By Jeremy Deaton, video by Bart Vandever
The 2010 BP oil spill dumped more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, where it killed billions of fish. Had things gone as planned, that oil would have fueled cars and trucks, worsening climate change, which is going to kill billions of fish — and that was the best-case scenario. In short, oil is bad for sea life.
<p>Except sometimes it's not.</p><p>That's because the legs and bracings holding up oil platforms are the ideal setting for ocean reefs. Fish like to gather around the pylons, which are covered in mussels, barnacles and corals. Emily Hazelwood, who worked as a field technician after the BP oil spill, recalled learning about the reefs firsthand.</p>
<p>"BP had hired all the fishermen who lost their jobs to drive our boats," she said. "Every time we would go out with them, and we would pass one of the many oil platforms, they would say they couldn't wait to go out there fishing."</p><p>Experts say offshore oil will <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-12/offshore-oil-to-peak-in-2020-then-join-shale-in-market-slowdown" target="_blank">peak this year</a> as prices fall, a trend <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/03/20/oil-slide-price-shock-demand-hit-opec-coronavirus/" target="_blank">exacerbated</a> by the coronavirus and the ongoing price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. The slump is expected to send a growing number of rigs offline.</p>
<p>There is a real question as to what to do with the shuttered rigs, which can provide a safe home to ocean life. Oil platforms typically lie far from shore, so they are protected from the water pollution that empties into the ocean, Hazelwood said. They are safe from commercial fishing trawlers that gather up schools of fish out at sea.</p><p>"Stretching from sea floor to sea surface, these platforms can be as large as the Empire State Building, which provides a lot of real estate for marine life," Hazelwood said. "That richness of life on an oil platform is just so cool. I have never seen a group of fish like that before."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE2NzQ0OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNzI5ODU4OX0.Fevmxtg8wssystdKM0porKSik-aLfx2xUjLHPUxuZQQ/img.png?width=980" id="edf6a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4bf306b9d793fcd992629b7f1234a94b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A diver explores sea life on the Eureka oil rig off the coast of Long Beach, California. Blue Latitudes
<p>Hazelwood and her business partner Amber Sparks, co-founded consulting firm <a href="http://www.rig2reefexploration.org/team" target="_blank">Blue Latitudes</a>. Together, they work with oil companies to preserve the reefs that form on decommissioned oil platforms, lopping off the top while letting the rest of the structure stay in place. This process can save oil firms millions by sparing them the cost of tearing down an old rig.</p><p>Naturally, not everyone is wild about leaving the skeletons of oil platforms to rust in the ocean. In 2010, California <a href="https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/RC-Rigs-to-Reef-Law-Fall2010.pdf" target="_blank">passed a controversial law</a> that would allow oil firms to convert old rigs into artificial reefs. Critics say it lets companies off the hook for cleanup by making the state liable for the remains of decommissioned oil platforms.</p><p>"The oil companies walk away. The state has to deal with this structure in the ocean forever, dealing with any safety issues, any pollution issues, any maintenance issues," said Linda Krop, chief counsel with the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara, California.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE2NzQ1MC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTg4OTI4OX0.HR7BkA8MXTe3TnuvNDgeWH54iQ1BtST3shnMPlswIPk/img.png?width=980" id="8e6af" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2ac4982120d288e03ade22aa5f50d8d0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/the-dazzling-ocean-reefs-hidden-beneath-oil-rigs-video-67cbd80a54cc" target="_blank">Nexus Media</a>.</em><em></em></p>Divers explore sea life on the Eureka oil rig off the coast of Long Beach, California. Blue Latitudes
<p>She said it's also unclear if the rigs-to-reef program has much value for sea creatures. If old oil platforms become hot spots for recreational fishing, that could leave reefs mostly barren of marine life.</p><p>"We don't know what benefit will arise from leaving a platform at sea. We want that studied. That's what the current law requires. But the proponents are trying to weaken that part of the law," she said.</p><p>Hazelwood and Sparks, for instance, have called for streamlining the rigs-to-reef program to make it easier for oil companies to convert old platforms into ocean habitats. They say that tearing down viable reefs just doesn't make sense.</p><p>"Most environmental groups, they want to go back to the way the world was 10,000 years ago. And who wouldn't? I mean, that would just be an unbelievable planet to live on," Hazelwood said. "But that's not necessarily the reality of our situation right now, so we advocate for finding that silver lining."</p>From Your Site Articles
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A boat works to collect oil that has leaked from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico on April 28, 2010 near New Orleans, Louisiana. Chris Graythen / Getty Images
By Andrea Germanos
Nearly 10 years after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil catastrophe began in the Gulf of Mexico, a leading ocean conservation group warned Tuesday that the threat of another similar disaster looms large and that the fossil fuel industry and U.S. government have learned practically nothing from the world's worst ever such disaster.
<p>Oceana's new publication—titled "<em><a href="https://usa.oceana.org/publications/reports/hindsight-2020-lessons-we-cannot-ignore-bp-disaster" target="_blank">Hindsight 2020: Lessons We Cannot Ignore from the BP Disaster</a></em>"—provides a broad look at what led up to the "preventable tragedy," the ongoing ecological and economic consequences of the disaster, and how the spill failed to act as a wake-up call on the inherent dangers of offshore drilling.</p><p>"Offshore drilling is still as dirty and dangerous as it was 10 years ago," said Diane Hoskins, Oceana campaign director. "If anything, another disaster is more likely today as the oil industry drills deeper and farther offshore. Instead of learning lessons from the BP disaster, President Trump is proposing to radically expand offshore drilling, while dismantling the few protections put in place as a result of the catastrophic blowout."</p><p>By pulling together information from a number of sources—including government documents, scientific studies, and interviews with Gulf Coast residents and policy experts—the report conveys a chilling reality: It's not a question of another offshore oil spill happening, but simply when.</p><p>"What we found was disturbing," says the report.</p>
<div id="83d28" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4e5d4d1e901e90872643ba8455657639"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1250045293745373184" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#BREAKING: New Oceana report examines BP #DeepwaterHorizon disaster’s cause and impacts 10 years later. 200+ millio… https://t.co/5wDEBaDWWy</div> — Oceana (@Oceana)<a href="https://twitter.com/oceana/statuses/1250045293745373184">1586868997.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>While the date of the disaster—April 20, 2010—is well in the rear view mirror, the consequences are not.</p><p>"Nobody was ready for this scale of pollution," Nova Southeastern University Professor Tracey Sutton told Oceana. "As far as we know, the actual impact of the spill is not over yet."</p><p>Among the impacts that are known are that as many as 800,000 birds died in the midst of and following the disaster. The oil gushing from the ocean floor also devastated bottlenose dolphins—over 75% of all dolphin pregnancies failed in the oiled area. The spill also ravaged frontline communities.</p>
<p>"They failed our people," Clarice Friloux, who worked as outreach coordinator for the United Houma Nation during the spill recovery, told Oceana. "At one point, I remember thinking, 'Wow, this could kill off a whole generation of Native Americans living off the coast of Louisiana.'"</p><p>Contributing to the threat of another Deepwater Horizon-like spill is that the fossil fuel industry has pushed for riskier drilling—further out and in deeper waters. Yet safety measures matching those riskier moves have not been rolled out.</p><p>The Trump administration, meanwhile, has done nothing to dampen the industry's appetite for more drilling.</p><p>Instead of strengthening safety regulations, the industry and the Trump administration are dismantling the few protections put in place after the BP catastrophe. Without effective oversight and a more robust safety culture, another disaster at the level of Deepwater Horizon may be just as likely today as it was 10 years ago.</p>
<p>The report also points to the weak approach taken by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE)—a panel tasked with oversight of offshore drilling safety and was created in the year after <em>Deepwater Horizon</em>.</p><p>"The only significant thing that happened was that BSEE did issue a regulation around blowout preventer devices," Cyn Sarthou, executive director of the New Orleans-based environmental policy organization Healthy Gulf, says in the report. "Under the new administration, they have rolled that back. Even that one regulation, which was very little ... has now been rolled back."</p><p>Simply put, the report states, "A decade later, the safety culture has not improved, and oversight of the industry remains deficient."</p>
<p>Oceana's report also points to Trump's move <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/01/04/trump-administration-condemned-plan-recklessly-expand-offshore-drilling" target="_blank">to greatly expand offshore drilling </a>which further paved the path for another disaster. To prevent a similar tragedy, the new report outlines a number of recommendations and called on Congress and the White House to:</p><ul><li>Halt all efforts to expand offshore drilling to new areas;</li><li>Direct BSEE to seek transformative changes to the industry's safety culture and reverse efforts to weaken safety regulations;</li><li>Direct BOEM to deny all pending geological and geophysical seismic permits for oil and gas in the Atlantic Ocean; and</li><li>Enact a moratorium on expanded offshore drilling. Congress should incentivize investments in clean, renewable energy.</li></ul><p>"When they drill, they spill," said Hoskins. "The BP disaster devastated the Gulf, and we cannot afford to repeat it. Protecting our environment has never been more important than it is today."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/14/10-years-after-bps-deepwater-horizon-offshore-catastrophe-worst-spill-history-and" target="_blank"> Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>
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Crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico on April 21, 2010 near New Orleans, Louisiana. U.S. Coast Guard / Getty Images
By Donald Boesch
Ten years ago, on April 20, 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 crew members and starting the largest ocean oil spill in history. Over the next three months, between 4 million and 5 million barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.
