Obama Admin. Moves Closer to Atlantic Oil, Gas Exploration
WLTX
February 27, 2014
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration moved closer to allowing oil and gas exploration off the Atlantic coast by releasing an environmental report Thursday that details how companies should protect marine wildlife if they want to start seismic testing in the area.
The 800-page, long overdue analysis from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management does not expressly grant testing permits, but it clears the path for processing applications from companies seeking to survey what's below the ocean floor.
"This is a way of establishing strong measures that eliminate or reduce the environmental effects if any such surveys go forward," said Tommy Beaudreau, director of BOEM, an agency within the U.S. Interior Department.
Seismic testing can be used to find and estimate the size of oil and gas deposits, survey the sea floor for the best place to build foundations for offshore wind energy turbines, or map sand deposits for use in coastal restoration projects. But its loud bursts of compressed air, delivered from the surface to bounce off the ocean floor, require surveyors to avoid sensitive areas, such as near endangered whales.
According to the report, the BOEM would not allow seismic surveyors to work in waters considered critical habitat for the North American right whale or where sea turtles are nesting, for example. They also would have to maintain distance between simultaneous airgun surveys and use additional technology to detect when marine mammals come close during the survey.
"They're going to have to up their game and use the best available technologies to avoid potential conflicts and environmental impacts," Beaudreau said Thursday.
Oil and gas drilling has been off-limits in the mid- and south Atlantic, but there is a strong push on Capitol Hill to open the area from Delaware to about halfway down the eastern coast of Florida. The Interior Department is just beginning work on the five-year plan to cover leasing activity from 2017-22, and Thursday's report would not prevent the administration from adding the Atlantic to the schedule.
Generally, the oil and gas industry was receptive to the report and environmental groups were critical.
"By permitting seismic surveys in the Atlantic and including Atlantic lease sales in the next five-year leasing plan, the Obama administration can build a long-term path to new jobs for American workers, new revenue for the government, and greater energy security for all of us," said Erik Milito, director of upstream and industry operations with the American Petroleum Institute.
Drilling advocates believe the new seismic technology would show that old estimates of oil and gas deposits are low, and the new data would allow the industry to be more efficient in deciding where to drill.
"While it has taken far too long, this step today will help put America on a path to open new areas to more American energy production," said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens, normally a critic of the Obama administration on energy production issues, said he's hopeful the BOEM report will lead to drilling off the South Carolina coast.
"They did allow this environmental impact statement to go forward, which leaves me optimistic that maybe they've seen the writing on the wall that it would create jobs and bring us close to energy independence by opening some of these areas," Duncan said. "The proof will be if they include these areas in the five-year plan. But yes, this is a step in the right direction."
The oil and gas industry estimates that opening the Atlantic region to energy development could contribute $2.7 billion to South Carolina's economy by 2035, and boost state budgets by up to $850 million a year with royalties.
Environmental groups and their advocates in Congress criticized the administration for not waiting for more research on how seismic testing affects marine mammals. Since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, some are also worried about how drilling would affect their beach tourism and seafood industries.
"The only certainty in this proposal is that seismic exploration will be permitted before we know the full impacts to the marine mammals and fish that coastal economies depend on," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working on a study of how much noise marine mammals can safely tolerate.
"By failing to consider relevant science, the Obama administration's decision could be a death sentence for many marine mammals, and needlessly turning the Atlantic Ocean into a blast zone," said Jacqueline Savitz, vice president for U.S. oceans at Oceana.
The administration has received 13 permit requests from nine companies for seismic air-gun surveys in the Atlantic region, according to congressional testimony from Walter Cruickshank, deputy director of BOEM.
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