gas, Smith said he hoped Zinke would heed similar calls from New Jersey.

Zinke said in a statement recently: “President Trump has directed me to rebuild our offshore oil and gas program in a manner that supports our national energy policy and also takes into consideration the local and state voice. I support the governor’s position that Florida is unique and its coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver. As a result of discussion with Governor [Scott] and his leadership, I am removing Florida from consideration for any new oil and gas platforms.”

Smith said he sent a letter of opposition to Zinke signed by all members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation.

“Economically, this proposal will impact 1.4 million jobs and over $95 billion in gross domestic product that rely on healthy Atlantic Ocean ecosystems,” the letter stated. “We urge you to reconsider opening our coast to oil and gas exploration and development. Asserting our energy independence and protecting our environment do not have to be mutually exclusive, and we must accomplish this in a way that does not compromise our coastal waters and beaches that drive our economy.”

Even a minor oil spill could wash ashore and ruin native habitats and tourism, he said. The seismic testing can be disruptive and even fatal to marine wildlife.

Read the full story at the Jersey Shore Online

 

New York’s Gov. Cuomo to Trump: Oil drilling off NY coast would kill economy, wildlife

January 17, 2018 — Oil slicks off Coney Island. Disruptions at the largest container port on the East Coast. Empty nets for New York’s fishing industry.

With these scenarios in mind, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a formal request on Monday for New York to be exempted from the Trump administration’s proposed plan to expand offshore oil drilling to every coastal state.

Cuomo said New York state’s coastal economy generates tens of billions of dollars in economic activity and provides hundreds of thousands of jobs, all of which would be threatened by toxic chemicals released during drilling and from oil spills. There are currently no oil wells off the Atlantic coastline.

Cuomo’s letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke comes a week after Zinke said the Trump administration would allow the state of Florida to be exempted from the controversial plan, called the OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program.

According to the Associated Press, after a short meeting between Zinke and Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott at a local airport, Zinke said oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico would be “off the table” because of Florida’s reliance on tourism. Other coastal states immediately clamored to be exempt as well.

In his letter to Zinke issued on Monday, Cuomo wrote in part, “Your decision to remove Florida from consideration of any new oil and gas platforms before your department has even concluded its public fact-finding process appears arbitrary. Nevertheless, to the extent that states are exempted from consideration, New York should also be exempted.”

Cuomo said that an oil spill offshore New York’s Atlantic coast “would cripple the state’s ocean tourism economy and devastate coastal ecosystems, and toxic chemical releases associated with day-to-day drilling operations and pipeline leaks would negatively impact marine and other wildlife.” He added that just this week two of the world’s 450 remaining North Atlantic Right whales were observed off Montauk.

Read the full story at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

 

Tom Davis to Congress: ‘Oil and water should not mix’

January 17, 2018 — Below is the text of testimony state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, plans to deliver Friday, Jan. 19, before the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.

The hearing is titled “Deficiencies in the Permitting Process for Offshore Seismic Research.”

Davis provided the text to The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette on Wednesday.

1. Impact of seismic testing:

Seismic testing involves firing loud sonic guns into the ocean floor every 16 seconds to read echoes from the bottom geology, with the tests taking place over miles of ocean for months at a time. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirms that the sound from the sonic guns can be recorded from sites more than 1,860 miles away.

Scientists disagree on whether these underwater noises are lethal, but most do agree the blasts could alter sea mammals’ behavior, affecting their migration patterns, mating habits and how they communicate with each other. Most animals in the ocean use sound the way animals on land use eyesight; saturating their environment with noise will have an impact. ExxonMobil had to suspend seismic-blasts near Madagascar after more than 100 whales beached themselves. NOAA estimates that 138,000 marine animals could be injured, and 13.6 million could have their migration, feeding, or other behavioral patterns disrupted.

Seismic testing also affects commercial and recreational fishing — sonic blasts can decrease catch rates of commercial fish species by an average of 50 percent over thousands of square miles. Seismic blasting will affect fish that spawn in the rivers and estuaries all along the East Coast. A 2014 study cited by Congressmen John Rutherford (R-FL) and Don Beyer (D-VA) that found reef fish off North Carolina declined by 78 percent during seismic testing compared with peak hours when tests weren’t being conducted.

