Obama Approves of Offshore Oil Exploration Even if it May Harm Sea Creatures

Wasn't sure which forum to place this in---Political Madness, Fragile Earth or what....
MODS please move to correct forum

Obama Opens East Coast To Oil Exploration For First Time In Decades Amid Wildlife Concerns

ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Obama administration is reopening the Eastern Seaboard to offshore oil and gas exploration, approving seismic surveys using sonic cannons that can pinpoint energy deposits deep beneath the ocean floor.

Friday's announcement is the first real step toward what could be a transformation in coastal states, creating thousands of jobs to support a new energy infrastructure. But it dismayed environmentalists and people who owe their livelihoods to fisheries and tourism.

The cannons create noise pollution in waters shared by whales, dolphins and turtles, sending sound waves many times louder than a jet engine reverberating through the deep every ten seconds for weeks at a time. Arguing that endangered species could be harmed was the environmental groups' best hope for extending a decades-old ban against drilling off the U.S. Atlantic coast.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management acknowledged that thousands of sea creatures will be harmed even as it approved opening the outer continental shelf from Delaware to Florida to exploration. Energy companies need the data as they prepare to apply for drilling leases in 2018, when current congressional limits expire.

Guess with the downed Malaysian Airliner, the MSM forgot to tell us this yesterday....maybe I just missed the reporting

Many Environmentalists are worried that the sound the cannons create will disrupt the communication, ecolocation and behavior of the sea creatures
Whales and dolphins depend on being able to hear their own much less powerful echolocation to feed, communicate and keep in touch with their family groups across hundreds of miles. Even fish and crabs navigate and communicate by sound

By federal law, scientists can't approach marine mammals without following careful protocols, and yet this decision will pervade their environment with noise pollution that could have a long-term impact on their population, said Scott Kraus, a right whale expert at the John H. Prescott Marine Laboratory in Boston.

"No one has been allowed to test anything like this on right whales," Kraus said. "(The Obama administration) has authorized a giant experiment on right whales that this country would never allow researchers to do."


They preach global warming/solar energy then up pops a story like this
So which is it??
Guess the money decides.....$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Next will be problems/die offs with the sea life due to this later on years down the road


I'm on the fence with this one
Although, think of the jobs it will be able to give people
But there is always that 1 mishap, waiting to happen

And what will it do to the sea life? The long term effects--
Doubt it will be good news

What say you ATS?
Good or not....



Obama Opens Eastern Seaboard to Oil Exploration

a reply to: snarky412
Your post seems to be kind of like the following question: "Have you stopped beating your wife?"
If Obama has indeed compromised with the insatiable energy lobby, then I concede that alas, some creatures will die.
Does that mean that Obama is now a tool of the energy lobby?

originally posted by: Diderot
a reply to: snarky412
Your post seems to be kind of like the following question: "Have you stopped beating your wife?"
If Obama has indeed compromised with the insatiable energy lobby, then I concede that alas, some creatures will die.
Does that mean that Obama is now a tool of the energy lobby?

Well, for those that harp on Cheney/Bush, it seems Obama is no better

But they don't need to lecture the public about Global Warming this and Solar Energy that when all they are going to do is more of the same from previous administration that people used to bitch about

And yes, Obama is a tool, all presidents are, don't you know that by now??
It's just a matter of which 'tool' they are going to bend to

Not the first time our environmentally conscious president has confused his priorities...

Issuing what appears to be the final nail in the coffin for opponents of the proposed natural gas Rockaway Pipeline Project, President Obama signed the New York City Natural Gas Supply Enhancement Act (H.R. 2606) this past Tuesday. Obama’s signature paves the way for the commencement of the project.

The proposed construction of the pipeline has faced fierce criticism from environmentalists who gathered thousands of signatures in opposition to the pipeline, and led dozens of protests. The plan calls for a 3.17-mile pipeline connecting an existing line in the Atlantic through an underground path that cuts through the bottom of the Rockaways and Jamaica Bay to Floyd Bennett Field.

This bill permits construction of a gas pipeline in a national park – right next to a wildlife refuge that is home to a dozen endangered and threatened species; right under a public beach that is used by thousands of New Yorkers every year; and right by the largest community garden on the East Coast.

www.sheepsheadbites.com...

