Category Archives: Offshore

A federal court on Friday rejected the Trump administration's effort to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the approval of fracking in federal waters off California.

The suitfiled by the Center for Biological Diversity and Wishtoyo Foundationnotes that the government violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act by failing to carefully study offshore fracking's risks before allowing this dangerous oil-extraction practice. The suit points to offshore fracking pollution's threats to the marine environment, public health, imperiled wildlife and sacred Chumash cultural resources and places.

"This is a big victory in the fight to protect California's coast from offshore fracking's toxic chemicals," said Kristen Monsell, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney. "We're glad the court rejected the Trump administration's baseless attempt to dismiss efforts to force a hard look at offshore fracking's risks. The law clearly requires the feds to carefully study and reduce threats from offshore fracking, not blow them off so oil companies can keep using this hazardous process in fragile coastal environments."

The Trump administration argued that the approval of offshore fracking and acidizing at all active oil and gas leases in the Pacific Ocean was not a final agency action reviewable by the court. In rejecting these arguments, the court noted that federal defendants' challenged decision allowed the use of offshore fracking and acidizing "without restriction" at all active leases in the Pacific Ocean.

Oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel have federal permission to annually dump up to nine billion gallons of produced waterincluding fracking chemicalsinto the ocean. At least 10 fracking chemicals used in offshore fracking in California could kill or harm a broad variety of marine species, including sea otters and fish, Center for Biological Diversity scientists have found. The California Council on Science and Technology has identified some common fracking chemicals to be among the most toxic in the world to marine animals.

The court also rejected the Trump administration's attempt to dismiss a similar lawsuit filed by the state of California. The state's case also argues that the approval of offshore fracking without carefully studying the risks violates the National Environmental Policy Act, and that federal officials violated the Coastal Zone Management Act by failing to determine if offshore fracking is consistent with California's coastal management program before allowing the practice.

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Big Victory in Fight to Protect California's Coast From Offshore ... - EcoWatch

Image: Jack-up Rig.

Investment Thesis:

One important element for a robust and sustaining recovery in the offshore drilling industry is a fast rig attrition without the shadow of a doubt. The over-capacity is as important as the price of oil, in my opinion. In short, the industry is suffering a lingering rig over-capacity, which slows down the prospect of a recovery and keeps the day rates at an unsettling low level. However, while the low day rate could be seen as a negative, conversely, it can also offer the incentive necessary to produce more tendering opportunities by lowering the cost of drilling on a per barrel basis.

This article analyzes how fast is the rig attrition really going, by showing its progression for the first six months of 2017.

Note: I used data from infieldRigs

Data Analysis:

In general the drilling rigs are comprised of four classes:

Warning: I will study the three first classes and leave the Tenders which doesn't represent an important class, in my opinion.

1 - Let see how fast is the rig count going down?

Since January, the offshore industry scrapped or canceled:

Obviously, the attrition rate of the floater, is much higher than the attrition rate of the jack-up, due mainly to the cost of stacking. Cold stacking a Jack-up costs only couple $K. However, 43 rigs have been scrapped or canceled during the first half of 2017.

We have now 934 rigs in total with 421 rigs operating.

2 - Let's look now at the status per class.

Conclusion:

Utilization is apparently too low, averaging 45.07%. An acceptable use of a minimum of 50+% requires that the industry scraps more or cancel more under-construction rigs. This is what we call over-capacity.

To be able to meet a more balanced fleet status based on a 50% utilization, as of today, we can estimate quickly how many rigs need to be scrapped:

A total of 92 rigs should be retired or canceled before the market can start to balance again, in my opinion. This situation is not homogeneous throughout the three classes and the semi-submersible class needs more attention.

However, while the jack-up class seems more balanced than the floaters' classes, it is paramount to look at the "under-construction" situation as well, especially the delivery expected or delivery potential.

For example, it is highly unlikely that Paragon offshore (OTCPK:PGNPQ) will take delivery of the Prospector 6, Prospector 7 and Prospector 8 Jack-ups while they are still listed as "under-construction".

The same situation for Seadrill (SDRL) who has about 7 jack-ups under-construction. These rigs will be "re-organized" with the new restructuring plan.

The same thinking applied for the floaters as well. Most of the rigs under-construction have been already delayed for two years or more and, in some special cases, may never be built and likely to be canceled.

Everyone here knows about Sete Brazil, which on April 2016 filed for bankruptcy protection, as its only client Petrobras failed to book a big enough drilling rig order, cutting the initial plan for 28 rigs down to ten, last year.

