Offshore exploration and drilling back on table for Georgia – Savannah Morning News

The Trump administration announced earlier this month that it is moving forward on seismic surveys in the Atlantic Ocean, the first step toward offshore drilling in a region where it has been blocked for decades. The Interior Department plans to review six applications by energy companies that were rejected in January by the Obama administration.

Local and state environmental groups as well as many coastal municipalities oppose the surveys, saying loud sounds from seismic air guns could hurt marine life. Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, and Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Savannah, remain in favor of seismic testing and offshore drilling.

The oil and gas industry has pushed for the surveys, which map potential drilling sites for oil and natural gas. No surveys have been conducted in the mid- and south-Atlantic regions for at least 30 years. The regions, as defined by the Interior Department, stretch from northern Florida to Delaware. Any new drilling activity is expected to be limited to the coasts of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month aimed at expanding drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, part of his promise to use the nations energy reserves in an effort to reduce imports of foreign oil. Trumps order reversed an action by former President Barack Obama and faces fierce opposition from environmental activists and many Democrats, who say both seismic testing and offshore drilling harm whales, sea turtles and other marine life and that the resulting oil usage exacerbates global warming.

This is part of the administrations plan to push things foward and put the Southeast at risk again, said Sierra Weaver, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Used to locate and quantify potential oil and gas deposits, seismic testing involves firing blasts of air from large air guns toward the ocean floor for days or weeks at a time. Seismic blasts have been known to travel more than a thousand miles through the ocean, disorienting, hurting, deafening, or even killing nearby marine life.

Proponents of seismic testing focus on the conclusions of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries analysis that seismic testing in the Atlantic is unlikely to harm animals at the population level.

There has been no documented scientific evidence of noise from these surveys adversely affecting marine animal populations or coastal communities, said National Ocean Industries Association President Randall Luthi.

Opponents focus on the harm that same analysis predicted would come to individual animals.

The governments own study, their own prediction of marine mamals likely to be harmed by seismic testing through 2020, is over 100,000. Thats the governments own admission that theyre likely to injure 100,000 animals. I believe the harassment numbers are well over a million, said Weaver, who also pointed out the difficulty of documenting population level harm in ocean dwelling marine mammals.

More than 75 leading marine mammal scientists signed a 2015 letter imploring the Obama Administration, ultimately successfully, to reject seismic testing. A follow-up letter came last year from 28 researchers who focus on the highly endangered right whale, which migrates to the waters off Georgia and Florida each winter to give birth.

The additional stress of widespread seismic air gun surveys may well represent a tipping point for the survival of this endangered whale, contributing significantly to a decline toward extinction, they wrote.

Coastal Georgia municipalities including Savannah, Tybee Island and Brunswick have passed formal resolutions opposing offshore drilling and/or seismic testing. They are among more than 120 East Coast communities from New Jersey through Florida to do so.

With a vibrant commercial fishery industry and the only known calving ground for endangered North Atlantic right whales just off our coast, Georgians oppose seismic testing for offshore oil exploration and the risks it poses to our states wildlife, wild places, and quality of life, said Alice Keyes, vice president for coastal conservation at Coastal Georgia-based One Hundred Miles. The decision to deny seismic permits was based on sound science, policy, and public input. One Hundred Miles represents thousands of coastal advocates who stand together to support that decision.

Georgias lawmakers in Washington continue to support exploration and drilling.

As I have always said, I believe in an all of the above energy strategy and this is another step in the right direction to put people back to work, reduce energy costs and make America energy independent, said Carter, who represents every coastal county in the state and responded to an inquiry via email. Seismic surveys have been safely used for decades around the world and are nearly daily occurrences in the Gulf of Mexico. It is done with great consideration of the marine environment with multiple safeguards in place to ensure that no harm comes to marine animals or important industries like commercial fishing.

Perdue, who lives on Sea Island, in 2015 suggested states and local communities should be involved in that process to determine the best way to unleash our full energy potential, create jobs, and make our nation more secure.

His office released this statement Monday regarding seismic and offshore drilling: President Trump has a refreshing focus on generating jobs and unlocking our full energy potential. By approving the Keystone Pipeline and now lifting President Obamas offshore leasing ban, President Trump is moving to develop a strategic approach to Americas God given energy resources.

Seismic testing on the East Coast will require permits under the Marine Mammal Protection Act for impacts to species including dolphins and right whales before it can move forward, Weaver said. Thats an opportunity for coastal residents to weigh in.

The important thing for people to know is its time to keep speaking up for the coast, she said. And often.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Offshore exploration and drilling back on table for Georgia - Savannah Morning News