Connolly-Sanford Lead House Letter to President Opposing Offshore Seismic Testing
Washington, DC,
June 9, 2016
Representatives Gerry Connolly and Mark Sanford, along with a bipartisan group of 53 Members of Congress, sent a letter today to President Obama urging him to refrain from permitting harmful seismic blasting in the Atlantic Coast. Read more.
Representatives Gerry Connolly and Mark Sanford, along with a bipartisan group of 53 Members of Congress, sent a letter today to President Obama urging him to refrain from permitting harmful seismic blasting in the Atlantic Coast. On March 15, the Department of the Interior removed the proposed Atlantic lease sale from the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Program marking a tremendous victory for communities along the Atlantic Coast. However, despite pulling the Atlantic from offshore drilling, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has indicated that it will proceed with the seismic permitting process, reviewing applications by industry to shoot tens of thousands of miles of seismic line during the first year of activity alone. In the letter, the Representatives note: “With the Atlantic Ocean withdrawn from the Proposed Program, seismic airgun blasting is unnecessary and should not proceed.” “I’ve repeatedly made the case that drilling off Virginia’s coast poses significant and irreversible consequences to Virginia’s economy, jeopardizes the Defense Department’s presence in the region, and threatens our coastal communities and natural resources,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly. “The Department of Interior’s decision to remove the Atlantic from offshore oil and gas exploration was the responsible thing to do. Moving forward with seismic testing is unnecessary and would threaten the progress we’ve made to protect our coastal communities.” “If one is not going to do something, it doesn’t strike me as reasonable to prepare to do that something. Accordingly, it makes little sense to conduct seismic testing off the Atlantic coast, when the Atlantic Ocean has been excluded as a possible site for offshore drilling by the Department of Interior,” said Rep. Mark Sanford. “It should not move forward, if nothing else, because allowing seismic testing to proceed goes counter to the coastal communities I represent. They have spoken clearly that they do not want this blasting.” Opposition to seismic airgun blasting among coastal communities is widespread and growing. Of the 112 local resolutions passed to oppose offshore oil and gas development, 95 of these specifically oppose seismic airgun blasting. Seismic airgun blasting for oil and natural gas is an extremely disruptive activity in the ocean and negatively affects commercial fishing stocks and other marine life. With the Atlantic Ocean withdrawn from the Proposed Program, seismic airgun blasting is unnecessary and should not proceed. “Although the Atlantic Ocean has been precluded from oil and natural gas production for now, exploration in the form of seismic airgun blasting continues to threaten productive fisheries, and marine organisms and ecosystems,” the members wrote. “We ask that you protect this important and productive area from unnecessary, long-lasting harm and halt consideration of all G&G oil and gas permits.” In addition to Connolly and Sanford the letter was signed by the following Representatives: Alcee L. Hastings, Corrine Brown, John Carney, Patrick E. Murphy, Mark Pocan, Donald S. Beyer Jr, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Niki Tsongas, Frank Pallone, Jr., Lois Frankel, Chris Van Hollen, Ted Deutch, Seth Moulton, Sam Farr, Steve Israel, Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Yvette D. Clarke, Matthew Cartwright, Alan Grayson, Barbara Lee, Mike Quigley, Curt Clawson, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Peter DeFazio, Lois Capps, John Lewis, Anna G. Eshoo, Bonnie Watson Coleman, John Sarbanes, Jared Huffman, Chaka Fattah, Michael E. Capuano, James R. Langevin, Stephen F. Lynch, Walter Jones, Frank LoBiondo, Frederica S. Wilson, Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, David Price, Raúl M. Grijalva, Alan Lowenthal, Paul D. Tonko, G. K. Butterfield, David N. Cicilline, Donna F. Edwards, Debbie Dingell, Alma S. Adams, Jan Schakowsky, James E. Clyburn, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, David Jolly, Katherine M. Clark, David Jolly, and Mike M. Honda Click here for the PDF Full letter follows: June 8, 2016 President Barack Obama Sincerely, |