Finally, one interesting segment is the "cold stacked" rigs.

These rigs are likely to be held for sale and scrapped later, especially in this difficult contracting environment with dismal day rates. To be able to bring back a cold stacked rig to life again, the offshore driller will have to spend a very large amount -- between $50 million to $100 million -- which cannot be recouped with a midterm contract at low day rate. In fact, we can consider the "cold stacked" rigs as "to be scrapped soon". The cold stacking process is a slow death sentence, period.

For example, Paragon Offshore still struggling in bankruptcy protection owns 40 rigs. However, if we look closer, we can see that PGNPQ lists 13 jack-ups and 4 drillships as "cold stacked". The drillships have been delivered in 1975-1978 and are over 40 years old. Thus, 17 obsolete rigs that will be sold and scrapped very soon.

We can also look at Transocean (RIG) and its 50 rig fleet with about 23 floaters classified as "cold stacked". The majority of these rigs is practically obsolete and will be sold for scrap sooner or later.

The actual over-capacity is not really here anymore. It is just an over-capacity "on paper" and the fleet worldwide is more balanced than it looks, and we could argue that the re-balancing is, in fact, not far from happening. The Industry needs more contracting activity, period.

Important note: Do not forget to follow me on the offshore drilling industry. Thank you for your support.

Disclosure: I am/we are long RIG.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Additional disclosure: I day trade SDRL and trade RIG on special occasions.

Editor's Note: This article covers one or more stocks trading at less than $1 per share and/or with less than a $100 million market cap. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

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Offshore Drilling - Rig Attrition Analysis: Trend And Outlook - Seeking Alpha

At the end of June, the Department of the Interior announced plans to develop a new five-year National Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

The current five-year plan was finalized just last year by the Obama administration and was the result of years of negotiations, environmental impact research and public comments. But the Trump administration has other plans for Americas energy initiatives and announced their intentions when President Trump signed an executive order on April 28 requesting an offshore American energy strategy.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke hinted at the administrations intentions:

Developing a new National Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program that respects environmental and economic sensitivities but still allows us to responsibly develop our resources is critical to reaching President Trumps goal of American energy dominance. Offering more areas for energy exploration and responsible development was a cornerstone of the Presidents campaign and this action is the first step in making good on that promise for offshore oil and gas.

While the announcement merely begins the 45-day open comment period, that is the first step to the Trump administration being able to rework a new five-year offshore drilling program. Details are scarce on the specifics of an intended plan, but Acting Assistant Secretary Kate MacGregor noted that 94-percent of the OCS is off-limits to drilling, and it seems that the Trump administration would like to change that.

We spoke with the Surfrider Foundations environmental director, Pete Stauffer, to get a sense of how this future offshore drilling program could affect our coasts, beaches and oceans.

What currently is Americas offshore drilling policy? Currently the Atlantic coast and Pacific coast are protected from offshore drilling within the federal governments five-year plan.

The current plan was finalized last year after years of environmental review and millions of comments submitted by citizens. So the Trump administration this year has said they want to revise that plan and they are interested in expanding offshore oil and gas drilling into new areas.

What are some of those new potential areas for offshore drilling? Theyre looking at the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Arctic. This will be a multi-year process, and in the coming months we will see a more specific proposal of exactly where theyre looking.

At this stage, theyve cast a very wide net and are essentially saying that theyre open to everywhere, particularly the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic. All three of those are battleground regions.

What are some of the risks of offshore drilling? There are major environmental impacts throughout every phase of the offshore drilling process. That starts with seismic testing, which is looking for oil and gas reserves.

Oil and gas companies use these loud sound blast explosions that are really damaging to marine life to identify oil and gas deposits. That is likely to move forward off the Atlantic in the coming months.

A second type of impact is the industrialization of the shoreline. The infrastructure, the refineries and the pipeline can really change the character of a coastal community. Major impacts to water quality and air quality, and then, of course, oil spills.

For every major oil spill that gets headlines, you have hundreds of smaller spills that are under-reported and cause serious impact.

For people that visit the coast, those that surf, those that swim, all of this will affect you.

With our dependence on oil, doesnt oil drilling have to happen somewhere? Theres two things I would say to that. What is not even clear is if there is a strong demand for or need for offshore drilling, because its safer and cheaper to do so on land. The second point is Surfrider and many other groups and people believe we need to shift to renewable sources of energy.

If you look at the Atlantic coast, the amount of oil that is there is actually relatively small, something like an eight-month supply of oil. Its not a sustainable or renewable source of energy.

