http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-07-06/pdf/2012-16152.pdf

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-07-06/html/2012-16152.htm

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Over two years since the largest oil drilling disaster in American history, the Gulf can finally celebrate a victory. The President has just signed the RESTORE Act, directing BP’s Clean Water Act to be used to restore the Gulf’s damaged ecosystems.

I wanted to make sure that you saw Aaron’s email (below) from last week about how critical your support has been to us. Victories don’t happen overnight. Achieving this milestone took persistence, patience, and focus. This legislation is a huge step forward for the people and places of the Gulf on this long road to restoration.

To ensure that GRN is able to sustain this fight, we rely on the support of our members. Please consider becoming a member this weekend and help us continue to hold BP accountable, and implement the RESTORE Act to its fullest potential.

For the Gulf,

Cyn Sarthou
Executive Director

GRN Basic Header

RestoreFunds.jpgDear DeeVon,

We’re expecting big news from Congress tomorrow or the next day, and it’s thanks to you! The RESTORE Act, which will dedicate BP’s Clean Water Act fines to Gulf restoration, has been included in the larger Transportation Bill that is poised to be voted on and signed into law very soon. Thank you for all your phone calls, emails to Congress, donations, petitions signed, events held, and all you’ve done to make Congress prioritize restoring the Gulf. This wouldn’t have been possible without you.

This is a giant step forward for the health of the Gulf, and we’re elated to see the country and Congress demonstrate their dedication to this valuable region. Like many policy and environmental victories, this is not the end of the journey. The ultimate success of this legislation will take time and effort to ensure, and we’ll need your support as we continue working hard to:

Hold BP accountable. The legislation directs BP’s eventual Clean Water Act fines to the Gulf, but there is a wide range of possible fines. We’ve got to keep the pressure up so BP pays the maximum penalty under the law; and,
Ensure effective restoration. As the dollars start to flow, it will be incumbent upon Gulf Coast states to make sound decisions about restoration spending. We’ll be watchdogging the process to make sure the money is well-spent.

So, take a moment to relish in this hard-fought victory. Together, we pushed Congress to show their support for the Gulf! That’s impressive.

Now, please show your continued dedication by digging deep and making a generous donation to Gulf Restoration Network. With the long-haul fight we’ve still got ahead, please consider a Gulf Sustainer automatic, monthly membership.

With sincere appreciation for all you do,

Aaron Viles
Deputy Director

Finally–someone is casting a critical eye on the presumed reliance on the use of large volumes of dispersants in the water column to clean up oil spills. This after the grand BP experiment in the Gulf wreaked havoc on the water quality and benthos in areas where dispersants were used. I think it is patently unsafe to do so—the dispersants settle on the bottom and smother all life. They don’t dissipate as on the surface; it’s a whole new cycle of death to marinelife. It’s high time this came to light in Congress. Yay Markey and Miller!!!!! You are my heroes of the day! DV

Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E reporter
Published: Friday, June 29, 2012

Little is known about how chemical dispersants used following an oil spill behave when applied below the water surface or in extremely cold environments, the Government Accountability Office said today. There’s a general understanding of how dispersants behave on the surface of water, GAO said, but questions remain about how quickly or slowly the dispersants biodegrade.

“[A]ll the experts GAO spoke with said that little is known about the application and effects of dispersants applied subsurface, noting that specific environmental conditions, such as higher pressures, may influence dispersants’ effectiveness,” GAO said. “Knowledge about the use and effectiveness of dispersants in the Arctic is also limited.”

GAO’s report, requested by Democratic Reps. Brad Miller of North Carolina and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, found that the government has spent $15.5 million on dispersant research, with the majority of that money coming after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill. However, “relatively few projects” focused on applying the dispersants below the surface of the water and hardly any focused on cold-water environments.

Miller and Markey said they requested the study because of how little is known about how dispersants interact with the environment and whether they pose a risk to ecosystems or human health.

“It’s stunning how little we know about the effect of dispersants just two years after using millions of gallons in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Miller, a senior member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. “And whatever lessons we learned from the Gulf of Mexico are probably useless in the Arctic.” They also noted that the report comes just days after Shell announced plans to send two drilling rigs to the Arctic.

The report also says that there are several challenges for dispersant research, most notably that demand and, consequently, funding only pick up following an environmental disaster. “It is difficult for federal agencies to fund longer term studies,
such as those needed to understand chronic toxicological effects of dispersants,” GAO said.

Miller and Markey also sent a letter to EPA today asking the agency what steps it has taken to make sure the dispersants are safe before they are used again. “In light of the expansion of offshore drilling in both the Gulf and Arctic regions, it is necessary that the EPA ensure that future spill mitigation agents, such as dispersants, have undergone appropriate testing for real response situations prior to their deployment in our waterways,” the lawmakers wrote.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Margaret Kriz Hobson, E&E reporter
Published: Thursday, June 28, 2012

In the coming weeks, as the thick winter ice melts in the Arctic Ocean, U.S. researchers will sail into the frigid waters north of Alaska to collect seafloor data that could help pave the way for the largest national expansion since the Louisiana Purchase.

