OCEAN CITY — A renewed effort to open vast areas of ocean floor off the mid-Atlantic coast to potentially dangerous seismic air gun testing led to Maryland’s elected officials firing off a letter this week to Gov. Larry Hogan asking him to intercede on the state’s behalf.
In late April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order reopening vast areas off the mid-Atlantic coast to offshore oil exploration and drilling, renewing a years-long battle that resulted in the previous administration reversing the plan. In June, the Trump administration took initial steps in expediting the plan to explore and potentially drill for oil and gas reserves off the mid-Atlantic coast when he authorized the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to issue as many as five Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) permits, which, if approved, would allow the private sector companies awarded the permits to begin the dangerous practice of seismic air gun testing.
Seismic air gun testing is used to determine what oil and natural gas reserves lie beneath the ocean floor. Seismic air guns essentially shoot blasts of compressed air into the ocean floor each of which is an estimated 100,000 times more intense than the sound of a jet engine. If approved, vessels would tow as many as 30 air guns, which would be fired every 10 seconds continuously 24 hours a day and seven days a week for the duration of the mapping exercise, which could last for several weeks.
The renewed effort to open the mid-Atlantic coast to seismic air gun testing has resulted in an almost immediate reaction from the same coalition of coastal communities, environmental advocacy groups and tourism and fishing businesses that successfully opposed the same initiative the last time around under the Obama administration. This week, Maryland’s U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both Democrats, fired off a letter to Hogan urging him to act on behalf of the state to block the proposed seismic air gun testing off the mid-Atlantic coast or at the very least, urge the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to properly vet the proposal through a statutorily mandated Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) consultation.
“We strongly urge you to direct the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to formally request a CZMA consultation from the National Marine Fisheries Service due to the likely negative impacts of the proposed geological and geophysical activity would have on Maryland’s marine species and coastal economies,” the letter reads. “As a coastal state with one of the world’s largest estuaries in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland’s economic health especially relies on a healthy ocean. Each year, roughly 90,000 jobs and more than $5.4 million in gross domestic product comes from our ocean economy.”
Under the CZMA, BOEM must provide a determination to the relevant state agency responsible for Maryland’s coastal zone management program, in this case the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), at least 90 days before any federal activity. BOEM must provide sufficient information to MDE that the permitted activity is consistent with the state’s coastal management program before approving any seismic permits because the proposed areas for seismic air gun testing includes all of Maryland’s coastline.
“As our state’s governor, it is imperative that you become involved in this process not only because Maryland has a duty to assert its legal rights under the CZMA, but also because the proposed geological and geophysical activities would have significant impacts on our coastal resources including commercial fisheries and marine mammals,” the letter reads. “Numerous studies show the detrimental impacts seismic air gun blasting has on marine life, including fish stocks and marine mammals.”
The letter to Hogan from Cardin and Van Hollen points out there is already strong opposition to both seismic surveying and offshore drilling in the mid-Atlantic. An alliance representing over 41,000 businesses and half a million fishing families, along with over 120 east coast municipalities, including Ocean City and Berlin, for example, have publicly opposed seismic testing and offshore drilling in the mid-Atlantic.
In addition, numerous environmental advocacy groups throughout the region, including the Assateague Coastal Trust and the Ocean city chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, came out against the plan during the Obama administration’s initiative, which was successfully pulled from the table, and that effort has been renewed now that the Trump administration has restarted the process. The Senators’ letter to the Republican governor Hogan essentially asks him to put Maryland first and party politics second on this crucial issue, a position Hogan has been willing to take on other issues.
“Disruption of healthy ocean ecosystems in the region will affect the fishing businesses, restaurants and visitors that flock to our coastal communities,” the letter reads. “According to the federal government’s own estimates, seismic testing in the Atlantic could injure 138,000 whales and dolphins and disturb millions more.”