<p>I was a member of the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-OILCOMMISSION/pdf/GPO-OILCOMMISSION.pdf" target="_blank">oil spill commission</a> appointed by President Obama to investigate the causes of the disaster. Later, I served as a courtroom witness for the government on the effects of the spill. While scientists now know more about these effects, risks of deepwater blowouts remain, and the energy industry and government responders still have only very limited ability to control where the oil goes once it's released from the well.</p><p>The spill commission found that <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-OILCOMMISSION" target="_blank">multiple identifiable mistakes caused the blowout</a>. Our report cast doubt over how safety was addressed across the offshore oil industry and the government's ability to regulate it.</p><p>As the oil spill commission's report showed, drilling ever deeper into the Gulf involved risks for which neither industry nor government was adequately prepared. The industry had felt so sure that a blowout would not happen that it lacked the capacity to contain it. Neither BP nor the government could do much to control or clean up the spill.</p>
Safety improvements are threatened
<p>The presidential commission recommended numerous reforms to reduce the risks and environmental damages from offshore oil and gas development. The industry developed <a href="https://www.noia.org/offshore-energy/safety/response-containment-systems/" target="_blank">systems to contain blowouts</a> in deep water and has deployed them worldwide. Improvements in operational safety were made within companies and <a href="https://www.centerforoffshoresafety.org/" target="_blank">across the industry</a>.</p><p>The Department of the Interior acted quickly to reorganize its units. It created a <a href="https://www.bsee.gov/who-we-are/about-us" target="_blank">Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement</a> to avoid conflicts of interests with its leasing, development and revenue collection responsibilities. After four years in development, the bureau issued <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/04/29/2016-08921/oil-and-gas-and-sulfur-operations-in-the-outer-continental-shelf-blowout-preventer-systems-and-well" target="_blank">new well control rules</a> in 2016 governing drilling safety.</p><p>But despite progress on a number of fronts, Congress has not enacted legislation to improve safety or even raise energy companies' ridiculously low liability limits for oil spills – currently just <a href="https://www.boem.gov/newsroom/press-releases/boem-adjusts-limit-liability-oil-spills-offshore-facilities" target="_blank">US$134 million</a> for offshore facilities like the Deepwater Horizon. The Trump administration has <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/bsee-finalizes-improved-blowout-preventer-and-well-control-regulations" target="_blank">reversed or relaxed safety reforms</a>. It has loosened the safe pressure margins allowed in a well, dispensed with independent inspections of blowout protectors and removed requirements for continuous onshore monitoring of offshore drilling.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6213b6d12749022223a9d737e4f84404"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/esliY9Miej0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>Some of these changes were <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/484837-political-appointees-urged-rollback-of-deepwater-horizon-inspired" target="_blank">ordered by political appointees</a> over the recommendations of the safety bureau's technical experts. While the bureau is charged with focusing singularly on <a href="https://www.bsee.gov/who-we-are/about-us" target="_blank">safety and the environment</a>, its director, <a href="https://www.bsee.gov/who-we-are/our-organization/leadership/director" target="_blank">Scott Angelle</a>, has been a <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2018/01/05/investing/offshore-oil-drilling-safety-trump-bsee/index.html" target="_blank">prominent proponent</a> of the administration's aggressive <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-unleashing-american-energy-dominance/" target="_blank">"energy dominance"</a> strategy, ordering expanded oil production and elimination of costly regulations. Imagine the message this sends about priorities to people in government and industry who are responsible for ensuring safety.</p>
Where contamination lingers
<p>Before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the deep Gulf of Mexico ecosystem was egregiously understudied in all respects, while a <a href="https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/oil-and-gas-energy-program/Leasing/Five-Year-Program/2019-2024/DPP/NP-Economic-Benefits.pdf" target="_blank">multi-billion-dollar industry</a> intruded into it. Now scientists know much more about what happens when large quantities of oil and gas are released in a seafloor blowout.</p><p>Scientists learned much about the effects of the spill through monitoring the blowout, assessing damages to natural resources and investigating the fate and effects of escaping oil. More has been spent on these studies and more results published than for any previous oil spill.</p><p>A substantial portion of oil released from the mile-deep well was entrained in a plume of droplets spreading out 3,000 feet below the Gulf's surface. Footprints of contamination and effects extended <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw8863" target="_blank">far beyond the area where oil slicks were observed</a>.</p>NASA | Satellites View Growing Gulf Oil Spill
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e0ae67b051718ba3863e543b577e9716"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mCWW5xt3Hc8?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Nearly all of the oil released has since degraded. Populations of most affected organisms have recovered. But contamination lingers in sediments in the deep Gulf, and in some marshes and beaches where oil came ashore. Populations of <a href="https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/wp-content/uploads/Chapter-4_Injury_to_Natural_Resources_508.pdf" target="_blank">long-lived animals the oil killed </a> might not recover for decades. These include sea turtles, bottlenose dolphins, seabirds and <a href="https://theconversation.com/deepwater-corals-thrive-at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean-but-cant-escape-human-impacts-104211" target="_blank">deepwater corals</a>.</p><p>And yet, as scientists synthesize results from this <a href="https://gulfresearchinitiative.org/" target="_blank">10-year research initiative</a>, very little practical advice is emerging about what can be done to respond more effectively to future blowouts from ever-deeper drilling in the Gulf.</p><p>Surely, we can more rapidly contain blowouts. The effectiveness of injecting chemical dispersants into the plume gushing from the well <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-12963-7_29" target="_blank">remains in debate</a>. How much oil do dispersants keep from reaching the surface, where it threatens those working to stanch the blowout, as well as birds, sea turtles and coastal ecosystems? But the research has not revealed more effective approaches in controlling released oil.</p>Safety first is the big lesson
<p>As I see it, the essential lesson from Deepwater Horizon is that industry and government should be putting their greatest energies into preventing operational accidents, blowouts and releases. Yet the Trump administration emphasizes <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-offshore-oil-drilling-plans-ignore-the-lessons-of-bp-deepwater-horizon-89570" target="_blank">increasing production and reducing regulations</a>. This undermines safety improvements made over the past 10 years.</p><p>Furthermore, the price of crude oil – already low because of high fracked oil production in the U.S. – has <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-oil-shock-of-2020-appears-to-be-here-and-the-pain-could-be-wide-and-deep-133293" target="_blank">declined drastically</a> since the beginning of 2020. Saudi and Russian oil had already glutted the market when the coronavirus pandemic reduced oil consumption.</p><p>
The federal government's March 2020 oil and gas lease sale for the Gulf of Mexico yielded the lowest response in four years –
<a href="https://www.oedigital.com/news/476766-u-s-offshore-oil-lease-sale-weakest-since-2016" target="_blank">$93 million in high bids</a>, compared to $159 million in the previous round. To prop up the industry and maintain production, the Trump administration is seeking to <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/oil/032020-interior-considers-lowering-us-federal-royalty-rates-for-next-gulf-lease-sale-sources" target="_blank">lower royalty rates</a> and store excess production in the <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/491111-oil-giants-meet-at-white-house-amid-talk-of-buying-strategic" target="_blank">Strategic Petroleum Reserve</a>.
</p><p>
But as industry acts to cut its expenditures and downsize staff, will safety costs be a priority?
</p><p>
National energy policy was beyond the charge of the 2010 commission, but 10 years later, it is impossible to consider the future of offshore oil and gas without factoring in the need to
<a href="https://www.agu.org/Share-and-Advocate/Share/Policymakers/Position-Statements/Position_Climate" target="_blank">eliminate net greenhouse gas emission within 30 years</a> to limit climate change. Why would the United States consider expanding offshore exploration and drilling that might yield fossil fuels only 20 years from now?
</p><p>
Even in the historically developed Gulf of Mexico, rather than just "drill, baby, drill," I believe the U.S. should be developing a realistic transition plan for phasing out offshore fossil fuel production. Such a strategy should encompass not only ensuring high standards for safety and industry responsibility for abandoned infrastructure during the drawdown, but also an economic evolution for the region, including opportunities for carbon sequestration and renewable energy production. We need to ensure that there will be a vibrant and productive Gulf long after we cease removing its oil.
