What Others Are Saying … Anti-Drilling Campaign Merits Recognition

What Others Are Saying … Anti-Drilling Campaign Merits Recognition
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Matt Heim

Special To The Dispatch

Working in the environmental field, it’s not every day that we have something to celebrate, but this past March gave us something to truly take the time to appreciate.

When the Obama Administration unveiled plans in early 2015 that would have allowed offshore drilling off our coast, Assateague Coastal Trust knew we had to do everything in our power to stop these plans from moving forward. We worked closely with citizens, civic groups, national leaders, and numerous municipalities in the Delmarva Region to ensure our voice was heard in Washington.

Our coalition came together to pass 11 resolutions opposing offshore drilling in towns stretching from Lewes, Del. to Northampton County, Va. Letters expressing opposition to the plan were also submitted by the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce, the Rehoboth Beach Homeowners Association, the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association, the founder of the White Marlin Open and numerous local citizens. In fact, Assateague Coastal Trust’s website generated the 12th most referrals to the online federal public comment page of any other website in the world.

Delmarva made sure that its voice was heard in DC and recognition of that effort was delivered in March of this year when the Obama administration decided to rescind its plans for offshore drilling in the Atlantic, at least for the next five years, citing overwhelming grassroots opposition as one of its deciding factors. As is the case with most environmental victories though, we must not let our guard down and work still remains to be done to ensure the protection of our coast.

Despite removing the Atlantic from any offshore drilling plans in the coming five years, companies are still planning to conduct dangerous seismic air gun surveys looking for oil and gas. The use of these air guns, which release a sonic blast equivalent to a 747 at takeoff every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, has led to devastating impacts to marine mammal populations and fisheries in other parts of the world.  Moreover, these surveys are the first step towards eventual drilling. The Atlantic is protected for the next five years, but beyond that the next president could once again lay out plans to put oil rigs off our coast.

The campaign against offshore drilling here on Delmarva, led by Assateague Coastal Trust, is an example of democracy in action. This effort of citizens coming together around a common cause and getting their voices heard, deserves to be celebrated. Assateague Coastal Trust, the Assateague COASTKEEPER, and Oceana along with other organizations involved in the campaign against offshore drilling, will be doing just that this coming Saturday at our Float for the Coast event in Dewey Beach, Del. The event, which will feature a celebratory paddle on Rehoboth Bay at 11 a.m. and rally at 12:30 p.m., will be held at the Hyatt Place in Dewey Beach and will celebrate this major victory for our coast as well as call on continued pressure on Washington to deny pending seismic air gun survey permits. We encourage everyone to attend, because this victory and the Atlantic belong to all of us.

For more information on the event, visit www.ACTforBays.org. To view ACT’s offshore drilling outreach video, click over to https://youtu.be/QxG7UHuhuRo

(The writer serves as the offshore oil community outreach director for the Assateague Coastal Trust.)