2. Results of seismic tests would be proprietary to private companies.

Proponents for testing and drilling often argue that seismic tests are necessary in order to provide coastal communities with data about oil and gas deposits off their shores that is necessary in order to assess whether it makes economic sense to move forward with drilling for those resources. But that information is considered proprietary by the private companies conducting them. Local decision makers won’t have access to it, nor will the public. Not even members of Congress can get their hands on it.

3. Damages associated with drilling.

Accidents happen in a world where human error, mechanical imperfections and coastal hurricanes all play unexpected roles. When you drill, you spill. It is inevitable. The oil industry touts a 99 percent safety record, but that 1 percent is pretty horrific for people living in the vicinity of a spill when it occurs. The federal Mineral Management Service predicts at least one oil spill a year for every 1,000 barrels in the Gulf of Mexico over the next 40 years — a spill of 10,000 barrels or more every three to four years.

We saw what happened in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 when the BP Deepwater Horizon rig spilled millions of barrels of oil into the gulf. It was a disaster, but thankfully the Gulf’s bowl-like shape contained the spill in that region. A similar spill off the Atlantic Coast would be a disaster of epic proportions. If oil entered the Gulf Stream it would be forced up into the Chesapeake Bay, the Hudson River Valley, the Gulf of Maine, the Grand Banks (some of the richest fishing grounds in the world).

The Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon blowout showed that oil cannot be removed from salt marshes and other wetland systems. It can remain in the sediments for decades, as was seen in marshes in Massachusetts. Coastal salt marshes in South Carolina are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, and nursery grounds for many estuarine and marine species. Toxic substances from oil spills, both chronic and acute, will put all of these organisms at risk.

Even if a spill never occurs — and both the oil industry and the federal government admit that spills are inevitable – there’s still an adverse impact to South Carolina’s coast in that the land-based infrastructure necessary to support offshore drilling is dirty and highly industrial. Also, the infrastructure required to transport offshore oil is devastating, e.g., a series of canals built across Louisiana wetlands to transport oil has led to vast destruction of marshlands. Healthy marshlands are a critical component of our ecosystem.

Read the rest of Davis’ future testimony at the Island Packet

 

Maine Fisheries Officials Oppose New Lobster Catch Data Requirements

January 17, 2018 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — SEAFOOD NEWS: The state’s top fisheries official says Maine lobstermen should not be subjected to stricter requirements for reporting their catch to federal regulators.

Patrick Keliher, commissioner of Maine Department of Marine Resources, also said he is confident he can convince the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to drop the idea.

The interstate fisheries commission is considering a proposal that would require all Maine lobstermen to file daily summaries of how much lobster they catch, how their fishing gear was configured, and where it was set, among other details. Now, each year Maine randomly selects 10 percent of all licensed lobstermen — roughly between 700 and 800 — to report much of the same information. But in addition to 100 percent reporting, the commission also is leaning toward requiring more specific data about where lobster gear is set, which many lobstermen consider a confidential trade secret.

The data help regulators estimate how many lobster are off the East Coast, how much gear is involved in the fishery, where and how often it is used, and how lobster fishing might overlap with other marine activities or otherwise impact the marine environment. The commission feels Maine’s data is insufficient and that its policy is unfair to other states, which require all of their lobstermen to file such reports.

Maine lobstermen, who like other fishermen generally distrust government oversight, overwhelmingly dislike the idea.

At a meeting on the topic Thursday night at the local high school, Keliher asked approximately 50 fishermen to raise their hands if they supported the proposal. None of them did.

Keliher said he understands their trepidation.

For one, the change would cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to implement, he said. Plus, the data that Maine already collects can be adjusted to give regulators the kind of broad information they want.

He told the group that he will recommend to the commission that Maine instead continue its current practice for catch reports.

“That’s what I’m going to argue for when I go down to D.C.,” next month, he said at the meeting.

At a meeting on the topic Thursday night at the local high school, Keliher asked approximately 50 fishermen to raise their hands if they supported the proposal. None of them did.

Keliher said he understands their trepidation.

For one, the change would cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to implement, he said. Plus, the data that Maine already collects can be adjusted to give regulators the kind of broad information they want.

He told the group that he will recommend to the commission that Maine instead continue its current practice for catch reports.

Many also see a mounting need for documenting the impact of lobster fishing along the East Coast, especially in federal waters, where more and more of the ocean is being eyed for various uses. Both trans-Atlantic shipping and cruise ship traffic in the Northeast have expanded significantly in recent decades. More recently, interest has soared in ocean energy development projects such as offshore wind farms, liquefied natural gas terminals and possibly oil drilling. Conservation measures to protect whales, corals, declining fish populations and marine habitat also have risen.