</p>
<p class=""><em>Donald Boesch is a Professor of Marine Science, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.<br/></em></p><p><em>Disclosure Statement: </em><em>Donald Boesch served on the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, a bipartisan presidential commission that operated in 2010-2011. He also served as an expert witness for the U.S. government in its lawsuit against BP for natural resource damages as a result of the spill.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-decade-after-the-deepwater-horizon-explosion-offshore-drilling-is-still-unsafe-132846" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em></p><p>
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Deepwater Horizon Also Spilled 'Invisible Oil,' Harming Far More Marine Life Than Previously Known
13 February
Energy
A controlled burn in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast on June 9, 2010, less than two months after the catastrophic BP oil spill. Deepwater Horizon Response / Flickr
By Julia Conley
Ten years after BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster sent hundreds of millions of gallons of oil across the Gulf of Mexico, researchers say the reach of the damage was far more significant than previously thought.
<p>In a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/02/12/toxic-reach-deepwater-horizons-oil-spill-was-much-larger-deadlier-than-previous-estimates-new-study-says/" target="_blank">study</a> published Wednesday in Science, Claire Paris-Limouzy and Igal Berenshtein of the University of Miami revealed that a significant amount of oil was never picked up in satellite images or captured by barriers that were meant to stop the spread.</p><p>"Our results change established perceptions about the consequences of oil spills by showing that toxic and invisible oil can extend beyond the satellite footprint at potentially lethal and sub-lethal concentrations to a wide range of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a> in the Gulf of Mexico," <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-02-deepwater-horizon-oil-larger-previously.html" target="_blank">said</a> Paris-Limouzy.</p><p>The "invisible oil" spread across an area roughly 30% larger than the 92,500 square miles experts previously believed it had reached, the study says.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"Researchers dubbed it 'invisible oil,' concentrated below the water’s surface and toxic enough to destroy 50 percent of the marine life it encountered." <a href="https://t.co/NlXYNsDiq2">https://t.co/NlXYNsDiq2</a></p>— Wallace McKelvey (@wjmckelvey) <a href="https://twitter.com/wjmckelvey/status/1227710188041523202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><br>"I think it kind of changes the way you think about oil spills," Berenshtein <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/02/12/toxic-reach-deepwater-horizons-oil-spill-was-much-larger-deadlier-than-previous-estimates-new-study-says/" target="_blank">told</a> The Washington Post<em>.</em> "People have to change the way they see this so that they know there's this invisible and toxic component of oil that changes <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life">marine life</a>."</p><p>The ocean protection group Blue Frontier Campaign expressed "disgust" at the revelation — but not surprise.</p>
<div id="a7c81" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="AJA9YV1581617113"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1227700730577870848" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Are we surprised, no. disgusted, yes. Time to get off fossil fuel and on to renewables. Sea Party 2020!
https://t.co/mdjYVchv6t</div> — Blue Frontier Campaign (@Blue Frontier Campaign)<a href="https://twitter.com/Blue_Frontier/statuses/1227700730577870848">1581541638.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Since the 2010 blowout and platform explosion, which killed 11 people, scientists have estimated that the disaster spewed 210 million gallons of oil over the course of five months, with oil reaching Florida and Texas.</p><p>Much of the spilled oil that Berenshtein and Paris-Limouzy detected in their research, using a model that allowed them to trace oil in the Gulf from its source, spread below the water's surface and became toxic enough over time to destroy 50% of the marine life it came across.</p><p>"When you have oil combined with ultraviolent sunlight it becomes two times more toxic than oil alone," Paris-Limouzy told the Post. "Oil becomes toxic at very low concentrations."</p><p>Experts vastly underestimated the extent to which marine life was harmed, the researchers said.</p><p>The research was released as the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration prepares to open up the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans to oil and gas leases and to expand leasing in the Gulf.</p><p>"Time to get off <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> and on to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewables</a>," wrote the Blue Frontier Campaign.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/12/surprised-no-disgusted-yes-study-shows-deepwater-horizon-oil-spread-much-further?cd-origin=rss" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Belugas Are Dying off in Alaska and Oil and Gas Operations Are to Blame, Says Lawsuit
03 February
Animals
A beluga whale swims under an iceberg in Alaska. Design Pics Inc / First Light / Getty Images Plus
Two environmental groups made a formal announcement that they will file a lawsuit to protect endangered beluga whales whose numbers have plummeted recently, as the AP reported.
<p>The suit aims to void permits allowed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that opened up oil and gas exploration in Cook Inlet in southern Alaska. The suit alleges that NOAA violated the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">Endangered Species</a> Act by issuing the permits without protecting Cook Island belugas. The law requires the formal 60-day notice before the agency can be sued, according to <a href="https://apnews.com/52515018c441edfe4ad1ab630dae0801" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>.</p><p>The Center for Biological Diversity and Cook Inletkeeper teamed up to send notice that they will sue NOAA.</p><p>NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released a disturbing new population estimate last week that showed whale numbers are far lower than previous estimates and their numbers are dropping rapidly, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alaska-oil-belugas/environmentalists-invoke-belugas-in-effort-to-halt-alaska-oil-exploration-idUSKBN1ZV36Z" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>The NMFS report estimated that only 279 beluga whales remain in Cook Inlet, a steep decline from the nearly 1,300 that lived there in 1979. The population decline has accelerated to an annual rate of 2.3 percent over the last decade, which is four times faster than previous estimates, according to NMFS, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alaska-oil-belugas/environmentalists-invoke-belugas-in-effort-to-halt-alaska-oil-exploration-idUSKBN1ZV36Z" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>Cook Inlet runs almost 200 miles from Anchorage to the Gulf of Alaska. It supplies energy for the south-central part of the state. The industrial activities there threaten beluga whales, which swim there and feast on salmon and other fish, according to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alaska-oil-drilling-beluga-whale-lawsuit-noaa-a9312856.html?utm_source=reddit.com" target="_blank">The Independent</a>.</p><p>The Center for Biological Diversity said these "daunting" numbers mean exploration planned by Hillcorp Alaska needs to stop immediately, as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alaska-oil-drilling-beluga-whale-lawsuit-noaa-a9312856.html?utm_source=reddit.com" target="_blank">The Independent</a> reported.</p><p>The plaintiffs are demanding a new assessment of oil and gas exploration since the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump administration</a> used higher, inaccurate beluga whale numbers when it gave a permit to Hillcorp Alaska. The permit allows the petroleum company to "take" beluga whales as part of its operations. "Take" is a nebulous term that allows the company to harass and harm whales. The environmental groups want a guarantee that Cook Inlet belugas can recover from any of Hillcorp Alaska's operations, according to <a href="https://apnews.com/52515018c441edfe4ad1ab630dae0801" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>.</p><p>"Since we pressed for listing the Cook Inlet Beluga whale as endangered in 2008, the drive for corporate profits and complacent government bureaucrats have conspired to stifle progress for this dwindling stock," said Bob Shavelson, advocacy director for Cook Inletkeeper, in a <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-launched-to-save-alaskas-cook-inlet-beluga-whales-from-harmful-oil-exploration-2020-01-31/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Hilcorp should do the right thing and abandon its plans for new drilling in Cook Inlet."</p>
<p>Last summer, the Trump administration loosened environmental regulations that allowed for new mining, oil and gas <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling">drilling</a> where protected species live, according to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alaska-oil-drilling-beluga-whale-lawsuit-noaa-a9312856.html?utm_source=reddit.com" target="_blank">The Independent</a>.<br></p><p>"The tragic decline of these lovely little whales spotlights the risk of allowing oil exploration in their habitat," said Julie Teel Simmonds, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-launched-to-save-alaskas-cook-inlet-beluga-whales-from-harmful-oil-exploration-2020-01-31/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "If we're going to save these belugas, the Trump administration must cancel permission for the oil industry to use seismic blasting and pile driving in Cook Inlet. These animals are hanging on by a thread, and we can't let them be hurt even more."</p>The groups said that seismic blasting used in exploration and deep-sea mining causes blasts heard miles away. The blasts can register up to 250 decibels. For reference, standing next to a jackhammer is 100 decibels. Those underwater blasts can cause hearing loss in marine mammals, severely disrupt communication between pods, disturb feeding and breeding grounds, and reduce their ability to catch fish, according to the environmental groups, as <a href="https://apnews.com/52515018c441edfe4ad1ab630dae0801" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.
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With Nation Transfixed by Impeachment, Trump Admin Quietly Serves Offshore Drilling Companies a 'Sweetheart Giveaway'
04 December 2019
Politics
U.S. Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt (L) speaks as President Donald Trump (R) looks on during an East Room event on the environment July 7, 2019 at the White House in Washington, DC. Alex Wong / Getty Images
By Andrea Germanos
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was condemned Monday for a proposed policy shift on offshore drilling panned as a "sweetheart giveaway" for a former client.
