Obama Opens East Coast To Oil Search The Eastern Seaboard is being opened to offshore oil and gas exploration for the fi rst time in decades with the Obama administration’s approval late last week of sonic cannons that can pinpoint energy deposits deep beneath the ocean floor. The decision dismays environmentalists worried about the immediate impact of the sonic cannons, which shoot sound waves 100 times louder than a jet engine through waters shared by whales and turtles. Saving endangered species was their best hope of extending a ban against offshore drilling off the U.S. Atlantic coast. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management disclosed its fi nal approval fi rst to The Associated Press ahead of an announcement later Friday. The approval opens the outer continental shelf from Delaware to Florida to exploration by energy companies preparing to apply for drilling leases in 2018, when current congressional limits are set to expire. The bureau is moving ahead despite acknowledging that thousands of sea creatures will be harmed. “The bureau has identified a path forward that addresses the need to update the nearly four-decadeold data in the region while protecting marine life and cultural sites,” acting BOEM Director Walter Cruickshank said in a statement. “The bureau’s decision refl ects a carefully analyzed and balanced approach that will allow us to increase our understanding of potential offshore resources while protecting
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 09:02:18 +0000
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