What about the economics of it? Dont drilling advocates say it creates jobs? Drilling advocates often bring up that its economic development with jobs, but for coastal communities, their economy is much more dependent on tourism, recreation and fisheries many times over.

Thats why weve seen an incredible response on the Atlantic, with over 125 local governments passing resolutions against drilling, tens of thousands of businesses saying, We dont want this; it threatens our economy. This is not just an environmental issue; its an economic one as well.

Obviously Surfrider works on a lot of issues, [but] there havent been many issues that have galvanized our chapters and also communities, businesses, elected officials of both parties just saying that it doesnt make sense.

It will be a multi-year process; its going to be a battle for sure. And ultimately we need to reduce our oil consumption and switch to clean energy.

You can find out more about offshore drilling from Surfrider. And if you want to leave a public comment for the Department of the Interior, head to regulations.gov and search BOEM-2017-0050.

More about oceans from GrindTV

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How the newly proposed offshore drilling program could affect your coast - GrindTV

It certainly looks and feels and sounds as though we might be close to reaching a summertime peak for fishing here in South Jersey.

We are hearing about sometimes plentiful smaller fish such as kingfish, particularly in the surf.

Summer flounder are thick in the back bays and inlets, and more have been reported on the inshore reefs and lumps. Sea bass are inhabiting inshore and offshore wrecks and reefs.

The latest version of tautog season opened Monday. We have weakfish, striped bass and bluefish mixing it up with triggerfish, porgy and, just recently, croaker.

Offshore yellowfin and bluefin tuna have been solid, and mahi and wahoo are appearing to make the longer runs more valuable.

Spanish mackerel have appeared. White marlin and, also just recently, blue marlin have been reported.

Oh, yeah, were also hearing about catch-and-release only brown sharks and sand tiger sharks along the beaches, mainly at night, and the lingering mako in the deep.

It is very interesting right now.

The water temperatures have jumped up to a more summerlike 70 degrees from the frigid lower 60s and even upper 50s of last week or so. That looks to have instigated some new activity.

Linda Davoli, of Brigantine, temporarily has given up surf fishing off her home turf. The former champion surfer has been riding waves between flounder trips in Absecon Inlet and inshore at what she described as her end-of-August lump off Brigantine.

She said she caught flounder Saturday after the winds died and the greenheads drove her out of the back bays including 22- and 23- inch keepers hooked up by a friend.

Summer flounder are thick in some of the back bays, and kingfish are spreading out along the

She bagged a trip Sunday because of what she saw was a zoo, with heavy boat traffic in Absecon Inlet, but was headed out Monday.

Now, it is a normal flounder season, she said.

Davoli said she shared her cache of 30 or so minnows for bait, splitting them with another captain.

Another example of flounder taking up residence in the ocean is at Townends Inlet reef. Tim Davis said from Morans Dockside in Avalon that s where a pal of his, Jon Werley, had his limit of three keepers of 24, 23 and 21 inches long.

Flounder are without a doubt hanging in the back bays and inlets. Saturdays 24th Duke of Fluke proved that, just as it seems to do every year. The contest was organized out of Sterling Harbor Marina in Wildwood.

Wayne Reichle on Feast or Famine won for the heaviest single flounder at 6.36. Michael Bascome on Size Matters was next at 5.79, and Mike Messina on Wendy 7 was third at 5.28.

The heaviest five was 23.03 pounds and went to Christopher Voss on She Gave In. John Peterson on Unreel had 20.89, and Ross Dickinson on U10 had 18.12 total.

Joe Muravsky was the kayak division champ with a single-heaviest 4.2, while Brad Hamilton came in at 3.81, and John Karler at 3.79.

Dana Townsend took the Duchess Award with a 3.5-pound flounder. Mike Schaeffer won the bluefish division at 3.96 pounds, and Clint Clement had a 3.06 sea bass.

The contest attracted 87 boats and 47 kayaks and was topped off by the usual awards bash, complete with a live band.

Mike ONeill runs the charter/open boat Stray Cat from Seaview Harbor in Great Egg Inlet.

Ever since Jaws, those looking to spot sharks would look for the ominous shark fin, made f

He has been trolling about 15 miles off and picking off 2-pound bluefish that are out there in large schools with mahi. A nice bonus developed in the past week or so: They have been enticing Spanish mackerel and getting the occasional cobia on No. 3 Clark Spoons.

John Sowerby is the captain of the Hooked Up II party boat that docks at South Jersey Marina in Cape May.