<p>The new extraction-encouraging proposal was announced last month in a <a href="https://www.bsee.gov/sites/bsee.gov/files/reports/shallow-water-report-01.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), two agencies within the Interior Department and occurred, <a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/oil-and-gas-favors-continue-during-trump-impeachment-proceedings/" target="_blank">according to</a> transparency group Western Values Project, "under the cloud of impeachment."</p>
<p>Bernhardt's announcement followed longstanding <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/27/senate-urged-reject-walking-talking-conflict-interest-david-bernhardt-run-interior" target="_blank">fears</a> that the former lobbyist would use his position in the federal government to serve the interests of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> lobby above those of the American people and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands">public lands</a>. The recommendations laid out in the report pertain to royalties for offshore leasing and drilling.</p><p>"Federal officials," as Louisiana's Houma Today <a href="https://www.houmatoday.com/news/20191119/feds-seek-to-boost-shallow-drilling" target="_blank">reported</a>, "are offering oil and gas companies a discount on the fees they pay the government to drill in the Gulf of Mexico's shallow waters."</p><p>If enacted, the policy to "ensure maximum resource recovery" would benefit the oil and gas industry National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), on whose behalf Bernhardt previously <a href="https://departmentofinfluence.org/person/david-bernhardt/" target="_blank">lobbied</a>, said Western Values Project.</p><p>Also noteworthy, said the advocacy group, is that the report was co-authored by BSEE Director Scott Angelle, who also <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2017/05/22/interiors-pick-lead-offshore-oil-regulator-industry-ties/" target="_blank">has</a> ties to the fossil fuel industry. Western Values Project said that, during the government shutdown, Angelle — who has NOIA's <a href="https://www.noia.org/noia-applauds-selection-scott-angelle-bsee-director/" target="_blank">stamp of approval </a>for his current position — green-lit 53 permits for offshore drilling for companies that sit on the board of directors for NOIA.</p><p>"Since day one, Secretary Bernhardt has operated as though Interior was his own personal lobby shop by doling out favors for his former clients with impunity. This offshore royalty rate reduction deal is short selling our shared resources and ripping off taxpayers," said Jayson O'Neill, deputy director of Western Values Project.</p><p>"With <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a>'s own corruption dominating headlines," he continued, "Bernhardt probably thought this sweetheart giveaway to his former oil and gas client would slip by unnoticed."</p><p>Oil giants like Chevron and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/shell">Shell</a> are already taking advantage of a loophole in federal law to avoid paying at least $18 billion in royalties on oil and gas drilled in the Gulf since 1996, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/climate/oil-lost-revenue-gao.html" target="_blank">reported</a> in October, citing a report from the Government Accountability Office.</p><p>The possible policy shift sparked environmental worries from New Orleans-based advocacy group Healthy Gulf, which <a href="https://twitter.com/HealthyGulf/status/1197680452372488198" target="_blank">called</a> the proposal "a recipe for disaster" in a tweet last month.</p><p>"This administration wants to lease areas of the Gulf for 'high-risk, small-upside opportunities' to smaller oil companies who don't have the resources to handle spills," the group said. "This proposal is as illogical as it is dangerous."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/03/nation-transfixed-impeachment-trump-quietly-provides-offshore-drilling-industry?" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Retired Oil Rigs off the California Coast Could Find New Lives as Artificial Reefs
16 May 2019
Insights + Opinion
A school of juvenile bocaccio in the midwaters of Platform Gilda, Santa Barbara Channel, Calif. Scott Gietler, CC BY-ND
By Ann Scarborough Bull and Milton Love
Offshore oil and gas drilling has been a contentious issue in California for 50 years, ever since a rig ruptured and spilled 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil off Santa Barbara in 1969. Today it's spurring a new debate: whether to completely dismantle 27 oil and gas platforms scattered along the southern California coast as they end their working lives, or convert the underwater sections into permanent artificial reefs for marine life.
<p>We know that here and elsewhere, many thousands of fishes and millions of invertebrates use offshore rigs as marine habitat. Working with state fisheries agencies, energy companies have converted decommissioned oil and gas platforms into manmade reefs in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Brunei and Malaysia.</p><p>Californians <a href="https://theconversation.com/coastal-protection-on-the-edge-the-challenge-of-preserving-californias-legacy-76927" target="_blank">prize their spectacular coastline</a>, and there are <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060034680" target="_blank">disagreements over the rigs-to-reefs concept</a>. Some <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> groups assert that abandoned oil rigs could <a href="https://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/rigs-to-grief-a-bad-oil-bill-stopped" target="_blank">release toxic chemicals into the water</a> and create underwater hazards. In contrast, supporters say the submerged sections have become <a href="https://www.change.org/p/support-the-rigs-to-reefs-program-in-california" target="_blank">productive reefs that should be left in place</a>.</p><p>We are a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nWPT_lEAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">former research scientist for the U.S. Department of the Interior</a> and a scholar focusing on the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C22&q=MS+Love&btnG=" target="_blank">fishes of the Pacific coast</a>. In a recent study, we reviewed the history of rigs-to-reefs conversions and decades of published scientific research monitoring the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.10.024" target="_blank">effects of these projects</a>. Based on this record, we conclude that reefing the habitat under decommissioned oil and gas platforms is a viable option for California. It also could serve as a model for decommissioning some of the 7,500 other offshore platforms operating around the world.</p>
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<h2>Unplanned Underwater Communities</h2><p>Offshore petroleum platforms are designed to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes, but not to be permanent. When they reach the end of their useful lives, typically after about 25 to 50 years of operation, federal and state law require energy companies to decommission them.</p><p>This usually means completely removing the platform and submerged supporting structure and returning the seafloor to an unobstructed condition. Only in certain cases does any part of the platform remain.</p><p>These rigs weren't designed with the intent of creating reefs, but their underwater steel pipe support systems – called "jackets" in the oil business – attract vast numbers of invertebrates that settle on them. In turn, these creatures attract diverse fish species. Together these colonies create reef systems that can resist rusting away for several hundred years.</p><p>Off California, a myriad of invertebrates coat each platform jacket. Millions of mussels, sea stars and brightly colored anemones fight for space, creating a quilt of patterns and textures. Both large and small fishes are also abundant. In some years, clouds of hundreds of thousands of juvenile rockfishes school in the depths below operating oil platforms.</p>
<h2>Creating New Habitat</h2><p>Humans have sought to enhance fisheries with artificial reefs for centuries, using materials ranging from wood, rock and concrete to <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/artificial-reef.html" target="_blank">decommissioned ships</a>. The idea of reefing platform jackets developed after oil and gas companies started building platforms in the Gulf of Mexico in the late 1940s. Those steel-pipe structures provided rock-hard habitat for reef fishes on an otherwise smooth seafloor, and became highly popular fishing destinations.</p><p>Installing thousands of platforms catalyzed a basin-wide increase in available reef fish species, such as the highly prized red snapper. Reef fishes moved into areas where they had previously been scarce due to a <a href="https://cil.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/11.-Prof.-Richard-MCLAUGHLIN-_Idle-Iron_-versus-_Rigs-to-Reefs_-Surviving-Conflicting-Policy-Mandates-in-the-Gulf-of-Mexico.pdf" target="_blank">lack of hard habitat</a>.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTQ5NjQ1NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDc4MTcyMH0.vb6jFLHJZCWmVVFpscVmdTflk8izdb8V2AhsZWEfnio/img.jpg?width=980" id="d5472" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6fbf6091e90d12bac7b721565bdc1d10" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A marine biologist surveys fishes living at Platform A, Santa Barbara Channel, Calif.
