Another important Senate vote comes today around 2:30ish when the pro-drilling bill S.953, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is scheduled to be voted on. This bill hides behind a fig leaf of a drilling ”safety improvement” by requiring a spill response plan, but it really seeks to increase drilling by requiring leasing off the coast of Virginia and in the Arctic and setting a deadline that all proposed leases have to be decided in 60 days. McConnell’s bill also restricts court access for an legal action against a drilling operation. Is the oil industry really in need of legislation that limits court access away from the public’s interest? Isn’t the playing field already more than a bit skewed in favor of the industry that seems to create a new lobbying PAC each year?

TAKE ACTION NOW!

- SEND AN E-MAIL to your senators via CLF’s action alert and tell them to vote to protect our oceans and coasts, not open them up to oil drilling.

- CALL your senators through the US Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and urge them to oppose the McConnell dirty drilling bill.

Fire Boats Attempt to Control Fire on BP's Deepwater Horizon

US SENATE VOTES TODAY ON OIL SUBSIDIES AND DRILLING TOMORROW

The biggest oil companies in the US receive billions of dollars of US tax subsidies each year. The most profitable companies in the world are making billions in profits while speculators boost the price of each gallon of gas and home fuel oil. In fact, in the first quarter of 2011, the major oil companies made $30 billion in profits.

Some in the Congress seem to think that oil companies profits are not high enough. Last week, the House of Representatives voted to approve three bills that would increase oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts — including in New England’s ocean and on historic Georges Bank. These bills did nothing to reduce the taxpayer subsidies enjoyed by oil companies.

This week the US Senate has a choice to either remove $20 billion in taxpayer subsidies that go to oil companies OR to make it drastically easier for oil companies to drill in our most sensitive ocean and coastal areas. In the next two days the Senate will vote on two separate bills: The Menendez bill, S 940, would eliminate $20 billion in taxpayer subsidies that could be used for debt reduction. The McConnell bill, S.953, will allow oil companies to stay on the public dole by keeping their taxpayer-funded subsidies AND it would increase dangerous oil drilling in America’s most sensitive ocean areas. In a move that would give oil companies an even greater gift, Sen. McConnell has indicated that he could swap his introduced bill with the text of the pro-drilling bills that were passed by the House last week.

One of the House-passed bills, HR1231, actually requires the Department of Interior to “make available for leasing and conduct lease sales including at least 50 percent of the available unleased acreage within each Outer Continental Shelf planning area” or “any state subdivision of an Outer Continental Shelf planning area that the Governor of the state that represents that subdivision requests be made available for leasing.” This bill would require oil and gas development in New England’s ocean despite test drilling in the 1970s and early 1980s that shows New England’s ocean has only 3 percent of US oil and gas deposits. The harmful effects of oil drilling on New England’s ocean wildlife and recovering fish populations would likely create more economic costs than gain. The industrial development that accompanies oil drilling such as onshore pipelines and infrastructure would irrevocably alter our coastal communities.

New England needs clean, renewable energy and deserves to be allowed to leave polluting, dangerous fossil fuels in the past. Instead, short-sighted Congressional politics could force industrial scale oil drilling operations in New England’s ocean waters for the first time. We can do better. Call your Senators today and tell them that oil subsidies and unsafe oil drilling should not be in the future of New England’s ocean or coastal communities.

Call your Senators today — Tuesday, May 17 — through the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Urge your Senators to SUPPORT Senate bill 940, the “Close Big Oil Loopholes Act.”

Urge your Senators to OPPOSE Senate bill 953, the McConnell Dirty Drilling Bill.

Recovered Oil Sample from Spill in Buzzard's Bay

CONGRESS VOTING TODAY ON BILL TO MANDATE OIL DRILLING ON EAST COAST

Congress will vote today on a highly flawed bill which will require oil and gas leasing to take place in New England’s ocean — including on Georges Bank or any other historic fishing grounds or important ocean wildlife areas.

The text of HR1231 actually requires the Department of Interior to “make available for leasing and conduct lease sales including at least 50 percent of the available unleased acreage within each Outer Continental Shelf planning area” or “any state subdivision of an Outer Continental Shelf planning area that the Governor of the state that represents that subdivision requests be made available for leasing.”

This bill would require oil and gas development in New England’s ocean despite test drilling in the 1970s and early 1980s that shows New England’s ocean has only 3 percent of US oil and gas deposits. The harmful effects of oil drilling on New England’s ocean wildlife and recovering fish populations would likely create more economic costs than gain. The industrial development that accompanies oil drilling such as onshore pipelines and infrastructure would irrevocably alter our coastal communities.

HR1231 would also require drilling along the rest of the east coast, the entire west coast, the Arctic and other places in Alaska. HR1231 would also require taxpayers to pay half of the costs of certain oil exploration. This is a bill we do not need and cannot afford.