His most recent journey to the blue water resulted in what he termed excellent yellowfin tuna in the 40- to 60-pound class on a daytime chunk and jig. He said they had tuna under the boat throughout the day.

Yellowfin tuna have been reported more inshore at the Hot Dog on the troll and at Massey on the chunk, plus offshore at Spencer, Lindenkohl and Wilmington canyons, along with a few blue marlin and some makos.

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Mike Shepherd is the retired sports editor of The Press. His column appears in the Tuesday and Saturday print editions and online.

Excerpt from:

Variety of catches keeps improving inshore and offshore: Shep on Fishing - Press of Atlantic City

Australia's offshore immigration detention program has cost the federal government at least $5 billion since 2012, new figures have confirmed.

Ahead of Wednesday's four-year anniversary of Kevin Rudd's move to reinstate hardline rules to send any asylum seeker arriving in Australia by boat to offshore detention, Senate committee figures show the total operational and infrastructure costs for Australia's detention facilities on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island has reached $4.89 billion.

The latest overall price tag for offshore detention includes departmental costs and capital works on Manus and Nauru, peaking in 2015-16.

Figures provided to Senate estimates hearings show more than $230,000 has been paid out to public servants and detainees for personal injury and wrongful detention claims in Australia and the offshore centres, including $69,108.96 in payouts to Immigration Department staff and sub-contractors in 2016-17.

Insurer Comcare and Department of Finance compensation claims averaged $6443 for injuries in Australia and $12,003 for injuries in Papua New Guinea.

Last year a report by Save the Children and Unicef found taxpayers had spent as much as $9.6 billion on offshore immigration enforcement since 2013, while a Parliamentary Library report released in 2016 found Manus Island had cost taxpayers about $2 billion since it was reopened more than $1 million for each of the 2000 people who have been imprisoned there.

The Gillard government's moves to reopen the Manus Island detention centre in late 2012 saw Australia spend $358.77 million on operating and capital costs for the two centres.

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Those costs dramatically increased to $1.1 billion in 2013-14, following Mr Rudd's pre-election announcement and the Abbott government's election on the back of promises to turn back asylum seeker boats and significantly ramp up border protection.

In 2014-15, the two offshore centres cost taxpayers $1.31 billion, increasing to $1.38 billion in 2015-16.

Last financial year the cost fell to $980 million as the number of detainees reduced.

In June, the government agreed to pay $70 million in compensation to about 1900 asylum seekers currently or formerly held on Manus Island, considered one of Australia's largest ever human rights court settlements.

About 1200 people remain in the two offshore processing centres, the most recent figures from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection show.

The department told Senate estimates the nationalities of those being held in detention or in the community on Manus included nationals from Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Afghanistan.

There were 233 people found not to be refugees at the end of May, of which 193 were living within the processing centre including six who were receiving medical treatment in Port Moresby.

A further 32 had returned to their country of origin voluntarily, while six had been returned against their will.

Detainees on Nauru included nationals from the same countries, as well as Nepal, India, Syria, Indonesia, Somalia, Sudan and at least two people found to be stateless.

As of May 23, no transferee has been determined not to be a refugee in Nauru, the department said, noting 175 were "determined to have indicative negative outcomes".

"All transferees still have avenues within the refugee status determination process; as such none are classified as failed asylum seekers."

The department said at the end of April, the average time spent in onshore detention in Australia for people found to be stateless was 836 days.

The longest period in onshore detention was 1345 days, more than three and a half years.

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Cost for Australia's offshore immigration detention near $5 billion - The Canberra Times

An Interior Department official recently testified about how the administration views energy dominance when it comes to offshore drilling.

At a recent U.S. House hearing,Interior Department official Katharine MacGregor outlined the new administrations vision for offshore drilling.

Dominance is defined as exerting authority or commanding from a superior position, she said. Dominance does not stem from eliminating areas from future production.

MacGregor, the departments Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, is helping develop a new five-year program for federal offshore oil and gas leases.

The plan would allow drilling in currently off-limits parts of the Arctic and Atlantic coasts, but companies might not want to expand right now with oil prices so low.

Thats caused the projects that are being pursued in the Gulf of Mexico to really taper off, says Jenna Delaney, Senior Oil Analyst with S&P Global Platts Analytics.

Weve seen a lot of projects either be delayed or cancelled. Companies are still really focusing in on what is the most economic place to drill, where can they have that fast return on investment, she says.

Its easier to make money on-shore in a low-price environment, so companies arent focused on the decades-long investments required for new offshore drilling.

