Senate Energy Bill and Coastal Protection
Please support the Martinez-Bill Nelson amendment to strike the coastal “inventory”
Senators Mel Martinez and Bill Nelson are expected to offer a constructive amendment to strike a problematic provision of the energy bill that would require invasive exploratory activities, using explosive impulses from underwater airguns, throughout sensitive coastal waters long-protected by the bipartisan congressional moratorium. We urge your support for the Martinez/Bill Nelson amendment to strike this harmful provision.
Please oppose Landrieu-Allen anti-coastal amendments
Senators Mary Landrieu and George Allen are expected to offer one or more anti-coastal-protection amendments when the Senate debates the energy bill next week. One such amendment would divert revenues from the federal treasury toward fiscal incentives to coerce coastal states to accept more offshore drilling and drilling closer to shore. A second amendment would immediately rescind the executive deferrals on drilling in sensitive areas first put in place by former President George H.W. Bush and would also push states to “opt-out” of the 24-year congressional offshore leasing moratorium. A third proposed amendment, similar to one overwhelmingly defeated in the House of Representatives last month, would repeal the federal moratorium on offshore natural gas drilling. We strongly urge your vote in opposition to any of the above Landrieu/Allen amendments to the energy bill.
Background
As you know, there are currently offshore leasing and drilling moratoria protecting sensitive beaches and parklands, coastal-dependent tourism economies, and important fisheries off of portions of our nation’s coasts. This bipartisan moratorium reflects a consensus on the appropriateness of outer continental shelf activities in most areas of the country. These protections have been endorsed by an array of elected officials, from former President George H.W. Bush to Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and were included this January in the White House budget document for fiscal year 2006 by President George W. Bush.
Seismic exploration causes damage in long-protected moratorium waters
The current bipartisan moratorium on leasing and related activities recognizes that explosive impulses associated with seismic exploration of sensitive coastal waters can damage our commercial and sport fisheries and other marine resources.
During the Committee markup of the Senate energy bill, language was included that would require an inventory of America’s most sensitive coastal waters using seismic surveys with ship-towed arrays of high intensity airguns. Seismic testing poses many threats to marine ecosystems, and involves explosive shock waves which are directed at the seabed. These powerful shock waves reverberating through the sea have been demonstrated to cause harm to many species of marine life.
Many scientists compare seismic testing to exploratory dynamite. Dr. Chris Clark, Director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University, has called seismic testing “the most severe acoustic insult to the marine environment…short of naval warfare.”
Offshore natural gas drilling would have substantial environmental consequences for America’s coasts and marine life, and could pave the way for the adverse effects of offshore oil drilling
Offshore gas development, like oil development, causes substantial environmental impacts, including the following:
Onshore damage: The onshore infrastructure associated with offshore oil or gas causes significant harm to the coastal zone.
Water pollution: Massive amounts of waste muds and cuttings, and “produced water,” are generated by drilling operations. Most of this pollution is dumped untreated into surrounding waters.
Air pollution: Drilling an average exploration well, for oil or gas, generates some 50 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx), 13 tons of carbon monoxide, 6 tons of sulfur dioxide, and 5 tons of volatile organic hydrocarbons.
Oil spills: According to the Department of the Interior, some 3 million gallons of oil spilled from OCS oil and gas operations in 73 incidents between 1980 and 1999. Oil is extremely toxic to a wide variety of marine species.
Diverting federal funds amounts to incentives to states to promote more offshore drilling
We also urge that efforts to use punitive measures to coerce coastal states to accept more offshore drilling, and drilling closer to shore, as contained in what is called the “Coastal Impact Assistance Program” title of the Senate energy markup’s base bill, be rejected. Further, royalty suspensions to incentivize new drilling in fragile Alaskan waters - where there is no known technology to respond to oil spills in prevailing weather and sea conditions - remain, inappropriately, in the base bill, and should be omitted during floor consideration.
Vote for America’s coasts and against any amendments that would harm one of America’s most important environmental and economic resources, our coasts. Instead of promoting drilling projects that harm our coasts and do nothing to solve our energy problems, we urge you to support energy projects that promote energy efficiency and renewable energy.
For urther information:
Richard Charter, Co-Chair, National OCS Coalition, (707) 875-2345, (707) 875-3482 waterway@monitor.net