Call today Thursday, May 12. Call early – the vote could happen as early as noon.

Please call your Representative through the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 and urge him or her to vote against HR1231.

One year ago the BP Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform erupted into a tower of flame. Eleven men were killed. Hundreds of millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico and created the worst environmental disaster in the US since the Great Dust Bowl. What we might have seen in this last year was a national awakening to the myriad threats of our reliance on oil. Instead we’ve seen the predictable denial of responsibility, a full scale media relations blitz and even the astonishing heartfelt apology from a leading Member of Congress to the oil industry.

It gets worse. Last week the  House Natural Resources Committee passed three bills designed to reduce oversight and speed up offshore oil drilling. One bill, HR1231, would actually require oil sale leasing in the North Atlantic and the rest of the east coast. Massachusetts’ Rep. Ed Markey pointed out the obvious and Chairman Doc Hastings said if we don’t drill more in the US then the price of gas will go up. Meanwhile, Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, agreed with the Saudi Arabian oil minister that “There is no shortage of supply in the market.” I only wish I were making this up.

About 25 years ago, after a battle of several years, CLF drove the final stake through the heart of attempts to drill for oil on Georges Bank. We have been through these battles before yet we can’t take any attacks by the oil industry and their allies in Congress lightly.

Tomorrow in Boston CLF, Oceana and Masschusetts State Rep. Frank Smizik will hold a press conference to oppose oil drilling in the Gulf of Maine. Come join us.

Wednesday, April 20th. Noon until 1:00pm. Government Center, City Hall Plaza. Find us near the flagpole outside the Government Center T stop. Rain or shine.

In New England the issue of fisheries management is a serious topic as it involves serious questions of science, economics, healthy ecosystems, an iconic part of New England’s culture and the very real issue of many people’s livelihoods. Still, the public debate around fishing and fisheries management in New England can often be a lot like arguing baseball – the home team is usually deemed more virtuous than the rest of the league and many facts, figures, data and theories are promoted to defend that assertion. These debates can happen between any combination of folks with an opinion or a perceived stake in the issue – trawlers and gillnetters, one port versus another, one state versus another, commercial fishermen and recreational fishermen, fishermen and regulators, and fishermen and conservationists, among others. While baseball rivalries can be pretty heated, the overwhelmingly vast majority of fans are able to understand that, after all, it’s just a baseball game. Most times.

The thing is, fishermen, regulators or conservationists involved in fisheries issues in regions outside of here often consider the debate and behavior in New England to be much more contentious. For some reason we seem to treat each other more rudely and with such a lack of civility that it is noted across the country. The public debate and political hyperbole over the implementation of the most recent groundfish management plan is a clear example. Despite years of hard work and robust debate by the New England Fishery Management Council and a near unanimous vote to approve the “sectors” plan (final vote 16-1) for managing species like cod, haddock and flounder, the current public debate resembles a fist fight over the results of last year’s World Series. Working the refs, rallying the crowd and harassing the other team’s fans has become a larger part of the story than the game, as it were.

So, when federal Commerce Secretary Gary Locke issued a plain, legal, factual and well reasoned response to deny Gov. Patrick’s request to raise the catch limits through “emergency action” we felt the Secretary deserved an honest “thank you.” CLF and nine other conservation groups sent him a  letter saying so. Thank you Secretary Locke. We think you made an important, rational and sober decision that will help move New England forward.

Today President Obama is expected to sign the nation’s first-ever National Ocean Policy. This process started a year ago with the Ocean Policy Task Force and is greatly based on the excellent work of two separate blue ribbon panels, hundreds of meetings between the OPTF and ocean users and stakeholders, and two lengthy comment periods. The NOP is a great step forward for our oceans, coasts and the communities that love and depend upon them. CLF and hundreds of other groups around the country have been working for such a comprehensive approach to better ocean protection and management for years. This is a good day to optimistic about the future.

In one of histories great ironies, the NOP was close to being finalized and signed when the Deepwater Horizon blew up, sank and started one of the nation’s greatest environmental disasters. What could we have done with the foresight of such a disaster?  Mundane phrases like “interagency coordination,” “use conflict,” and “emergency preparedness” take on a whole new meaning than before the BP oil disaster. We have a great opportunity to start to get it right. Congrats and Thanks, Mr. President.

To mark the occasion, CLF issued the following statement:

“Today is a momentous day for America’s oceans,” said Priscilla Brooks, vice president and director of Conservation Law Foundation’s Ocean Conservation program. “For the first time in this country’s history, we will have a national policy that aligns the great promise of our oceans with the great responsibility for managing them in a coordinated, thoughtful and sustainable fashion. New England has led the charge to balance the ever-increasing interest in our state waters – for commercial and recreational fishing, renewable energy development, tourism, oil and gas drilling and sand and gravel mining, to name a few – with the need to protect wildlife and critical habitat areas so that our region’s oceans will continue to be productive for generations to come. From Massachusetts to Rhode Island to Maine, we are developing ocean management plans that will serve as guides for better protection and management in federal waters across the nation. As the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico reminds us all too plainly, we need to reap our oceans’ tremendously valuable resources with great care. We applaud the Obama administration for its courage in prioritizing this much-needed mandate for protection and restoration of our coasts, oceans, islands and Great Lakes.”