Delaney says off-shore projects are still valuable, but on longer timelines, so companies know to not base their calculations solely on the policies of a particular administration.

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Despite Administration's Push, Oil Companies Might Not Be Eager for New Offshore Drilling - Houston Public Media

I take objection to Robert Borlicks op-ed about offshore wind in Maryland (Md. offshore wind projects may hurt, instead of help, environment, July 12). I have 38 years of experience in high voltage test, maintenance and repair and am a strong supporter of offshore wind coming to Maryland both because of its environmental benefits and for its incredible job-creating potential.

If not for opportunities at the bottom in my 38-year career, I would have never made it to become a high voltage technician. When I started work at BGE in 1971, there was no job lower than utility worker. Opportunities for education and advancement enabled me to become that $100,000 per year worker that Mr. Borlick mentions. I envision those same opportunities for the factory workers in turbine construction.

I can see a blade construction worker going to CCBC to become a wind turbine technician the fastest growing profession in the country. Offshore wind employment opportunities range from manufacturing the carbon fiber blades, welding the tower support sections, assembling the Nacelle turbine components, to assembling the bearing housing. The projects will need dock workers, forklift operators, crane operators, barge and tug boat operators I guarantee you can find someone in the Baltimore and surrounding areas who can do each one of these jobs with a little training.

Offshore wind construction and maintenance work will eventually employ a large number of people, particularly as the industry expands along the East Coast. Thats why the Public Service Commission focused so heavily on the value of being the first mover on offshore wind in its decision.

In 2016, there was a 20 percent increase in wind jobs across the U.S. Maryland can become the regional manufacturing, training and employment hub for this burgeoning industry while improving the environment by replacing polluting sources of energy with clean wind power. In communities like Turner Station, my home for over 60 years, these jobs and investments will be crucial to catapult us into the clean energy economy of the future.

Larry Bannerman, Turner Station

Send letters to the editor to talkback@baltimoresun.com. Please include your name and contact information.

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Offshore wind makes sense for Md. - Baltimore Sun

Khawaja Haris says Nawaz was issued Iqama (residence permit) for being designated as chairman of board of Capital FZE

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. PHOTO: AFP / FILE

ISLAMABAD:Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was issued an Iqama (residence permit) by the UAE government for being the chairman of the board of Capital FZE, an offshore firm exposed by the six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) tasked to probe Sharif familys offshore wealth, the premiers counsel accepted on Tuesday.

Hassan Nawaz [PMs son] was the owner of Capital FZE and PM Nawaz was only designated as Chairman of the Board of this offshore company but he did not receive any salary, Khawaja Haris told the apex courts three-judge bench in response to a query during the ongoing hearing of the Panamagate case.

In his arguments, the counsel contended that the high-powered inquiry panel did not confront the prime minister regarding the documents of his employment in the Dubai-based firm. Upon this, the top court bench told Haris that he may give an explanation before the court if the investigative body did not give an opportunity to PM Nawaz for clarifying his position in the matter.

Evidence that alone can send PM packing

Another judge Justice Ijazul Ahsen observed that the premier and his family members were uncooperative with the inquiry panel during interrogation. It was their policy or approach to not say anything about the properties and let the JIT find whatever it can, he remarked.

The judge wondered what else the probe body was supposed to do when they initially gave the ruling family ample opportunity to say anything about their money trail. He also wondered over the prime ministers demeanour with the JIT as Nawaz did not give any reasonable reply to the questions posed by members of the inquiry panel. In his response to one of the questions the PM said he didnt see the Qatari letters. This was a total denial and noncooperation, he observed.

Regarding the JITs recommendation of reopening of Hudabiya Paper Mills case, Justice Ijaz said the investigation in the case was liked with the ongoing Panamagate case, therefore, the probe panel looked into the scam.

43 mistakes spotted in JIT report, claims minister

In his remarks, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, who is heading the top courts three-judge bench, observed that the court did not rely on the JIT report but on the material collected by the panel.

Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh observed that the court will follow the law and the JIT recommendations were not binding on it. We are not closing the doors to the ruling family members to give their explanations, he said.

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PM Nawaz was chairman of Dubai-based offshore firm, counsel admits in SC - The Express Tribune

(Adds details)

July 17 (Reuters) - Dutch oil industry services group SBM Offshore and Spanish energy firm Repsol will share an insurance payment of $247 million, less legal costs, related to a troubled Norwegian offshore project, SBM said on Monday.

