Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/11/MNRR1GAPUR.DTL#ixzz155grrxKQ
Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Hearst Washington Bureau
hearst newspapers November 12, 2010 04:00 AM
Friday, November 12, 2010
(11-12) 04:00 PST Washington – —
Tourism and fishing deliver $204 billion annually to coastal economies along the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shores in Florida, about four times the value of the estimated oil and gas that could be recovered every year from proposed offshore drilling nearby, an environmental group said Thursday.
The study by Environment America, an advocacy group, boils down the fierce and emotional fight over offshore drilling into a stark, dollar-based analysis.
Its numbers show that “the potential returns from offshore drilling are not worth the risk” of another oil spill that could contaminate reefs near Florida and salmon-rich Pacific waters, said Michael Gravitz, the report’s author.
“Our research makes it clear that clean beaches and oceans are worth much more than drilling for the last drops of oil off our coasts,” Gravitz added.
The analysis relies heavily on federal government data about commercial fish sales, the annual revenue from tourism in coastal counties and recreational fishing in those regions to calculate the economic impact of a nearby oil spill.
After BP’s Macondo well blew out in April, triggering an oil spill that gushed 200 million gallons of oil into the gulf, hotel vacancies jumped and charter boat operators saw bookings canceled along the Gulf Coast.
The result, according to a private study for the U.S. Travel Association, will be at least $7.6 billion in lost tourism revenue.
Most of the nation’s offshore drilling is done in the gulf. But just weeks before the Deepwater Horizon spill, President Obama announced plans to expand offshore drilling along the mid- and south-Atlantic coast, as well as in the Pacific Ocean and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
According to Environment America’s analysis:
— For counties along the Pacific coast, tourism brings in $61.98 billion each year, and commercial and recreational fishing generate another $3.98 billion annually – for a total of $65.96 billion.
— The value of estimated oil and gas in the Pacific is $34.2 billion annually.
— Those numbers are greater than the estimated value of tourism or oil and gas revenue in the mid- and south-Atlantic and on the west coast of Florida, the study found.
Oil and gas industry leaders have argued that the value of the commodities that can be extracted shows only part of the picture – and overlooks the added spending tied to offshore drilling activities, from the salaries of rig workers in Louisiana and Texas to the pipes built in Rust Belt manufacturing plants.
Senators from the West Coast also united this year to propose a ban on drilling in federal Pacific waters, because, they said, the risks are too great.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who sponsored the proposal, contended that 388,000 jobs are tied to California’s tourism, fishing and recreational industries. “We simply cannot afford the risk posed by oil drilling off our magnificent coast,” she said.
This article appeared on page A – 10 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Michael Gravitz, Oceans Advocate
Environment America, 2nd floor
218 D Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C 20003
202-683-1250 office
301-351-5052 cell
mikeg@EnvironmentAmerica.org
Special thanks to Richard Charter