Friday April 27, 2012
Atlantic City, NJ – On Friday, April 27th, in Atlantic City, the United States Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM), held the last in a series of East Coast hearings on a proposal to blast seismic shockwaves from Florida to the Delaware Bay searching for offshore oil to drill. The hearing was held at 1pm in room 301 of the Atlantic City Convention Center. Citizen groups held a press conference before the hearing to set the record straight. The only purpose for seismic exploration is to support drilling for oil.
These “seismic surveys” involve towing “airgun” arrays behind survey ships, regularly and repeatedly blasting sound waves through the ocean and deep into the ocean floor to pinpoint locations of sub-seabed oil and gas deposits. While the industry term “airgun” suggests an innocuous impact, these surveys generate intense marine noise pollution that propagates over vast areas of the ocean potentially causing significant damage to marine life and marine ecosystems. In addition to the exploratory tactic’s danger to marine life, it is the first step toward oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean – which threatens our clean ocean economy and community.
“The Atlantic Ocean is a vibrant ecosystem that supports extraordinarily diverse marine life, which in turn supports a clean ocean economy for people that fish, dive, surf, swim, or just enjoy,” said Cindy Zipf, Clean Ocean Action’s Executive Director. “We’ve worked hard to clean up our ocean. We will not stand by while our government opens the door to Big Oil. We are here to protect and defend our future,” she added.
Federal studies show if oil was found, it would take decades for oil production to come online, and even then would reduce gas prices by only $0.03 per gallon. However, there is no requirement that oil and gas found in the U.S. must stay here, and it could be exported overseas.
“This wasn’t about the price at the pump – this was about Big Oil making profits at the expense of the fishermen, businesses, and citizens of the Atlantic Ocean,” said Sean Dixon, Clean Ocean Action’s Coastal Policy Attorney. “Only two years after the BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf, Big Oil seems to think we’ve forgotten just how dangerous oil drilling can be,” continued Dixon.
“Today citizens got the opportunity to voice their concerns over the dangers of these seismic surveys,” said Dr. Heather Saffert, Staff Scientist at Clean Ocean Action. Dr. Saffert continued: “There are data gaps in the government’s seismic plan big enough to drive oil rigs through. Destructive activities like these surveys will impact our fisheries, our tourism, and our resources – yet the push to find oil seems to be charging full-speed ahead – with or without any idea of what will happen next.”
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About Clean Ocean Action
Clean Ocean Action is a coalition of over 130 boating, business, community, conservation, diving,
environmental, fishing, religious, service, student, surfing, and women’s groups. Based in Sandy Hook,
COA is the only full time regional coalition that works exclusively for a clean ocean off the coasts of New
Jersey and New York.
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Communications/Public Relations
Clean Ocean Action
18 Hartshorne Drive, Suite 2
Highlands, NJ 07732
P: (732) 872-0111
F: (732) 872-8041