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'Kayaktivists' Protest Offshore Drilling

On Friday in Ocean City, Maryland, an armada of 100 kayakers – the captain wearing a pirate hat – paddled up to the town’s waterfront convention center.  The kayaktivists waved signs proclaiming “Don’t Drill the Atlantic!”...”Kill the Drill!”…and “Don’t BP my OC!”

The self-proclaimed “Sea Party Coalition” called on local government officials attending the Maryland Association of Counties convention, inside the building, to oppose the Obama Administration’s proposal to open up the Atlantic Coast to offshore oil drilling.

“It wouldn’t take a BP-sized oil spill to be catastrophic,” said Matt Heim, outreach coordinator for the Assateague Coastal Trust. “If Ocean City’s beaches were closed even for a weekend in the summertime, the impact could have really big consequences for local people and businesses here.”

Before oil spills, Heim worries about seismic testing -- the blasting of giant air guns from ships to determine if pockets of petroleum exist under the ocean.

“Seismic testing is something they would have to do before they could drill,” Heim said. “It’s one of the loudest manmade sounds on earth, and during the survey period that sound goes off every 20 seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  It’s been shown to kill marine mammals. And we don’t need that off of our East Coast.”

In January, officials in the Obama Administration proposed to issue offshore leases from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, off Virginia, south to Georgia, starting in 2021. The Maryland Association of Counties has not taken a position on whether Maryland’s offshore waters should be added to the list.

Former Governor Martin O’Malley opposed offshore drilling.  But Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, and North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, have both been pushing to allow the oil industry to operate off their states, arguing it could mean thousands of jobs for coastal residents. 

“If we proceed in a smart and safe way, we can unlock gas, oil, and wind assets offshore while protecting our environment,” McAuliffe said in a written statement.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has not taken a position on the issue.

 “Any decisions concerning oil drilling off of Maryland’s coast is premature at this point, as leasing is not a possibility until at least 2022,” said Erin Montgomery, spokeswoman for Hogan.  “Until then, the governor and his advisors will be in a listening and learning mode. The Hogan administration is dedicated to balancing economic growth and opportunity with protecting our priceless natural resources.”

Among the subjects of continued debate is the potential impact of seismic testing for oil.

The U.S. Department of the Interior last year concluded seismic testing would have a minimal impact on marine species and populations. But then in March, 75 scientists wrote a letter protesting the federal decision as flawed.

One of the researchers was Duke University Associate Professor Doug  Nowacek. He argues the loud airgun blasts could disrupt the communication, reproduction, and survival of right whales, dolphins and several species of fish.

 “North Atlantic Right Whales number something less than 500  animals,” Nowacek said. “They are federally protected by the marine mammals protection act and the Endangered Species Act.  ….And with respect to fish, there are a lot more fish than people realize that use sound for things like territory defense and mating.  And some of the important ones that people like to eat – like snapper and grouper –most of those species use sound to mediate spawning aggregations.  And so with a lot of noise in the environment, it’s entirely possible that those spawning aggregations could be interrupted or those fish couldn’t find their way to them.”

Allowing drilling off the East Coast would certainly generate revenue. But it might also cost money… because so much of the coastal economy is based on tourism, fishing, and real estate values in vacation areas like Ocean City and the Outer Banks.

To make a buck, we might lose… a lot more.

Tom Pelton, a national award-winning environmental journalist, has hosted "The Environment in Focus" since 2007. He also works as director of communications for the Environmental Integrity Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to holding polluters and governments accountable to protect public health. From 1997 until 2008, he was a journalist for The Baltimore Sun, where he was twice named one of the best environmental reporters in America by the Society of Environmental Journalists.