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Drilling in the Atlantic: Huge Risk, Little Reward

added 11.13.08

The federal Minerals Management Service (MMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior, has begun a process to potentially open the ocean waters off the coast of Virginia to oil and gas drilling. The move comes just weeks after Congress let expire a long-standing moratorium on offshore drilling in the U.S., on September 30.  It is currently the only place along the entire Atlantic coast under consideration for offshore drilling.

The area begins 50 miles off the coast and points eastward about 183 miles in a cone shape, covering approximately 3 million acres. The agency estimates the area contains 130 million barrels of oil and 1,140 billion cubic feet of gas. To put this in context, Americans consume about 20 million barrels of oil per day.

This relatively small supply of fossil fuel is not worth the extraordinary risk to Virginia's marine environment and coastal communities from chronic contamination of ocean waters associated with drilling, and the piping and processing of oil and gas on land - not to mention the catastrophic impact of potential oil spills. Further, the push to drill offshore distracts public and private investments from a cleaner energy future including conservation and efficiency measures and renewable sources.

Read SELC's short position paper (pdf) on offshore drilling in the Atlantic.

Background

By law, the MMS periodically produces a 5-year plan called the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program which covers the entire country. Any offshore oil or gas exploration or production must be identified in this plan, which also lays out the process for how oil and gas leases are approved and implemented.

The current plan, approved in 2007, includes the area off Virginia now under consideration, the only area along the Atlantic specifically identified in the plan. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine had at that time asked the MMS to assess the pros and cons of drilling only for natural gas off  Virginia's coast. However, the agency has taken it upon itself to drastically expand its scope by including oil drilling as well.

A notice in the Federal Register published November 13 begins the "scoping" process for the agency to identify the various issues it must review before proceeding. The public has until December 29 to comment. The sale, referred to as "Lease Sale 220," is proposed to be offered in 2011.

SELC remains opposed to offshore drilling in Virginia and elsewhere in the South Atlantic. The benefit of a short-term supply of energy such production would yield is dramatically outweighed by the harm to the environment and communities, and puts us on the wrong track in terms of curbing the impacts of global warming.