Desmond Ho, CC BY-ND
<p>In the mid-1980s Louisiana legislated the <a href="http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/fishing/artificial-reef-program" target="_blank">first U.S. reefing option</a> for its offshore waters. This program was designed to take advantage of fishing opportunities provided by obsolete platforms and encourage energy companies to convert decommissioned platforms into reefs. Since then, over 500 submerged jackets in the Gulf, from Texas to Alabama, have been adapted into state artificial reef programs.</p><p>Platforms generally consist of two distinct parts: the topside, or operational facilities seen above water, and the substructure, or parts below the water. To make a reef, energy companies completely remove the topside and transfer it to shore for recycling or partial reuse. In the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, they may tow the underwater jacket to a new location; topple it onto the seabed; or cut off the top portion and <a href="https://www.bsee.gov/what-we-do/environmental-focuses/rigs-to-reefs#3" target="_blank">place it on the seabed next to the lower portion</a>.</p><p>California law only allows partial removal, or cutting off of the top portion. That way the underwater jacket remains intact and in place, which is the least destructive method for the reef.</p>
<h2>Helping or Hurting Sea Life?</h2><p>Across the Gulf of Mexico, reefed oil platforms have significantly increased the amount of available reef fish. Many have become popular <a href="https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/texas-fishing-reef-gps-coordinates/" target="_blank">fishing</a> and <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/gulf-mexicos-hottest-diving-spots-are-decommissioned-oil-rigs-180971728/" target="_blank">scuba diving</a> sites. In California most operating platforms are not fished, so they have functioned for decades as de facto Marine Protected Areas, providing ecological benefits for severely overfished species.</p><p>For example, scientists have found greater numbers of adult fish of some species, such as cowcod and bocaccio rockfishes, under platforms than on natural reefs. More adults capable of spawning makes it likely that more larvae will be released into the ecosystem from species under platforms than from smaller numbers on nearby natural areas that are fished.</p><p>Although some platforms have been installed and removed off of southern California, none have been reefed. Discussion of reefing, supported by many years of scientific studies in California waters, led to enactment of the <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2016/code-fgc/division-6/part-1/chapter-5.5/article-2/" target="_blank">2010 Marine Resources Legacy Act</a>, which authorized the rigs-to-reefs concept. Now Platform Holly in state waters and Platforms Grace, Gail, Hermosa, Hildago and Harvest in federal waters are undergoing initial steps for decommissioning.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTQ5NjU2Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MjA4NzQ4N30.6gxgYBpirRpA25gInokyP56A4IMw-wN_x0mvlYDR3dM/img.jpg?width=980" id="5b7d0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4cf306e9dbe1af9f3cf71bbb6d5bfe9e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Platform Holly in California's Santa Barbara Channel is one of the rigs scheduled for near-term decommissioning.
State Lands Commission via AP
<p>This process is expensive, technically complex and lengthy. Because it requires intricate planning, oil companies are likely to consider decommissioning more platforms while they are already organizing equipment, engineering and infrastructure acquisition for the current set. Although industry will save money if a platform is reefed, the savings must be shared with the state. Reefing thus could generate funds for other marine conservation efforts.</p><p>Either total or partial decommissioning will have many environmental and socioeconomic impacts, both positive and negative. Californians have not had an opportunity to consider what should happen to decommissioned oil platforms since the mid-1990s. Now citizens have an opportunity to consider the issues again, and decide the fate of an unintended but biologically important resource.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This Robot Is Delivering Coral Babies to the Great Barrier Reef <a href="https://t.co/CIookPhPer">https://t.co/CIookPhPer</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Coral?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Coral</a></p>— Enviro Voter Project (@Enviro_Voter) <a href="https://twitter.com/Enviro_Voter/status/1084500719632347137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>
<em>Ann Scarborough Bull is a visiting researcher at the Marine Science institute, University of California, Santa Barbara.<br/>
</em><em>Milton Love is a research biologist at the Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara.</em>
</p><p>
<em><em>Disclosure statement: Ann Scarborough Bull received funding for the study described in this article from ExxonMobil Upstream Research. Milton Love received research funding for the study described in this article from ExxonMobil Upstream Research, and has received grants from numerous government agencies and foundations.</em></em></p><p><em><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/retired-oil-rigs-off-the-california-coast-could-find-new-lives-as-artificial-reefs-111892" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em></em></p><script async="async" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111892/count?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" type="text/javascript"></script>From Your Site Articles
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Aerial view of fish farm. gece33 / E+ / Getty Images
By Hallie Templeton
As part of its Blue Economy initiative, the Trump administration has developed a map to provide ocean industries information on areas ripe for oil rigs and floating factory farms.
<p>The map brands these areas as "ocean neighborhoods." Though that sounds pretty cozy, it is nothing close to reality. What's in store for these "neighborhoods?" Massive rigs and other infrastructure, increased vessel traffic and noise, the inherent risk of dirty oil spills and blowouts and unavoidable toxic discharge.</p>
<p>Although the map touts "<a href="https://www.boem.gov/press04222019/" target="_blank">a fountain of data for use by industry</a>," it ignores several components of the ocean ecosystem and certain coastal communities that are already struggling and need increased protections — not increased development. Users can view the migratory pathways of sharks and fish — but not other migratory species like seabirds and turtles. You can see critical habitats designated pursuant to the Endangered Species Act, but not the habitats for every threatened or <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> (not all species receive critical habitat protection). Finally, feeding areas for cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are shown, but what about breeding areas for these struggling species? And, where are the other species protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act: sirenians (manatees and dugongs) and marine carnivores (like seals, otters, walrus and polar bears)? Trump's new industry-focused map does not include this vital information.</p><p>While we're at it, what about coastal communities throughout the Gulf of Mexico that are already bearing the brunt of extensive <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling" target="_self">offshore drilling</a>? Thanks to offshore drilling, they are struggling with basic needs like drinkable water and breathable air. But, the map doesn't pay them any credence. Trump must not see them as a priority in determining where to develop next.</p>
<p>Since taking office, Trump has prioritized rolling back decades of progress in ocean protection policy. Both former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama took steps toward <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/obama-the-ocean-president/512135/" target="_blank">establishing a strong foundation</a> for healthy oceans with protections for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" target="_self">marine mammals</a>, the creation of sanctuaries and monuments, improving U.S. fisheries and crafting policies to shield massive swaths of our waterways from dirty drilling activities. Trump has attempted to abolish much of that progress. This map is just one more Trump handout to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/big-oil" target="_self">Big Oil</a> and others in the booming business of ocean industrialization.</p><p>Thankfully, we have checks and balances in our federal government to help prevent Trump's bad policies. In January 2019, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/424418-dems-introduce-bills-to-block-offshore-drilling" target="_blank">members of Congress joined together to introduce a series of bills</a> that would protect the majority of our coastlines from offshore drilling activities. And in March 2019, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/climate/trump-oil-drilling-arctic.html" target="_blank">federal judge nixed Trump's attempt to expand offshore drilling</a> in the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/arctic" target="_self">Arctic</a> and North Atlantic coasts and upheld protections placed by former President Obama.</p>
<p>States can also attempt to resist Trump through stronger local policies. For example, an inspiring number of <a href="https://www.apnews.com/6f2ebebc11aa4ed49b6a491596979c33" target="_blank">governors — including Republicans and Democrats — from coastal states opposed Trump's plan</a> for expanded offshore drilling. Unfortunately, <a href="https://advocacy.sba.gov/2019/03/20/noaa-seeks-comments-on-procedural-changes-related-to-coastal-zone-management-act/" target="_blank">Trump responded by proposing to take away states' rights</a> to object to coastal development off their coasts.</p><p>Thanks to major pushback from organizations like Friends of the Earth, Trump has temporarily postponed the next phase of his plan for offshore drilling expansion. But the recent issuance of his ocean industrialization map reinforces that Trump will continue providing corporate handouts and pushing to industrialize our remaining wild places. <a href="https://action.foe.org/page/10448/action/1?ea.tracking.id=Social" target="_blank">Click here</a> to tell the Trump administration to permanently pull the plug on its five-year plan to expand offshore drilling. Remember: our oceans are home to important and endangered <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" target="_self">marine species</a>, and shouldn't be treated as mere uncharted areas for mega-corporations to industrialize.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">9 States Sue 'Flat-Out Wrong' Trump Administration Over Seismic Blasting in Atlantic <a href="https://t.co/L1t0GESjWG">https://t.co/L1t0GESjWG</a></p>— Enviro Voter Project (@Enviro_Voter) <a href="https://twitter.com/Enviro_Voter/status/1077160881480450048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Hallie Templeton is senior oceans campaigner at <a href="https://foe.org/" target="_blank">Friends of the Earth</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Atlantic Ocean waves on the beach at Montauk Point, Long Island, New York. Meinzahn / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Alison Chase
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo hammered home New York's vehement opposition to harmful and outdated offshore drilling Monday by signing A. 2572/ S. 2316.
