The Eastern Shore Defense Alliance, a group of business and civic leaders from Virginia and Maryland who lobby on behalf of Wallops Flight Facility have serious concerns about the 2.9 million acre proposed drilling area off the coast of Virginia that falls within naval training grounds and the rocket launch range of NASA's Wallops Island.
"It's just not a prudent idea," to drill, said Steve Habeger, president of the alliance. "How does an oil platform accommodate tons of flaming debris falling on it?"
Delta National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana is in peril after at least 18,000 gallons of crude oil were spilled into its waters early Tuesday morning. An area of approximately 160 square miles has been impacted by the spill - 40 square miles of marsh and 120 square miles offshore.
The spill originated at a pipeline owned by Cypress Pipe Line Company, a joint venture of Chevron Pipeline Co. and British Petroleum. Clean up efforts and an environmental impact assessment are underway.
The cause of the accident has not been confirmed, but according to Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and Coast Guard spokesmen, long pipes known as "spuds" anchoring an ExxonMobil operated barge may have struck the pipeline. It seems that Chevron and ExxonMobil, the two largest oil companies in the U.S., are responsible for this potential ecological catastrophe.
This spill demonstrates the environmental toll the region's ubiquitous petroleum industry has taken on the state of Louisiana. "This is just more evidence that the oil and gas industry don't have the proper safety standards in place," said Casey DeMoss Roberts of the New Orleans group of the Sierra Club. "The President claims drilling is safer than ever but our state is the cautionary tale."
Obama’s offshore oil drilling plan spurs push for billions in royalties http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/08/obamas_offshore_oil_drilling_plan_spurs_push_for_billions_in_royalties/ “President Obama’s pledge last week to open huge areas for offshore drilling does more than expand potential oil and gas production. It creates an opportunity to pressure oil companies to pay billions of dollars for past deep-water oil production if they want to drill in the new areas. At issue is a hotly contested law that, as read by the court, has allowed companies to avoid paying royalties on oil drilled in the Gulf of Mexico. Critics, including Representative Edward J. Markey of Malden — who plans to introduce legislation next week — now seek to force companies such as ExxonMobil and Shell to begin paying on those existing leases as a condition of obtaining new ones. The payments could add up to $50 billion for federal coffers.”
Effort to reach California offshore oil drilling deal revived http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oil-drilling8-2010apr08,0,1014179.story “Environmental groups say a previous failed pact with a Texas firm has been retooled to make it more acceptable, allowing new platforms but setting an end date for drilling. Not everyone is convinced.”
Locals see need for offshore oil production http://www.bryancountynews.net/news/article/5588/ “However, some experts have expressed concern drilling off the East Coast and Gulf Coast could impact marine life or the Floridan aquifer, a source of fresh drinking water for large areas of the Southeast. The aquifer lies underneath 100,000 square miles of land stretching from South Carolina and Georgia across Florida to Alabama and Mississippi.”
“The real trouble with offshore drilling is that it threatens more than just the shores off which it occurs. Conservation, cleaner fuels and more efficient technologies are the core elements of a sound energy policy. Offshore drilling, wherever it occurs, merely deepens American dependence on a limited resource and thus perpetuates the nation's environmental difficulties.”
“Our nation should have been achieving an average of 35.5 miles per gallon years ago, not six years from now. Today, the nation should be transitioning to vehicles powered by alternative fuels. While [Obama’s] order on fuel efficiency does not go far enough, his decision to increase domestic oil drilling is only delaying the inevitable. Our nation’s unquenchable thirst for oil is not only harmful to the environment, but a threat to national security.”
Is President Obama’s decision to allow offshore drilling in the Atlantic a sensible one?
“The August 2009 oil spill in Australia reiterated the catastrophic effects of offshore oil drilling gone wrong, yet our president still believes it’s a good idea. For 10 weeks, the crippled deep-water oil rig leaked millions of gallons into the ocean between Australia’s northwest coast and islands of Indonesia, claiming the lives of sea snakes, birds and dolphins. According to the Committee Against Oil Exploration (CAOE), an oil rig can dump up to 90,000 tons of drilling fluid and metal cuttings over its lifetime, including produced water, which is excess water from well drilling or production consisting of oil, drilling fluid, and other chemicals used in or resulting from oil production. Sound yummy? Yet, there is a simple and passable solution to offshore drilling. If our cars and trucks got an average of just a couple more miles per gallon, we’d save more oil that exists off the entire coast of Florida. Still, federal gas mileage standards leave much room for improvement. Now, doesn’t that seem like a more logical alternative than spewing oil into the ocean, killing wildlife for a few cents off per trip to the pump? It won’t be long before Obama’s latest slogan “drill, baby, drill” will turn into “drill, baby, oops.”
