OCEAN CITY — Just weeks after the federal government released its environmental impact statement green-lighting the use of seismic air gun testing for natural gas and oil off the mid-Atlantic coast including Ocean City, opposition to the proposal continued to gain momentum this week.
With a renewed interest in tapping potential oil and gas reserves off the mid-Atlantic coast, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is moving forward with a proposal to allow private sector companies to utilize potentially harmful seismic air gun testing to determine what lies beneath the ocean floor. Seismic air guns shoot blast of sound into the ocean floor, each of which is 100,000 times more intense than a jet engine’s sound.
In late July, BOEM released its final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for seismic air gun testing in the mid-Atlantic, essentially opining the potential rewards outweigh any possible impact to marine life. While there are still several hurdles to clear before seismic air guns are blasted into the ocean floor off the mid-Atlantic coast, the PEIS represents the federal government’s intention to move forward with the practice despite an outcry of opposition from nearly all corners.
This week, a delegation of U.S. Senators and members of Congress from Maryland fired off a strongly worded letter to President Barack Obama urging him to put the brakes on the proposal. The Maryland delegation pointed out the potential impact on marine life and the associated impacts on the state’s coastal communities including Ocean City.
“Maryland is famous for its blue crabs and is a state that depends on the ocean,” the letter from Maryland’s congressional delegation reads. “The gross domestic product (GDP) from Maryland’s living resources, which includes fishing, hatcheries, aquaculture, seafood processing and seafood markets is valued at over $122 million and the GDP from ocean-based tourism and recreation in the state totals nearly $2.7 billion. Additionally, there are a total of about 83,000 jobs in the fishing, tourism and recreation sectors in Maryland that are directly dependent on the resources threatened by seismic air guns and countless others that are indirectly dependent on these resources.”
The conservation activist group Oceana has led the opposition to seismic air gun testing off the mid-Atlantic coast. Oceana officials said this week its opposition has been joined by members of the Senate and Congress and stakeholders of every ilk and is gaining momentum every day.
“The president’s decision to allow seismic blasting in the Atlantic has only fueled the fire of opposition,” said Oceana Campaign Director Claire Douglass. “This is no longer a debate over the risks and benefits of seismic air guns. It’s a fight to protect the east coast and the marine life, people and communities that call it home.”
However, Douglass said the administration has apparently turned a deaf ear on the opposition from the stakeholders.
“The Obama administration seems to be ignoring the voices from the front line,” said Douglass. “Anyone that could possibly be impacted is speaking out against turning the Atlantic into a blasting zone, including members of Congress, scientists, coastal communities, local elected officials, citizens, conservation and animal welfare organizations and commercial and recreational fishing groups.”
Meanwhile, several fishing industry heavyweights have joined the fray, issuing their own statements on opposition to seismic air gun testing in ecologically sensitive areas off the coast. For example, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council this week said seismic testing has the potential to reverse years of progress.
“Over the past decades, the council has implemented management strategies to maintain sustainable levels of fishing and, in some cases, to rebuild overfished stocks,” the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council letter reads. “These efforts have often necessitated sacrifices from both the commercial and recreational fishing sectors in the form of economic losses and foregone fishing opportunities. After many years of working to rebuild mid-Atlantic fisheries to sustainable levels, the potential negative impacts of these activities on these rebuilt resources are extremely troubling.”
The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) has also weighed in on the risks to a major economic engine along the Atlantic coast. The Billfish Foundation has also joined the opposition.
“Marine resources in this area support a large job base that generates important revenue,” the IGFA letter reads. “Recreational fishing in particular is a very significant economic entity in the Mid-Atlantic region. Each year, recreational fishing generates over $10 million in angler expenditures and supports nearly 80,000 jobs.”