<p>The legislation, sponsored by <a href="https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Steve-Englebright/story/84914" target="_blank">Assemblyman Steve Englebright</a> and <a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/todd-kaminsky/kaminsky-bill-offshore-drilling-becomes-law" target="_blank">Senator Todd Kaminsky</a> and <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2019/190205" target="_blank">passed overwhelmingly by the Legislature</a> the first week of February, amends state law to:</p><ul class="ee-ul"> <li>Ban oil and gas <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/save-whales-silence-seismic-blasting" target="_blank">exploration</a>, development and production in state coastal and tidal underwater land; and</li><li>Prohibit construction of any new infrastructure in New York to transport oil and natural gas developed in the <a href="https://www.boem.gov/Atlantic-OCS-Plannning-Area/" target="_blank">North Atlantic Planning Area</a>, the federal government's designation for federal waters offshore the tri-state area and New England.</li></ul>
<p><a href="https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/About/Newsroom/2018-Announcements/2018-05-04-Governor-Cuomo-Advances-Bill-to-Prohibit-Offshore-Drilling-Infrastructure" target="_blank">Governor Cuomo has made crystal clear his opposition to drilling offshore New York</a> and this ban stands in sharp contrast to the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/lauren-kubiak/offshore-drilling-plan-shouldnt-risk-communities-and-coasts" target="_blank">Trump administration's extreme oil and gas leasing proposal</a> to open virtually all ocean waters more than three miles from shore to oil and gas drilling — the entire East Coast, West Coast, Gulf Coast and Alaska.</p><p>The new law drives home state opposition to offshore oil and gas development and constructs an important roadblock to any efforts to bring ashore oil drilled throughout New England and the tri-state area.</p><p>But New York will also need to keep fighting the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump administration</a>'s planned expansion of offshore drilling. While the Trump administration's revised proposal appears to be on hold for now, the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-25/trump-said-to-push-offshore-oil-expansion-to-after-2020-election" target="_blank">administration's interest in opening our waters to more offshore drilling</a> <a target="_self">remains</a> and the drilling planning process could restart at any moment.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTQzMzQ2MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTEyNjEzNX0.Ha-1QI1rCc87Hbs-_1B6XxnIOOMu1Q73uNk1vuJ21Lo/img.png?width=980" id="111a5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="05057b8d95df8be2cc642ca2ddb6ac6c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
On Monday Governor Cuomo signed into law a ban on oil and gas exploration and development offshore New York. Tanya Khotin
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTQzMzQ2NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODIxNTQzMn0.s7vLG2JYQPZdurhugbGLp0rDoAaYM3X60SB2woxjbhY/img.png?width=980" id="3558e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="335af263d8d2352d0c3ebb3012ad4fb1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Governor Cuomo, singer Billy Joel and County Executive Steve Bollone participated in Monday's bill signing.
Mark Izeman
<p>Offshore oil and gas drilling or exploration anywhere along the Atlantic coast could put New York at risk. Oil spills don't stop at state boundaries and can be carried far along the coastline. After BP's 2010 <em>Deepwater Horizon</em> rig explosion, oil <a href="https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-planning/gulf-plan" target="_blank">contaminated more than 1,300 miles of coastline</a>, harming fisheries, birds, and impacting endangered whales for generations to come. An equivalent disaster in the Atlantic — depending on currents and weather — could coat beaches from Savannah to Boston. Our state's fishermen catch species that move throughout the region; a spill <em>anywhere</em> along the Atlantic could affect their livelihoods.</p><p>NRDC is proud of New York's action to oppose offshore drilling and protect the <a href="http://www.oceaneconomics.org/Market/ocean/oceanEconResults.asp?IC=N&dataSource=E&selState=94&selCounty=94000&selYears=2016&selToYear=none&selSector=8&selIndust=All&selValue=All&selOut=display&noepID=unknown" target="_blank">hundreds of thousands of New York jobs and billions of dollars of state revenue</a> that depend on clean, oil-free water and beaches and abundant fish and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a>. New York's <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">ocean</a> use doesn't mix with <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/resources/keep-big-oil-out-americas-atlantic-and-arctic-oceans" target="_blank">harmful offshore oil and gas development</a>. Now this common knowledge is law.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">'This Is a Big Deal': Warren Vows to Ban New Leases for Fossil Fuel Drilling Offshore and on Public Lands <a href="https://twitter.com/billmckibben?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@billmckibben</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NaomiAKlein?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@naomiaklein</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/350action?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@350action</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ewarren?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ewarren</a> <a href="https://t.co/2EbpT2TF6o">https://t.co/2EbpT2TF6o</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1118242063252885505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Alison Chase is a senior policy analyst with the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a>.</em><br></p>From Your Site Articles
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Trump Administration Halts Plan to Expand Offshore Drilling After Court Ruling Upholds Ban
26 April 2019
Oceans
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement / Flickr / Public Domain
The Trump administration will shelve its plans to expand offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic following a recent court decision blocking drilling off the Alaskan coast, Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt said Thursday.
<p> In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Bernhardt said that the potentially years-long appeals process for last month's ruling "may be discombobulating to our plan." An Interior spokesperson told press in an email that the Department "is simply evaluating all of its options to determine the best pathway to accomplish the mission entrusted to it by the President." </p><p>That the administration is being forced to reconsider its options in the wake of court rulings like last month's show "that this sort of litigation is having an impact on [the administration's] decision-making," Sierra Club senior attorney Devorah Ancel told the Washington Post.</p><p><strong>For a deeper dive: </strong></p><p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-offshore-oil-drilling-plan-sidelined-indefinitely-11556208950?mod=hp_lead_pos7" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/climate/offshore-drilling-delay.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront" target="_blank">New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/04/25/trump-administration-hits-pause-offshore-oil-plans-after-court-ruling/?utm_term=.19d282956be5" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/04/25/717214683/trump-administration-puts-offshore-drilling-plan-on-hold-after-setback-in-court" target="_blank">NPR</a>, <a href="https://www.apnews.com/9e03e200b4e44af2b441cc8551b2f478" target="_blank">AP</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/25/offshore-drilling-plan-proposed-trump-put-hold-court-ruling/3576846002/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>, <a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=e7c2d39240&e=992ed4d5cc" target="_blank">The Hill</a></p><p><a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=e7c2d39240&e=992ed4d5cc" target="_blank"></a><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank">Twitter</a> </em><em>and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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'This Is a Big Deal': Warren Vows to Ban New Leases for Fossil Fuel Drilling Offshore and on Public Lands
16 April 2019
Politics
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks into a megaphone after joining striking Stop & Shop workers on April 12 in Somerville, Massachusetts. Scott Eisen / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
Environmental activists and advocacy groups praised Sen. Elizabeth Warren Monday after she promised that if she is elected president in 2020, she will ban new fossil fuel extraction leases for federally controlled lands and waters.
<p><span></span>"It is wrong to prioritize corporate profits over the health and safety of our local communities," the Massachusetts Democrat <a href="https://medium.com/@teamwarren/my-plan-for-public-lands-e4be1d88a01c" target="_blank">wrote</a> on Medium. "That's why on my first day as president, I will sign an executive order that says no more drilling — a total moratorium on all new fossil fuel leases, including for drilling offshore and on public lands."</p><p>"This is a really important stand to take," 350.org cofounder Bill McKibben tweeted Monday.</p><p>He thanked the senator her new policy proposal, which focuses on "keeping our public lands in public hands, and maintaining and preserving existing lands," as well as "making our public lands part of the climate solution — not the problem."</p>
<div id="9055f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4CB0N01576661683"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1117822734413848576" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This is a really important stand to take. thank you @SenWarren https://t.co/YdNgSW1Wld</div> — Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben)<a href="https://twitter.com/billmckibben/statuses/1117822734413848576">1555344682.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"This is a big deal," said author and activist Naomi Klein. "We can't only talk about the things we want to add — millions of new jobs in renewables, efficiency, transit, green public housing. All that's great. But we gotta be willing to be honest about what we have to subtract too."</p>
<div id="c0e8b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="H279T51576661683"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1117862000686764033" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This is a big deal. We can't only talk about the things we want to add -- millions of new jobs in renewables, effic… https://t.co/k8IJ7btCpr</div> — Naomi Klein (@Naomi Klein)<a href="https://twitter.com/NaomiAKlein/statuses/1117862000686764033">1555354044.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Celebrating Warren's "bold plan" on Twitter Monday, both 350 Action and Greenpeace USA noted the pressure it puts on other candidates in the crowded Democratic field.</p><p>"Americans want our next president to be a real climate leader, and candidates are listening," tweeted 350 Action. "Who's next?"</p>