This happened soon after the area was devastated by Sandy and preoccupied with recovery. The same company building the pipeline is responsible for the pipeline explosion in California a few years back.

He also apparently signed an executive order to allow the pipeline to go through a national park - trying to find concrete evidence of that.

There is a difference between wishing for the ideal and living in the reality... Sure, it'd be nice if the US didn't use gasoline powered cars, and sure it would be great if we had an alternative... But what alternatives are there? Electric car? Most electricity is generated by coal or natural gas... CNG? Remodel the infrastructure of gas stations, retrofit all cars with a new tank, and still have to find gas... Hydrogen? Got to find a source, and if it's electrolytic separation, you better believe it uses electricity. Either that or find some precious metals for a catalyst...

It's great to want to lessen our impact on the Earth. Spewing a lot of CO2 into the air will negatively impact us in some way, for sure. Whether it's heat or increased pollen from plants, it will not be pleasant for us all. It's nice to think that greener energy, like wind turbines or solar panels, would be the ideal solution, but those too have their own issues... Turbines kill birds, solar panels are made from rare materials and are less than ideally efficient.

You can hold the ideal of wanting a greener energy and still realize that that ideal might need to be put aside until it can actually be achieved. No change can occur overnight.

a reply to: Maluhia

He also apparently signed an executive order to allow the pipeline to go through a national park - trying to find concrete evidence of that.

From what I found, the pipeline would go into Floyd Bennett Field National Park

The controversial natural gas pipeline, proposed to run underneath the Rockaways, through Jamaica Bay, and into Floyd Bennett Field National Park, has been plodding along the approval process for several months, with the latest news being the issuance of an apparently favorable draft statement by the federal government.

a reply to: hydeman11

You can hold the ideal of wanting a greener energy and still realize that that ideal might need to be put aside until it can actually be achieved. No change can occur overnight.

Tell that to our leaders....they are the ones pushing for 'greener energy', cutting out the coal industries and yet, they do just the opposite, all the while we have to sit here and listen to their lectures/hypocrisy

And Obama is no different than the Bush/Cheney regime when it comes to the oil lobbyists [well maybe not as bad, but he's getting there]

TPTB are coo-coo when it comes to this energy situation
They say one thing and act on something totally different

Meh, as consumers, we have no say really what the any administration does regarding energy

a reply to: snarky412

Yep - and people fought it forever --- and then the whole area was devastated by Sandy --- October 2012. Signed by Obama in December 2012, when all the opponents were preoccupied with recovering from Sandy.

originally posted by: Maluhia
a reply to: snarky412

Yep - and people fought it forever --- and then the whole area was devastated by Sandy --- October 2012. Signed by Obama in December 2012, when all the opponents were preoccupied with recovering from Sandy.

"Never let a crisis go to waste"

a reply to: snarky412

I genuinely think that most of our leaders are scientifically illiterate rather than hypocrites... Perhaps I am yet too young and naive, but I've heard some crazy things from politicians... things that ought to be taught in a high school general science course...

And yeah, money drives the interests of our nation. Sure, I'm not that naive to think otherwise. I do think Bush/Cheney was a bit different, though, as they directly benefited from their own policies, but that's probably splitting hairs, to be honest...

And we might not have a say, but we could probably demand more clarity and honesty if more of us were scientifically literate and able to call BS when needed. I understand the need to do things counter to our ideals, but I don't understand the apparent need to lie about it.

a reply to: hydeman11

I genuinely think that most of our leaders are scientifically illiterate rather than hypocrites.

That's pretty good

"Scientifically illiterate"......not bad, not bad at all

dont worry about the sea life there going to die or mutate from fukishima anyway

a reply to: snarky412
Okay, if Obama is a tool, and all presidents are tools, then what plan of action do you prescribe? Please tell me what a concerned citizen should do. By the way, a concerned citizen that does nothing is no different than an apathetic wastrel who doesn't give a damn.

Unfortunately if we don't get the oil the Chinese will. China has an agreement with Cuba to start drilling within sight of the keys. As a matter of fact there was some concern that they would attempt to “slant drill” into our national reserve fields. Believe me, any pollution that we make is going to be a drop in the bucket compared to what the Chinese would do to the area. They have no scruples when it comes to pollution, just look at their cities.