SBM said it had reached an agreement in principle with nearly three quarters of the insurers who provided $500 million of primary cover for the Yme project with a final agreement expected to be wrapped up in the coming weeks.

SBM will receive a cash payment of around $247 million in full and final settlement with these insurers. After legal fees and other expenses have been paid, the proceeds will be shared equally with Repsol in line with a 2013 agreement, the company said.

The group said it continues to pursue its claim against all remaining insurers. The total claim presented by SBM Offshore to its insurers in 2014 in relation to the Yme platform was for $1.28 billion.

"The news is positive because it wipes out a big scar from the past", KBC analyst Tom Simonts said.

SBM built the Yme oil platform for Canadian oil company Talisman Energy and its partners but faced technical difficulties completing the project, which was evacuated in the summer of 2012 due to safety concerns. Talisman was later bought by Repsol.

Simonts also said the focus for SBM now shifts to Brazil, where the company is looking to settle a corruption probe with authorities that has prevented it from bidding for work in a major market. (Reporting by Manon Jacob and Wout Vergauwen; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri and Adrian Croft)

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UPDATE 1-SBM Offshore, Repsol to get $247 million in Yme insurance settlement - Reuters

County is one of 2 local governments in NC that has supported proposed drilling off the coast

SUNSET BEACH -- A shift in Brunswick County's stance on offshore drilling may have been portended by an elected Republican's rare visit to the headquarters of the county's Democratic Party.

Brunswick County Commissioner Mike Forte visited the Bolivia headquarters in April to give a state of the county speech. Afterward, as he went to the parking lot, Oceana organizer Randy Sturgill chased the commissioner down to learn his stance on offshore drilling.

That stance, Forte said, is simple: "I am against seismic testing. I don't want to see drilling, I don't want to see windmills. Don't screw with my beaches because you take the beaches out of Brunswick County and I become Columbus County."

Brunswick, one of two North Carolina counties to pass a resolution in favor of offshore drilling and seismic testing when the Obama administration was conducting its review of the matter, could be poised to either wipe that pro-drilling stance off the board or reverse course entirely as soon as next month. The vote comes at a time when the Trump administration's Department of the Interior is conducting new reviews of both seismic testing and offshore drilling.

The July 2015 vote in favor of seismic and offshore drilling -- and an August 2015 vote to not rescind the resolution -- meant Brunswick and Carteret were the only North Carolina counties to support offshore drilling, even as 32 other governments passed resolutions against drilling -- seismic or both.

Scott Phillips, Forte's predecessor, openly wrestled with his vote on the matter in 2015, ultimately casting the deciding ballot in favor of both offshore drilling and maintaining the resolution.

Opponents of seismic testing say the loud, regular blasts could cause harm to sensitive mammals living in the Atlantic. And they say drilling could leave the coast vulnerable to oil spills and other impacts of a heavy industry.

Those in favor of offshore drilling point to its potential economic impacts on the state, as well as American energy independence. They also say seismic testing is necessary because the previous tests happened decades ago and were sometimes extremely rudimentary in nature.

NOAA Marine Fisheries is accepting comments about seismic testing's impact on marine mammals until July 21, while the Department of the Interior is accepting comments about revision to its five-year offshore oil and natural gas plan until mid-August.

Forte, who will be one of several speakers at a Monday rally against offshore drilling and seismic testing, has emerged as the likely deciding vote in overturning Brunswick's ordinance. He said he will mostly be at the event to learn, but will likely pursue a new resolution on the matter shortly after.

"I'm gonna bring it up one way or the other," Forte said. I'm gonna bring up canceling that resolution or a whole new resolution. I just don't know how to do it yet."

A new resolution, Forte said, could come before the Brunswick board as soon as August.

Commissioner Pat Sykes, who serves on the Brunswick board with Forte, said she's hesitant to revisit the issue.

"It might not even happen here. I just don't see causing a stir when there's nothing there," she said, adding, "I just am not one to get involved unless I need to. It's not an issue for the county at this point."

Sturgill, the Oceana organizer, said he'd like to see coastal governments like Brunswick and Carteret reverse course.

"They represent coastal areas of North Carolina that are staunchly opposed to seismic, opposed to oil and gas drilling," Sturgill said, "and I think this message needs to go to these departments whether it be NOAA, BOEM, whatever, they need to know we're pretty much lockstep in opposition to this."

Reporter Adam Wagner can be reached at 910-343-2389 or Adam.Wagner@GateHouseMedia.com.

Original post:

Could Brunswick change course on offshore drilling? - The Daily News - Jacksonville Daily News