<div id="95cdf" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0UG10I1576661683"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1117820268586598406" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Wow: @ewarren has a bold plan to #KeepItInTheGround. "On my 1st day as president, I'll sign an order that says no m… https://t.co/JH9dQJ2Gib</div> — 350 Action (@350 Action)<a href="https://twitter.com/350action/statuses/1117820268586598406">1555344094.0</a></blockquote></div><p>A <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/11/now-time-be-bold-and-unapologetic-progressives-building-unprecedented-political" target="_blank">cosponsor</a> of the Green New Deal resolution currently before Congress, Warren was one of only three 2020 Democratic candidates — along with Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) — who received checkmarks across the board on 350 Action's 2020 climate policy scorecard, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/27/warren-sanders-and-gillibrand-top-performers-2020-climate-leadership-scorecard" target="_blank">released</a> in late March.</p><p>The unveiling of Warren's public lands policy follows a series of other bold proposals from the presidential hopeful. She also <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/11/warrens-bold-new-tax-plan-would-raise-over-1-trillion-richest-biggest-us" target="_blank">has put forward plans to</a> offset tax loopholes exploited by large U.S. corporations; <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/19/warren-proposal-would-use-tax-ultra-rich-help-fund-universal-childcare-plan" target="_blank">establish</a> nationwide universal childcare; <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/27/elizabeth-warrens-plan-lift-family-farmers-includes-barring-big-ag-mega-mergers" target="_blank">help</a> family farmers compete with agricultural giants; and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/08/elizabeth-warren-praised-plan-break-tech-giants" target="_blank">break up</a> major technology companies.</p><p>Warren's approach to managing public lands comes in stark contrast to that of the Trump administration, which has <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/09/18/enabling-big-oil-pollute-impunity-public-lands-trump-guts-methane-restrictions" target="_blank">gutted</a> environmental protection rules and worked to expand fossil fuel extraction <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/01/04/trump-administration-condemned-plan-recklessly-expand-offshore-drilling" target="_blank">offshore</a> and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/08/continuing-war-california-and-planet-trump-makes-first-move-reopen-states-public" target="_blank">on public lands</a>. The senator was among those who opposed the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/11/win-big-oil-and-gut-punch-public-lands-conflict-ridden-former-lobbyist-bernhardt" target="_blank">recent confirmation</a> of David Bernhardt, a former fossil fuel lobbyist, to head Trump's Interior Department.</p><p>The Trump administration currently poses a grave threat to public lands and waters "with its casual denial of science and apparent amnesia about massive crises like the BP oil spill," Warren argued in her Medium post — but "it doesn't have to be this way. We must not allow corporations to pillage our public lands and leave taxpayers to clean up the mess."</p>
<div id="195d4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="NXRJED1576661683"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1117826269897351168" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">America’s public lands provide us with clean air and water, sustain fish and wildlife, and offer a place for millio… https://t.co/SYJ9Smbo7U</div> — Elizabeth Warren (@Elizabeth Warren)<a href="https://twitter.com/ewarren/statuses/1117826269897351168">1555345525.0</a></blockquote></div><p>While Warren's vow to impose a moratorium on drilling leases was highly praised, that wasn't the only promise she made Monday.</p><p>"As president," Warren wrote:</p><ul> <li>I will set a goal of providing 10 percent of our overall electricity generation from renewable sources offshore or on public lands.</li></ul><ul> <li>I will use my authorities under the Antiquities Act to restore protections to both [Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah] and any other national monuments targeted by this administration.</li></ul><ul> <li>I will fully fund our public land management agencies and eliminate the infrastructure and maintenance backlog on our public lands in my first term.</li></ul><ul><li>I will recruit 10,000 young people and veterans to jumpstart a 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps — and increase the budget of AmeriCorps' one-year fellowship program to fund it. This will create job opportunities for thousands of young Americans caring for our natural resources and public lands, deepening their lifelong relationship with the great outdoors.</li></ul><p>"The National Park Service is funded by taxpayers," she added, "and it's long past time to make entry into our parks free to ensure that visiting our nation's treasures is within reach for every American family."</p><p>Acknowledging that "a patchwork of ownership and access rights means that as many as 10 million acres in the West are not accessible to hunters, anglers, and other outdoor enthusiasts," she also committed to "unlocking 50 percent of these inaccessible acres, to grow our outdoor economy, help ease the burden on our most popular lands, and to provide a financial boost across rural America."</p><p>Though Warren's policy is national in nature, she also emphasized the importance of the Interior Department "meaningfully" incorporating local stakeholders, including tribal groups, in public lands management.</p><p>"America's public lands belong to all of us," she concluded. "We should start acting like it — expanding access, ending fossil fuel extraction, leveraging them as part of the climate solution, and preserving and improving them for our children and grandchildren. Together, we can manage and protect our public lands for generations to come."</p>
<p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/15/big-deal-warren-vows-ban-new-leases-fossil-fuel-drilling-offshore-and-public-lands" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><em></em></p>
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Judge Says Trump’s Plan to Allow Drilling in Arctic Ocean Is ‘Unlawful and Invalid’
01 April 2019
Popular
A federal judge has restored prohibitions against drilling in the Arctic Ocean designed to protect polar bears and other wildlife. Universal History Archive / UIG via Getty Images
A federal judge in Alaska ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump "exceeded the president's authority" when he signed an executive order to allow offshore oil drilling in around 125 million acres of the Arctic Ocean, CNN reported.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason's decision restores a ban on drilling in 98 percent of the U.S.-controlled Arctic Ocean, according to Earthjustice, which sued to stop Trump's order on behalf of several environmental groups and Alaska Native communities.
The ruling "shows that the president cannot just trample on the constitution to do the bidding of his cronies in the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our oceans, wildlife and climate," Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe said in a statement reported by the Associated Press.
<div id="86d6f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="CRV9G61576662429"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1111995367363624960" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">VICTORY: Last night a judge struck down President Trump's Executive Order purporting to undo President Obama's perm… https://t.co/J7vnQyNwlT</div> — Earthjustice (@Earthjustice)<a href="https://twitter.com/Earthjustice/statuses/1111995367363624960">1553955330.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Former president Barack Obama had instituted the ban via three memoranda and one executive order, protecting much of the Arctic Ocean and parts of the Atlantic as well. In her ruling Friday, Gleason said that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act allows the president to withdraw lands from leasing, but not to reverse a previous withdrawal. That, she said, can only be done by Congress.</p><p>"The wording of President Obama's 2015 and 2016 withdrawals indicates that he intended them to extend indefinitely, and therefore be revocable only by an act of Congress," Gleason said, according to CNN. She said the executive order allowing drilling was therefore "unlawful and invalid."</p><p>Obama had intended the bans to protect polar bears, walruses, ice seals and the Native Alaskan communities that depend on these animals. He also banned exploration in 5,937 square miles of canyons in the Atlantic to protect deep-water corals, migrating whales and other marine mammals and fish populations, the Associated Press reported.</p><p>"This victory shows that no one, not even Trump, is above the law," <a href="https://www.lcv.org/" target="_blank">League of Conservation Voters</a> President Gene Karpinski said in a statement reported by CNN. "Offshore drilling and the associated threat of devastating oil spills puts coastal economies and ways of life at risk while worsening the consequences of climate change. President Trump wanted to erase all the environmental progress we've made, but we fought back and we won."</p>
<p>The Trump administration, the state of Alaska and the American Petroleum Institute all defended the executive order in court.</p><p>"While we disagree with the decision, our nation still has a significant opportunity before us in the development of the next offshore leasing plan to truly embrace our nation's energy potential and ensure American consumers and businesses continue to benefit from U.S. energy leadership," an American Petroleum Institute spokesperson told CNN in a statement.</p><p>Judge Gleason's decision is likely to be appealed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.</p>
<div id="f3ab3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="X1KFRN1576662429"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1095742446368182273" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We can stop drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge! @alaskawildact @sierraclublive https://t.co/Ac9nxbmNu2</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1095742446368182273">1550080331.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Underwater Mudslides Are the Biggest Threat to Offshore Drilling, and Energy Companies Aren’t Ready for Them
11 March 2019
Insights + Opinion
Oil drifting from the site of the former Taylor Energy oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana Environmental Action Network
By Ian MacDonald
Like generals planning for the last war, oil company managers and government inspectors tend to believe that because they survived the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, they are ready for all contingencies. Today they are expanding drilling into deeper and deeper waters, and the Trump administration is opening more offshore areas to production.
In fact, however, the worst-case scenario for an oil spill catastrophe is not losing control of a single well, as occurred in the BP disaster. Much more damage would be done if one or more of the thousand or so production platforms that now blanket the Gulf of Mexico were destroyed without warning by a deep-sea mudslide.
<p>
Instead of one damaged wellhead, a mudslide would leave a tangled mess of pipes buried under a giant mass of sediments. It would be impossible to stop the discharge with caps or plugs, and there would be little hope of completing dozens of relief wells to stop discharge from damaged wells. Oil might flow for decades.
</p><p>
This scenario has already occurred, and we are seeing the results at a well off Louisiana, owned by Taylor Energy, that has been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-14-year-long-oil-spill-in-the-gulf-of-mexico-verges-on-becoming-one-of-the-worst-in-us-history/2018/10/20/f9a66fd0-9045-11e8-bcd5-9d911c784c38_story.html?utm_term=.c929b1520488" target="_blank">leaking oil since 2004</a>. Based on this disaster and my 30 years of experience <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cIa0Sf4AAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">studying deep-sea oil and gas seeps</a>, I believe that regulators and energy companies should be doing much more to prevent such catastrophes at other sites.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTI2NTIwMS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2Mjk1MjQzMn0.yLhuuIKd06k99hMIFibXQjkNBnxcMUED9e5HVfD2JvY/img.png?width=980" id="67a7c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="07bc4f0650967959a69f40e82d7713dd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Active leases for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."> <a href="https://www.boem.gov/Gulf-of-Mexico-Region-Lease-Map/" target="_blank">BOEM</a></small></p>
<h2>Underwater Avalanches<br></h2><p>
The mudslide that caused the Taylor Energy leak was not an isolated event. Many major features of the Gulf of Mexico's continental slope — where the sea bottom descends from the continent's outer edge down to the deep ocean floor — were formed when that slope failed. Their bathymetric contours show <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2004.11.007" target="_blank">unmistakable signs of massive mudslides in the past</a>.
