Offshore Oil: What happens between the Seismic Surveys and the Oil Spills?

Offshore Platform

As we are closing in on the Outer Continental Shelf leasing program comment period, it appears as if the oilmen are running into a few snags.

The first, of course, was Secretary Ryan Zinke’s arbitrary (and out-of-process) exemption of Florida from the plan just two days after it was issued, causing an uproar from elected officials from all coastal states.

Then coastal cities started passing resolutions against the proposal, followed by Coastal States passing laws against allowing any onshore infrastructure.

Citizens in all states are complaining that the “listening sessions” hosted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) do not appropriately serve the public need for getting information or expressing their concerns.

At this point we are not sure exactly where we are in the comment process. The original comment period closes on March 9, but some 22 Senators have called for a more engaged public review process and a 60-day extension of the comment period to accommodate for this. Should the comment period be extended – given the way it is unfolding at the moment, BOEM will likely receive an even more thorough drubbing from the public. If it is not extended BOEM will likely hear from states, cities, businesses, and conservation organizations in court.

Despite the feeble efforts of the American Petroleum Institute to enlist industry employees to comment in support of the proposal, as of this writing some 1.5 million comments about the proposal are weighing in at about 98% against it. In a representative democracy this would end the argument. But as we have been indicating all along, the oilmen are out on their own spar on this, and representative democracy doesn’t seem to enter into their calculous.

The reason that their idea is so unpopular has to do with a number of factors: Fossil Fuel is “so 20^th Century,” and catastrophic climate change figures powerfully in the public concern for our global future. Conservationists are concerned with the impacts of seismic surveys, and everyone in concerned with oil spills. And frankly, while is seems that many Americans can be led around by the nose by ideologues, none of them like being pushed around by anyone.

Regarding the actual proposed operations, we have produced a video, “Offshore Oil: What happen between the Seismic Surveys and the Oil spills” describing in more detail what offshore oil extraction means to the environment – with a particular focus on ocean noise pollution.

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