Saving Seafood

Offshore drilling backers, opponents ready for North Carolina battle

August 8, 2017 — RALEIGH, N.C. — Federal regulators again want to hear what North Carolinians think about allowing oil and gas drilling off the state’s coast.

Last year, former President Barack Obama’s administration adopted a five-year energy plan that excluded drilling off the East Coast. But President Donald Trump has said he wants to see more offshore energy development, so his administration has tossed aside the 2016 plan and is starting over.

As part of that process, a public hearing was held Monday night in Wilmington, and others are set for Morehead City on Wednesday and Manteo on Thursday.

Gov. Roy Cooper said last month that he’s opposed to opening the coast to offshore exploration and drilling, saying he doesn’t think the risk to the state’s coastal tourism and commercial fishing industries of a major oil spill are worth the limited revenue North Carolina would receive from the move.

Read the full story at WRAL

SHAWN REGAN: Property Rights Help Environmentalists Protect Wildlife

August 7, 2017 — Earlier this year, President Donald Trump announced that his administration would seek to open oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The plan, outlined in Trump’s 2018 budget resolution, has reignited a long-standing debate over the oil-rich Alaskan wildlife refuge.

“Some places are so special that they should simply be off-limits,” Nicole Whittington-Evans of the Wilderness Society said at the time, arguing that the refuge is “too wild to drill” and “has values far beyond whatever oil might lie beneath it.” David Yarnold, president of the Audubon Society, said that drilling in ANWR “would cause irreversible damage to birds and one of the wildest places we have left on Earth.”

Drilling proponents cite the area’s immense energy potential. More than 10 billion barrels of oil could be tapped by developing just a small portion of the 19-million-acre refuge, according to the U.S. Geological Survey – enough to produce 1.45 million barrels per day, more than the United States imports daily from Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration claims that opening ANWR for leasing would reduce the federal deficit by $1.8 billion over the next decade.

How are these conflicting environmental and natural-resource values to be resolved? In the case of ANWR, the answer is politics. The refuge is federal land, so decisions about its management are political by their nature. Debates are often characterized as all-or-nothing decisions – either “save the Arctic” or “drill baby drill” – and when one side “wins,” another side loses.

But what would happen if ANWR were privately owned, perhaps by an environmental group?

Read the full opinion piece at the Foundation for Economic Education

Last plea to Obama on offshore drilling limits

November 17, 2016 — WASHINGTON — Oil and gas exploration in the U.S. waters of the Atlantic Ocean may put some legacy economic interests at risk, a consortium of area businesses said.

More than 10,000 business and hundreds of thousands of families tied to commercial fishing sent a letter through an Atlantic Coast business alliance to President Barack Obama urging him to hold off on expanding access to potential drillers.

Energy companies use seismic surveys to get a better understanding of the oil and gas reserve potential and some groups have expressed concern that action could have a detrimental impact on marine ecosystems. Seismic research could interfere with normal communication patterns for some marine species, though contractors said the impacts are temporary.

The consortium said in their letter to the White House that seismic work could disrupt the 1.4 million area jobs and the $95 billion in economic activity tied to regional fishing, tourism and recreation.

Read the full story at UPI

NEW JERSEY: Coastal Advocates Laud Obama Decision Not To Allow Drilling Offshore

March 16, 2016 — In a victory for coastal advocates, the Obama administration yesterday decided not to open up portions of the Atlantic seaboard to offshore oil and gas drilling.

The announcement reverses a draft proposal to open up millions of acres in the mid-Atlantic and south Atlantic by auctioning off tracts for drilling, a plan environmentalists and state lawmakers here feared would threaten New Jersey’s billion dollar tourism economy.

No drilling would have occurred off the Jersey coast or the outer continental shelf, but opponents worried that a spill off Virginia where leases were to be offered for sale could adversely effect New Jersey’s coastal environment and economy, already hard hit and not fully recovered from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

“It’s a great day for the Atlantic Ocean and the thousands of citizens who fought to protect the coast,’’ said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action. “The sea is spared from oil drilling and the horrific consequences that Big Oil brings — pollution, spills, and industrialization.’’

In releasing a five-year program for oil and gas leasing offshore, Sally Jewell, secretary of the Department of the Interior, said the proposal allowing sales to occur in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska shelved a proposed sale in the mid-Atlantic and south Atlantic.

Read the full story at NJ Spotlight

Obama Reverses Course on Drilling Off Southeast Coast

March 14, 2016 — The Obama administration is expected to withdraw its plan to permit oil and gas drilling off the southeast Atlantic coast, yielding to an outpouring of opposition from coastal communities from Virginia to Georgia but dashing the hopes and expectations of many of those states’ top leaders.

The announcement by the Interior Department, which is seen as surprising, could come as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who was not authorized to speak on the record because the plan had not been publicly disclosed.

The decision represents a reversal of President Obama’s previous offshore drilling plans, and comes as he is trying to build an ambitious environmental legacy. It could also inject the issue into the 2016 presidential campaigns, as Republican candidates vow to expand drilling.

In January 2015, Mr. Obama drew the wrath of environmentalists and high praise from the oil industry and Southeastern governors after the Interior Department put forth a proposal that would have opened much of the southeastern Atlantic coast to offshore drilling for the first time.