</p><p>
Despite generations of oil production, the sedimentary strata of the northern Gulf still harbor billions of barrels of oil. The modern, loose material that lies atop these rock layers is also susceptible to failure, which generates a phenomenon known as <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/turbidity.html" target="_blank">turbidity currents</a>. These are massive avalanches of sliding material partly suspended in water, which can travel for miles with astonishing speed.
</p><p>
One of the most famous turbidity currents occurred in 1929 following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake centered near Newfoundland's Grand Banks. The resulting slide displaced over 40 cubic miles of material, traveling at 50 miles per hour for <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2004.11.007" target="_blank">up to 300 miles</a>.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTI2NTIwNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjcwOTIzOH0.XRqVa4GoY3fTMhs-Ni0Kkacs9nM3h_IGqMD8AL7wbJg/img.jpg?width=980" id="fb36f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7967529aa7337b78ed02b4f9473b270b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Turbidity currents can be caused by earthquakes, collapsing slopes and other geological disturbances. Once set in motion, the turbid water rushes downward and can change the physical shape of the seafloor. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."><a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/turbidity.html" target="_blank">NOAA</a></small></p>
<h2>Drilling on Shaky Ground<br></h2><p>
In 2004 storm surge and monster waves from Hurricane Ivan initiated the huge mudslide that <a href="https://www.bsee.gov/newsroom/library/incident-archive/taylor-energy-mississippi-canyon/fact-sheet" target="_blank">destroyed the Taylor Energy platform</a>, an aging facility called MC20A, located about twelve miles off the Mississippi River's <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/8103/mississippi-river-delta" target="_blank">Birdfoot Delta</a>. Company engineers claim it had only three flowing wells before it was toppled. Its wells were equipped with subsurface safety valves that were reportedly closed off when the platform was evacuated ahead of the storm.
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These valves apparently failed, because miles-long oil slicks have been seen on the waters above ever since the 2004 mudslide. Despite years of effort and expenditure of <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Company-wants-some-Gulf-cleanup-money-refunded-6541388.php" target="_blank">more than $230 million</a>, oil is still flowing from beneath the legs of the downed platform at a magnitude I estimate to be at least 100 barrels per day. This event is the longest oil spill in U.S. history.
</p><p>
In deeper waters, modern platforms are specifically designed to resist <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes">hurricanes</a>. However, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/earthquakes">earthquakes</a> also occur in the northern Gulf. The National Earthquake Information Center had recorded eight earthquakes in the region prior to 2009, with magnitudes ranging from 3.2 to 5.9. On May 6, 2018 a <a href="http://ds.iris.edu/ieb/index.html?format=text&nodata=404&starttime=2010-01-01&endtime=2025-01-01&orderby=time-desc&limit=4500&maxlat=36.598&minlat=14.605&maxlon=-75.234&minlon=-102.656&sbl=1&zm=7&mt=ter" target="_blank">magnitude 4.6 event</a> occurred at a depth of 6500 feet.
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Newer versions of <a href="https://www.slb.com/~/media/Files/resources/oilfield_review/ors02/win02/p52_64.pd" target="_blank">subsurface safety valves</a> on these platforms are intended to protect automatically against storms or ship collisions. Mudslides generated by earthquakes represent forces on an entirely different scale. Once a flow starts, it could travel for tens of miles, producing an unstoppable wave that would destroy whatever platforms and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipelines</a> that lay in its path.
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<a href="https://www.shell.com/about-us/major-projects/perdido/perdido-an-overview.html" target="_blank">Modern deepwater oil and gas platforms</a> dwarf Taylor Energy's MC20A platform in every respect. They are located one hundred miles or more from land in water 10 or 20 times deeper. Typically, platforms service a hub of pipelines and robotically-controlled structures connecting scores of wells from other oilfields that can be 25 miles or more distant. They are designed for peak production rates of 100,000 to 200,000 barrels of oil per day.</p>
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<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="df91e67b380ebc8b940ded0ed148361f"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DTlpzf47MIU?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">How a Deep-Sea Offshore Drilling Rig Works</small>
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<a href="https://youtu.be/DTlpzf47MIU" target="_blank">youtu.be</a>
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</p>
<h2>Using Platforms to Monitor Risk<br></h2><p>
How should planners prepare for this hazard? A 2007 Interior Department study analyzed the danger and proposed guidelines for assessing <a href="https://www.bsee.gov/sites/bsee.gov/files/research-reports//552ab.pdf" target="_blank">risks to platforms and pipelines</a>, starting with studies to identify areas of steep or unstable bottom. The agency recently released a <a href="https://eos.org/project-updates/a-1-4-billion-pixel-map-of-the-gulf-of-mexico-seafloor" target="_blank">digital map</a> of the northern Gulf's deeper waters that shows evidence of past mudslides with graphic realism. Slope failure and turbidity currents are truly part of the Gulf's nature.
</p><p>
Ironically, however, the map doesn't cover areas closer to shore. Our most comprehensive survey of mud deposits offshore from the Mississippi Delta dates to the 1980s, but over the last 40 years development and dredging have <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/louisiana/#" target="_blank">accelerated sediment loss from the Delta</a>. This near-shore sediment load represents a looming risk, much like snowpack in avalanche country.
</p><p>
The Delta region of the Gulf is crisscrossed by hundreds of miles of oil pipelines and dozens of still-producing oil platforms. As the 2007 Interior Department study showed, these structures are at risk for hurricane-generated mudslides. Obtaining updated survey information using modern methods should be a top priority.</p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTI2NTIxNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTQzOTY0NH0.9NFdXa99SjTO6qv8UOVxr1CJXX_B0z1ihUqGS9Ehm1g/img.jpg?width=980" id="fe98f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b84941353e926e5df3f76414b7e1c508" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Underwater features in the Mississippi Delta, mapped in 1980. Hundreds of pipelines cross this mudslide-prone area.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."> <a href="https://www.bsee.gov/sites/bsee.gov/files/research-reports//552ad.pdf" target="_blank">Nodine et al., 2007</a></small></p>
<p>There are ways to assess risks in deeper areas as well, including zones such as the Atlantic coast where the Trump administration wants to expand offshore exploration and eventual oil production. This coast is also characterized by <a href="https://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2011/10/" target="_blank">submarine canyons</a> formed by turbidity currents.<br></p><p>
Oil companies spend billions of dollars to install and operate offshore platforms, but typically resist requests to use their infrastructure for monitoring the marine environment. If they could be induced to cooperate, one option would be to install networks of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean-bottom_seismometer" target="_blank">ocean bottom seismometers</a> to listen for earth movements that might signal risky instability. These systems could transmit data back to land over the platforms' high-speed communication systems. Platforms could also be used to monitor the heat content of Gulf waters, surveying for conditions that promote the rapid intensification of hurricanes.
</p><p>
In my view, U.S. regulators and energy companies have not paid enough attention to hidden vulnerabilities and long-term risks across our fossil fuel economy. But addressing this issue could produce real benefits. Conducting studies to identify unstable slopes will improve our understanding of the seabed. Monitoring for critical warning signs of storms will help coastal communities prepare. Better technology can make offshore infrastructure more durable, and informed regulation can make the offshore industry more vigilant. This would be the best-case scenario.</p>
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</p><div id="19c95" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="FWBBGJ1576663927"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1080645022419218433" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">"The time to clean this up was 14 years ago. #TaylorEnergy has shown nothing but negligence all this time."… https://t.co/UWaP0riVgC</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1080645022419218433">1546480825.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p><em>Ian MacDonald is a professor of earth, ocean and atmospheric Science at Florida State University.<br></em><em>Disclosure statement: Ian MacDonald receives funding from NOAA, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative and the ECOGIG-2 Consortium. He was an expert witness in a lawsuit against the operators of the leaking Taylor Energy well, and has consulted for government agencies on the spill and produced past estimates of the oil discharge rate at the site. He serves as faculty adviser for Florida State University's Surfrider Club.</em></p><p>
<em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/underwater-mudslides-are-the-biggest-threat-to-offshore-drilling-and-energy-companies-arent-ready-for-them-111904" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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