Now that large portions of the East Coast and Eastern Gulf Coasts may be opened up to offshore oil drilling, the Minerals Management Service has announced that public scoping meetings will be held to solicit information that will be used to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to evaluate potential environmental effects of multiple Geological and Geophysical Exploration (G&G) activities on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). These activities are associated with Atlantic OCS siting for renewable energy projects, oil and gas exploration, and marine minerals extraction; these activities could take place over a period of several years. The purpose of the scoping meetings will be to receive comments on the scope of the PEIS, identify significant resources and issues to be analyzed in the PEIS, and identify possible alternatives to the proposed action.
The following public hearings on Atlantic Seismic Survey Operations and the preparation of a PEIS on these activities are scheduled:
* April 20, 2010-Marriott Houston
Intercontinental Hotel, George Bush
Intercontinental Airport, 18700 John F.
Kennedy Boulevard, Houston, Texas
77032; one meeting beginning at 1 p.m.
CST;
* April 21, 2010-Jacksonville
Marriott, 4760 Salisbury Road,
Jacksonville, Florida 32256; two
meetings, the first beginning at 1 p.m.
EST and the second beginning at 7 p.m.
EST;
* April 23, 2010-Coastal Georgia
Center, 305 Fahm Street, Savannah,
Georgia 31401; two meetings, the first
beginning at 1 p.m. EST and the second
beginning at 7 p.m. EST;
* April 27, 2010-Sheraton Newark
Airport Hotel, 128 Frontage Road,
Newark, New Jersey 07114; two
meetings, the first beginning at 1 p.m.
EST and the second beginning at 7 p.m.
EST;
* April 27, 2010-Embassy Suites
North Charleston, 5055 International
Boulevard, North Charleston, South
Carolina 29418; two meetings, the first
beginning at 1 p.m. EST and the second
beginning at 7 p.m. EST;
* April 29, 2010-Hilton Wilmington
Riverside, 301 North Water Street,
Wilmington, North Carolina 28401; two
meetings, the first beginning at 1 p.m.
EST and the second beginning at 7 p.m.
EST; and
* April 29, 2010-Hilton Norfolk
Airport, 1500 N. Military Highway,
Norfolk, Virginia 23502; two meetings,
the first beginning at 1 p.m. EST and the
second beginning at 7 p.m. EST.
Comments may be submitted in one of the following two ways:
• In written form enclosed in an envelope labeled “Comments on the PEIS Scope”
and mailed (or hand carried) to the Regional Supervisor, Leasing and
Environment (MS 5410), Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS
Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394; or
• Electronically to the MMS email address: GGEIS@mms.gov.
For further information regarding the Atlantic OCS G&G PEIS, visit the MMS website.
The reactions are coming in on the Obama administration's announcement yesterday of plans to increase offshore oil drilling along the Atlantic Coast, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska. As you can see by clicking on the links below, the reactions are overwhelmingly.............negative.
Obama and offshore drilling: a crude move “President Obama tried to make a skillful political decision by permitting some offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. But he's obscured a more important message: The US must leave oil behind.”
DE Senators decry drilling decision “Senators Ted Kaufman and Tom Carper say they share the President's commitment to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, but lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling is not the answer.”
SURFRIDER FOUNDATION OPPOSES ANY NEW OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING
Surfrider Foundation is opposed to any new offshore oil drilling.
Our nation’s oceans, waves and beaches are vital recreational, economic and ecological treasures that will be polluted by an increase in offshore oil drilling.
We strongly support reinstatement of the federal moratorium on new offshore oil drilling.
Instead of advocating for transient and environmentally harmful ways to meet America’s oil needs, we should seek a comprehensive and environmentally sustainable energy plan that includes energy conservation.
The Eastern Shore Defense Alliance, a group of business and civic leaders from Virginia and Maryland who lobby on behalf of Wallops Flight Facility have serious concerns about the 2.9 million acre proposed drilling area off the coast of Virginia that falls within naval training grounds and the rocket launch range of NASA's Wallops Island. 
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