The proposal came after governors, state legislators and senators from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia all expressed support for the drilling. Lawmakers in the state capitals saw new drilling as creating jobs and bolstering state revenue.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Jersey Shore Rally Urges Obama Admin to #KillTheDrill, #ProtectOurAtlantic

January 31, 2016 — ASBURY PARK, N.J. – The following was released by the office of Senator Bob Menendez:

U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, and Congressman Frank Pallone (N.J.-06) today were joined by over 100 local leaders, environmental and tourism groups, Jersey Shore business owners and residents at a rally on the Asbury Park boardwalk to demand action to guard the Atlantic against offshore oil and gas exploration.

The Obama Administration is currently planning to allow oil production off the coast of Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, putting New Jersey’s economy and shore communities at significant risk of a catastrophic oil spill.  The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is expected to release its revised plan in the coming weeks.

“The Jersey Shore is one of our most precious natural resources, providing enjoyment for generations of New Jersey families and visitors alike.  An oil spill threatens everything we hold dear about the Shore—and we have to do everything in our power to prevent it from becoming a reality,” said Sen. Menendez.  “Let’s call Atlantic drilling what it is: another handout to the oil industry.  Oil companies don’t need another gift from the federal government.”

“We must stand united in protecting the people and economy of the Jersey Shore and the entire East Coast in the face of the potentially irreparable effects from drilling in the Atlantic,” said Sen. Booker. “Knowing full well the devastating economic and environmental dangers associated with catastrophic oil spills like Deepwater Horizon, we simply can’t stand idly by while our region is exposed to the same risk.”

“Allowing offshore drilling in the Atlantic would inevitably set the stage for another man-made environmental catastrophe—this time, off the Jersey Shore and up and down the East Coast,” said Rep. Pallone. “We know that the technology to drill safely does not exist and that the effects of a spill would be devastating and long-lasting.  I have said time and time again that we cannot jeopardize our state and regional economies, our environment, and our marine life to pursue a dangerous and outdated energy policy.  I urge the Administration to think twice before allowing Big Oil to endanger New Jersey’s environmental and economic well-being.”

Read the full story at Atlantic Highlands Herald

 

NORTH CAROLINA: Environmental issues roll into 2016

January 1, 2016 — Offshore drilling draws opponents

After a year of growing opposition from coastal communities against offshore drilling off the North Carolina coast, close watch will be kept on decisions in Washington in the upcoming year.

The Obama Administration is expected to release its proposed Atlantic oil leasing plan in early 2016.

To date, 93 communities along the Atlantic coast have gone on record against offshore oil and gas exploration activities.

That number includes several in the local area:

In Onslow County, the towns of Holly Ridge, Swansboro and Surf City have adopted resolutions.

In Carteret County, Emerald Isle, Morehead City and Beaufort have adopted resolutions opposing offshore drilling; and Atlantic Beach councilmen agreed to a resolution to be formally adopted this month. The Carteret County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Development Authority have also taken a stance against it.

Read the full story at Jacksonville Daily News

Nova Scotia approves oil exploration lease next to Georges Bank, entrance to Gulf of Maine

December 1, 2015 — Norwegian energy giant Statoil has received approval to explore for oil in an area next to the Georges Bank and the entrance to the Gulf of Maine, raising environmental concerns on both sides of the border.

In a move opposed by fishermen, Canadian authorities have granted the company an exploratory lease for the area 225 miles southeast of Bar Harbor and bordering on the eastern flank of Georges Bank. Environmentalists fear drilling could leave the ecologically sensitive Gulf of Maine susceptible to a catastrophic oil spill.

It would be the closest that exploratory drilling has come to Maine since the early 1980s. Five wells were drilled on the U.S. side of Georges Bank in 1981 and 1982, before U.S. and Canadian moratoriums were put in place to protect the fishing grounds.

Final approval was granted Monday afternoon as a deadline passed for federal and provincial authorities to veto a Nov. 12 recommendation by the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, an intergovernmental entity responsible for regulating petroleum activities near the province.

“We’re aware of concerns that exist, particularly from fisheries, about the effects of oil and gas activity,” said Kathleen Funke, the board’s spokeswoman. “Bidding on a license is a first step but doesn’t guarantee any work will take place in this underexplored area.”

Statoil has pledged to spend at least $82 million exploring the parcels under its six-year exclusive lease. The relatively small financial commitment suggests the company has no immediate plans to begin drilling, which is a much more expensive process that requires further approval. The company did not respond to interview requests.

Read the full story at Portland Press Herald

Georges Bank drilling moratorium extended by Nova Scotia government

November 26, 2015 — The Nova Scotia government is extending the Georges Bank moratorium on oil and gas exploration and drilling.

The fishing bank has been off limits since 1988. This extends the protection until at least 2022. Ottawa passed a similar protection bill last June. Such exploration comes under the joint jurisdiction of the provinces and federal government.

BP and Chevron have drilling and exploration rights in the region, but will remain unable to use those leases.

Two parcels just outside the exclusion boundary and buffer zone have recently been granted to Statoil Canada Ltd., a Norwegian-based oil and gas company. It has promised to spend $82 million exploring the two properties.

Read the full story at CBC News