Obama
Administration’s Final Decision Declares Open Season on the Atlantic by Big Oil
Coalition
Responds to Administration’s Hypocritical Ocean Policy--- Adds Insult to Injury
off Jersey Shore
Today,
the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced its issuance of the Record of
Decision for environmental review of geological and geophysical survey
activities associated with oil and gas exploration off the Atlantic coast,
which has been under a drilling moratorium for decades.
Upon
hearing of this development, Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean
Action, stated, “The Obama Administration has officially declared open season
on the Atlantic for Big Oil to exploit and threaten our coasts. This is
clearly hypocritical; President Obama just declared June as ‘National Oceans
Month,’ calling upon us to be good ocean stewards. Which side the of the
ocean is he on?”
The
Record of Decision brings energy companies one step closer to beginning
exploration of the mid- and south-Atlantic, from Delaware Bay to Florida, for
oil and gas reserves. Zipf pointed to the strong opposition that citizens
and elected officials in many coastal states have shown over the years to
offshore oil and gas development.
“Atlantic
coastal states have thrived for decades on clean ocean economies such as
tourism and commercial and recreational fishing. The New Jersey coastal
delegation in particular has stood firm in its resistance to offshore fossil
fuel development due to the huge risks that oil spills pose to the marine
environment. One spill could wipe out our entire coastal economy.”
Under
the President’s proposed plan, energy companies will be permitted to conduct
harmful seismic testing offshore to locate potential oil and gas
deposits. Seismic testing involves the use of arrays of airguns towed
behind a vessel that shoot extremely loud, pressurized blasts of air into the
water column. Research on impacts to marine life from seismic testing
have shown responses that range from harassment to death.
“Allowing
seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean is essentially opening the floodgates to
oil and gas development. Before an oil well is even drilled, seismic
testing could displace fisheries, deafen whales and dolphins, and interrupt
vital marine animal behaviors, such as feeding, migration, communication, and
breeding,” said Cassandra Ornell, Clean Ocean Action Staff Scientist.
“BOEM claims that the approved plan establishes ‘safeguards to reduce or
eliminate impacts to marine life.’ The only way to ensure that is to not
do seismic testing at all,” added Ornell.
This
announcement comes on the heels of the Federal government’s approval of another
seismic testing study in the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey. “New Jersey’s
marine ecosystem is already going to be subject to seismic blasting this summer
by Rutgers University for scientific research purposes. BOEM is adding
insult to injury with today’s approval of additional seismic blasting for oil
and gas development,” stated Zipf.
