More Details on the President's Atlantic Ocean Oil and Gas Survey Announcement

This week, President Obama launched an attack on the Atlantic -  proposing seismic surveys to blast the ocean floor - reversing over 30 years of protection from offshore drilling.

Seismic surveys involve towing airgun arrays behind survey ships, blasting soundwaves through the ocean, the ocean floor, and down to where oil deposits are, and recording those soundwaves that bounce back (description here).  These surveys can harm marine life and cause noise pollution over vast areas of the ocean. This the first step toward oil drilling in the U.S. Atlantic ocean waters and prolonging our addiction to fossil fuels, and can include:

• seismic surveys,
• sidescan-sonar surveys, 
• electromagnetic surveys, 
• geological and geochemical sampling, and 
• remote sensing

The Draft document is available on the BOEM Atlantic Ocean Seismic (aka "G&G") website.

Just this morning, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) officially opened the comment period for their study on the environmental impacts of these surveys - giving the public a chance to read the agency's "draft impact statement" and write-in their comments. Read the notice here.

• Written comments are due on May 30, 2012 
• Send comments to: Mr. Gary D. Goeke, Chief, Regional Assessment Section, Office of Environment (MS 5410), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, at GGEIS@boem.gov
• Title any comments as: “Comments on the Draft Atlantic G&G Programmatic EIS”

In addition to sending in written comments, the public can go to a local in-person public hearing (COA will be there too!):

• Friday, April 27, 2012
• Atlantic City, New Jersey: 
• Atlantic City Convention Center, One Convention Boulevard, Atlantic City, NJ, 08401
• 1:00 p.m. EDT (get there early for parking, and to make sure you get a seat!)

Clean Ocean Action will be making an online e-petition for citizens to sign on to as we approach the comment deadline.