Learn more:
Read the Ocean Policy Task Force’s recommendations>>

Read more about CLF’s work in ocean conservation>>

Yesterday US District Federal Judge Martin Feldman revoked the six month moratorium on deep water oil drilling put into place by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The Obama administration immediately announced it would appeal the judge’s decision. Seems the Judge has concern that a halt on the use of 33 rigs already in place “cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country.” He disagreed there was a logical conclusion between the ongoing oil geyser and the six month lets-take-a-look-and-see-what’s-up moratorium.

The State of Alaska — which has deemed BP an environmental felon for past spills on that state’s North Slope — sees a logical conclusion between the BP oil geyser and damage to their ocean waters. Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation (not to mention the Coast Guard and the EPA) are concerned that they are shipping so much of their stockpiled oil spill containment supplies to the Gulf of Mexico that they are vulnerable to a potential spill in their state. 

Concern, to put it mildly, is growing across the country about the stark threat that offshore oil drilling places on our oceans and coasts. Several national polls now show a shift in beliefs as a majority of Americans not only oppose offshore oil drilling but are also willing to reduce consumption and improve their own energy efficiency. 

This Saturday tens of thousands of Americans are gathering at hundreds of places across the country to demand a halt to new oil and gas drilling. Hands Across the Sand now has 693 gatherings planned in all 50 states and 21 countries. Saturday, June 26, 11:00am. Go to the beach or coast near you. Join hands at noon. Help take your ocean back.

Today is the annual celebration of World Oceans Day and this month is officially National Oceans Month. President Obama used the occasion last year to create the Ocean Policy Task Force and directed them to develop a National Ocean Policy and a framework for Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning. The task force consists of 24 government entities and they have spent the last year conducting an efficient, thoughtful and thorough processes for policy development. It’s been done exactly how policy should be made.  Now, when the final policy should be ready for implementation the leaders of the task force are buried in 24/7 efforts to stop the BP oil disaster. Is the final National Ocean Policy another victim of the general mayhem caused by the BP oil disaster?  Big Oil strikes again.

Was there ever a better time for a National Ocean Policy? We know that a National Ocean Policy would not have stopped BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster from becoming the worst human caused environmental catastrophe since the Dust Bowl. But the  fact is crystal clear that an ocean policy would have helped with the very crisis management that state and federal governments are dealing with now. It sounds a heck of a lot like what Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen calls “unity of effort.” Prior planning should have required serious impact analysis, included labor practices that reduce safety threats, increased involvement from agencies who are not captured by the oil and gas industry that they are supposed to regulate and established a foundation of conservation that would not reduce ecosystem values to the number of barrels of oil that could be removed out of the ocean floor. So, yes, we need to stop the oil geyser and we still need the Administration to act on a final National Ocean Policy.

The best way to commemorate World Oceans Day is to take some action. Call your Senators directly or through the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask them to permanently oppose all oil drilling off of the Atlantic coast.  Today you can also attend or hold an oil disaster vigil as hundreds are being planned around the country. Another item you will want to put on the calendar now is the nation-wide Hands Across the Sand event on June 26. Stay tuned on this page for more info. Lead by example. Love, celebrate and act to protect your oceans and coasts.

Today’s story in the New York Times regarding collusion and corruption between the Mineral Management Service and the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico is stunning. But, “stunning” is less than surprising when it comes to the many ways in which MMS and the Department of Interior has allowed the oil industry to dictate the terms of oil operations.

The BP oil disaster is well into its fifth week and the grumbling is growing that the government should move BP aside in order to shut down the oil geyser and get on with the clean-up. The tragic irony is that the federal government cannot stop the oil geyser but has had the chance to stop the collusion and corruption which results in oil spills, fraud, environmental damage and the erosion of professional conduct. Because MMS broke down years ago we are now at the mercy of BP’s last minute inventions.

The “Culture of Ethical Failure” was well described by the DOI Inspector General in this report in Sept. of 2008. Read the first two pages. Chuckle about the part where the IG details illicit sex, alcohol and drug abuse. Now, go back to the first paragraph and re-read the mention that one person pled guilty to a criminal charge but others ”escaped potential administrative action by departing from federal service, with the usual celebratory send-offs that allegedly highlighted the impeccable service that these individuals had given the Federal Government.” As far as the other employees that were referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution? “That office declined to prosecute.”