By Alexandra Golder
Intern
The federal government’s recent announcement that it won’t permit offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean through 2022 isn’t the end of the fight for advocates concerned about industrial activity in the ocean, advocates said during a Tuesday night event in Wrightsville Beach.
While offshore drilling is still banned, the government’s action doesn’t prevent seismic testing for gas and oil, said Mike Giles, North Carolina Coastal Federation coastal advocate.
“There hasn’t been enough research done [on seismic testing],” Giles said. “We don’t know the full effect it will have on fisheries.”
All marine animals are affected by seismic testing, Giles said. Animals local to North Carolina waters, including the right and humpback whales, along with numerous dolphin species, harp seals and fisheries, are vulnerable to these blasts of noise and are at risk from this testing.
Giles, along with other local advocates, gathered at the Blockade Runner on April 12 to celebrate the exclusion of the Atlantic Coast from the federal proposal for new offshore oil and gas leases for the next five years. Hosted by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, Oceana and the Surfrider Foundation Cape Fear Chapter, the event brought residents together to keep up the pressure on seismic testing for offshore oil and gas deposits.
Mary Baggett, co-owner of the Blockade Runner, sponsored the event and provided the space and refreshments free of charge.
“It is critical to get involved,” she said.
Seismic testing requires loud blasts of sound that penetrate through the ocean and miles into the seafloor, bouncing back to bring information to the surface about the location of buried oil and gas deposits. These loud blasts are used on a recurring basis, going off every ten seconds, 24 hours a day, often for weeks on end, Oceana says.
“There’s no need for these surveys with no drilling occurring,” Giles said.
The event featured six short films that highlighted grassroots resistance that led to the outcome of offshore drilling being banned. The films, titled “Shore Stories,” are a project of Working Films, a national nonprofit organization based in Wilmington.
Anna Lee, co-director of Working Films, said the company uses documentaries to advance the work that local advocates have done.
The message within “Shore Stories” was that residents on the coast need to be concerned. Off-shore drilling is given a mandatory 50-mile distance from the coast, whereas seismic testing is only given three miles, Giles said. These surveys prohibit fishing from occurring where they are being conducted.
Advocates at the event urged residents to share their “shore story” with local government.
“All we need is the truth,” said Randy Sturgill, Southeastern U.S. campaign organizer of Oceana. He urged attendees to write to government officials to not allow seismic testing in local waters.
A “hands across the sands event” is organized for May 21, with the location to still be announced.
“It’s compelling to see that image of those joined by hands to symbolically protect our coasts,” Sturgill said.
In other environmental news, North Carolina’s Division of Air Quality cancelled the air permit requested by Titan Cement for its proposed site in Castle Hayne. Titan stated in March it had abandoned plans for the plant. On April 12, the N.C. Court of Appeals approved the permit’s dismissal.
