UPDATE: The Department of Interior has delayed its final decision until the fall of 2013. Please sign the petition to oppose seismic testing in the Atlantic!
In the coming weeks, the Department of Interior will decide whether to proceed with seismic surveys off the Mid- and South Atlantic coasts to assess potential oil and gas resources. The proposed surveys will employ loud and damaging technologies that will cause major impacts to marine wildlife and the ecosystem.
Please ask the Secretary of the Interior to cancel seismic exploration off the Atlantic coast.
Seismic surveys will produce devastating impacts on marine mammals, sea turtles, fishes, and other marine life. According to the Department's own estimates, seismic exploration will injure upwards of 130,000 whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals over the next eight years. The surveys will also impact millions of other individuals through disrupting mating, feeding, communication, and migration activities. Finally, seismic activities will displace and cause impacts to a wide variety of fish and invertebrate populations.
Furthermore, offshore drilling is inherently polluting and dangerous, and it will not solve our nation's energy needs. According to the Department of Energy, fully developing all of our recoverable offshore oil reserves would lower pump prices by only 3 cents. Such a tradeoff is not worth the risk to our coastal economies, including tourism, recreation, and commerical fishing, which generate billions of dollars in annual revenue on the Atlantic coast.
Please sign the petition to ask the Department to cancel plans for seismic exploration off the Atlantic coast.
To read Surfrider Foundation’s comment letter click here
To read DOI’s official announcement click here