Five Year Anniversary of BP Oil Disaster Highlights Risks of Offshore Drilling in New Areas
Posted April 20, 2015 12:25 pm
Deep Water Horizon BP disaster
WASHINGTON - Today marks the five-year anniversary of the worst environmental disaster in United States history. The BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster claimed the lives of 11 workers and spilled more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, wreaking havoc on communities, economies, fisheries and wildlife.
Since the spill, numerous studies have found that the oil, and the dispersants used to clean it up, has had detrimental effects on birds, dolphins, fish and other species.
Jacqueline Savitz, Oceana’s vice president for the U.S., marked the occasion with the following statement:
“It has been
five years since the worst environmental disaster in
U.S. history, yet offshore drilling is still not safe.
Offshore drilling continues to plague the Gulf with
deaths, injuries, explosions and spills.
We are only now beginning to understand the true effects
of the BP oil disaster.
We have seen sea turtles wash up on our beaches. We know
that the oil has damaged the hearts of fish like the
valuable Bluefin tuna and caused illnesses in dolphins.
Many of these impacts equaled death for these animals,
which may lead to effects on populations that were
already struggling from overfishing. While the jury is
literally still out on the full extent of the impacts,
we do know that BP has not yet come close to making
Americans whole and recovering the Gulf to its pre-spill
conditions.
Today’s anniversary is a stark reminder that when we
drill, we spill. Yet Congress has not passed a single
piece of legislation to better regulate this dirty and
dangerous industry. The myth that more energy produced
at home means lower gas prices is simply untrue – oil is
sold on the world market, and the majority of what we
produce at home is shipped overseas.
Instead, we have seen a constant push to expand our
drilling efforts. In fact, the Obama administration is
currently considering opening up the East Coast to
offshore drilling for the first time in U.S. history.
The federal government is also planning to authorize new
drilling in the U.S. Arctic Ocean, the worst possible
place we could allow drilling given its remoteness,
extended darkness and icy conditions. There is no good
reason to sell more leases in the Arctic Ocean, where
companies such as Shell have proven so clearly that
drilling can’t be done safely.
Drilling in the Atlantic could destroy coastal
communities, economies, fish and marine mammals for
decades to come. It would lead to a coastline scattered
with oil and gas rigs, and industrialization in coastal
communities. Commercial fishing, tourism and recreation
would suffer from routine leaks as well as the looming
risk of a Deepwater Horizon-like oil disaster along the
East Coast.
Even the exploration itself is extremely dangerous.
The Obama administration is currently reviewing
applications to use seismic airguns that use repeated
dynamite-like blasts to search for oil and gas deposits
deep below the ocean floor. This is being permitted in
an area twice the size of California, stretching from
Delaware to Florida, in some cases in areas not even
being considered for offshore drilling.
Based on the government’s own estimates, seismic
blasting in the Atlantic could harm fish populations
while injuring as many as 138,000 marine mammals like
whales and dolphins, killing some of them, and
disturbing the vital activities of as many as 13.5
million more.
To date,
50 coastal communities have passed resolutions opposing
offshore drilling and seismic testing. In
addition, 65 Members of Congress, over 400 elected
officials,
over 160 conservation and animal welfare organizations,
as well as the
Billfish Foundation, the
International Game Fish Association, the
Southeastern Fisheries Association and the
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, have
all publically opposed offshore oil exploration and/or
development.”
In March, 75 leading marine scientists sent a letter to President Obama detailing the impacts of seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic Ocean, stating that “the magnitude of the proposed seismic activity is likely to have significant, long-lasting, and widespread impacts on the reproduction and survival of fish and marine mammal populations in the region, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, of which approximately only 500 remain.
Oceana’s own analysis finds that offshore wind would produce twice the number of jobs and twice the amount of energy as offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, without the risk of a catastrophic spill.
Photos/graphics; links: added/updated by the Observer
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