Many fishermen acknowledge that increased scrutiny and interest in both marine activities and conservation means they will have little choice but to provide fishing data to regulators. But some argue that better information, rather than just more, can address the need for reliable data without placing undue burdens on Maine fishermen or on the state.

“If you don’t have information, you can’t make good decisions,” said Trescott lobsterman Bill Anderson.

Maine also should try to increase the amount of data it collects on lobster fishing in federal waters, roughly more than three miles out, because that is where the overlap in designated marine uses is increasing the most, he added.

Keliher agreed with Anderson’s points. He said Maine would stop collecting reports from inactive license holders who have no worthwhile data to share and from non-commercial license holders, who fish far fewer traps and less often than commercial fishermen.

The commission is accepting public comment on the proposal until 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22. It has not set a timeline for implementing the changes.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

Gloucester Times: United against offshore drilling

January 12, 2018 — If President Trump truly wants to open the nation’s coastline to drilling for oil and gas, he’ll have a battle on his hands. And in a rare moment of political unity, he’ll have to fight both Democrats and Republicans.

The administration’s plan, announced last week by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, would open 90 percent of the nation’s coastal waters to development by private companies.

Such a free-for-all could prove disastrous for the marine environment and the industries that rely on it, such as tourism and fishing. Those economies on the Gulf Coast are still struggling to recover after the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010, the largest in American history.

Locally, the president’s proposal has once again made a target of Gloucester’s fishing industry.

America’s oldest fishing port has spent the better part of four decades fighting off attempts to turn Georges Bank into a de facto oil field, and for good reason: It’s a spectacularly bad idea.

Located about 100 miles off the coast of Cape Ann, Georges Bank, home to species ranging from cod and haddock to lobster and scallops, has long been one of the world’s richest fishing grounds. Generations of Gloucestermen have worked the waters, a tradition that continues even today in the face of heavy regulation. Georges is as much a part of Gloucester as Main Street.

Read the full editorial at the Gloucester Times

 

Massachusetts: Fed’s offshore oil plan raises local concerns

January 12, 2018 — The possibility of having an offshore oil rig a handful of miles from Cape beaches is drawing concern from elected officials and preservation groups.

The Trump administration at the turn of the new year released its draft proposal that would enable energy companies to lease large swaths of ocean and drill for oil and gas in federal waters off both coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico.

Federal waters typically begin three miles from shore.

“Reckless does not begin to describe the Trump Administration’s decision to expand offshore oil and gas drilling coast-to-coast. This unprecedented move ignores concerns expressed by military leaders and the deep and widespread bipartisan opposition voiced by municipal and state representatives,” Rep. William Keating (D-Ninth Congressional District) said in a Jan. 5 statement.

“Allowing this drilling threatens the safety of our waterfront communities, the health of our oceans, and the future of our climate – not to mention the havoc it could wreak on the local economies of coastal communities, like those across New England, who count on fresh fish and clean beaches for their seafood and tourism industries,” he added.

The five-year plan is detailed in a document titled “2019-2024 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program, and is online at boem.gov.

The proposal, a few hundred pages long and broken into geographic territories, shows Massachusetts in the northern Atlantic section. The draft proposes two leases in the north Atlantic.

Read the full story at the Wellfleet Wicked Local

 

North Carolina: Cooper Petitions For Drilling Exemption

January 12, 2018 — RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Roy Cooper Wednesday petitioned Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke to grant North Carolina an exemption from the draft plan to open U.S. coastal waters to offshore drilling, just as Zinke granted for Florida.

After Zinke’s announcement Jan. 4 that nearly all U.S. coastal waters would be opened up to allow new offshore oil and gas drilling as part of the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2019-2024– compared to the current program where 94 percent of the waters are off limits — bipartisan governors have spoken out against the plan.

On Tuesday night, Zinke tweeted that after meeting with Gov. Rick Scott, Florida would be exempted from the plan.

Cooper has since requested to discuss with Zinke the risks of seismic testing and drilling off the state’s coast and demand an exemption for North Carolina like Florida received, according to a release from the governor’s office.

“The Trump Administration, through their decision on Florida, has admitted that offshore drilling is a threat to coastal economies and tourism,” Cooper said in a statement. “Offshore drilling holds the same risks for North Carolina as it does for Florida and North Carolina deserves the same exemption. As I said last summer, not off our coast.”

Read the full story at the Coastal Review