The United States is mapping the floor of the Arctic Ocean and the territory off its other coasts to determine whether the nation can lay claim to lands beyond its 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In total, the United States might be in line to take control of outer continental shelf lands that are the equivalent of two Californias, according to David Balton, deputy assistant secretary of State for oceans and fisheries.

To assert a claim to the areas beyond the EEZ, the government would have to show “that the seafloor beyond 200 miles is a natural prolongation of your continent,” Balton said. “But that term ‘natural prolongation’ is defined in a number of different ways, and we’re exploring just how far out we can make such a claim in the Arctic and elsewhere.”

At least 50 countries have submitted data to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, a United Nations panel, in support of claims to lands beyond their EEZs. Territorial requests are pending in the Arctic from Canada, Norway, Russia and Denmark on behalf of Greenland.

The United States is still studying the seabed terrain along its coasts. Eventually, the government expects to assert a claim over
territory in the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as off the Pacific Northwest coast and in the Bering Sea. Other offshore lands may also be claimed, including areas off the Aleutian Islands and along some U.S. Pacific islands.

“We’re likely to have one of the largest areas of the continental shelf of any country in the world,” Balton said. “The biggest piece will almost certainly be in the Arctic.”

But even if the United States can prove that Alaska extends far into the Arctic, the government can’t guarantee ownership because the nation is not a part of the United Nations’ Law of the Sea Convention. “Once we’re ready to set the outer limits of our continental shelf, the obvious, best way of doing so is as a party to this treaty,” he said. “If we are still a nonparty at that point, I really don’t know what will happen. And I doubt that we would have the same ability to establish the outer limits.”

With the other Arctic countries eager to tap the region’s plentiful oil and gas resources, President Obama is pulling out the stops to persuade the Senate to approve the pact.

The 1982 Law of the Sea treaty sets rules for freedom of navigation, fishing, oil and gas development, deep seabed mining, and
environmental protection. Ratification of the treaty, approved by 160 other nations, continues to fall short in the United States because conservative Republicans argue that it would undermine U.S. sovereignty.

Balton said the oil industry would be reluctant to explore beyond the 200-mile EEZ unless the United States can finalize the seafloor territory boundaries. “They would not get the financing or the insurance necessary to actually begin exploring for oil and gas and other resources out there unless there were no cloud on the title of that land,” he said. “Unless we joined the Law of the Sea convention, there will always be a cloud on the title of those pieces of seafloor.”

Treaty talk in the Senate

Today the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a hearing featuring business leaders who favor the treaty. Obama administration Cabinet secretaries and military chiefs argued for ratification at earlier hearings.

In testimony set to be delivered this morning, American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard backs the treaty. “The Law of the Sea Convention provides the certainty that companies need to invest billions required and offers the potential of greatly and definitely broadening the offshore areas from which we can access new resources to meet our nation’s growing energy needs,” his testimony says.

“In addition, it will give the United States a seat at the table as the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf continues the process of dividing up millions of square miles of offshore territory and assigning management rights to all of the world’s marine resources– a process that has been described as probably the last big shift in ownership of territory in the history of the Earth.”

Treaty opponents, including former Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld, warn that the pact would send a small portion of royalties from oil drilling on the extended continental shelf to be distributed by a U.N. body (E&E Daily, June 15).

Under the terms of the Law of the Sea convention, countries can develop resources beyond their 200-mile zone for five years without having to pay royalties into an international fund managed by the United Nations. On the sixth year, the country would be required to contribute 1 percent of the value of the resources extracted. The royalty would increase by 1 percentage point for six years and plateau at 7 percent.

Balton said the royalty formula was developed with the help of the oil industry. “They still support it today, in part because they believe that at almost all sites on the continental shelf, they would be able to extract the large majority of whatever resource might be there within the first five years,” he said.

At a June Senate hearing, Steven Groves of the Heritage Foundation questioned the administration’s hand-wringing over the treaty, saying that “no legal barriers prevent U.S. access, exploration and exploitation of the resources of the deep seabed. The United States has long held that U.S. corporations and citizens have the right to develop the resources of the deep seabed and may do so whether or not” the Senate approves the treaty.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Published: Thursday, June 28, 2012

The Obama administration today finalized a new five-year oil and gas leasing plan for the outer continental shelf that would allow limited new development in the Arctic but would forgo sales in the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. As expected, the blueprint was panned by industry and Republicans, who argued it backslides from an earlier Obama plan to lease offshore Virginia and could unduly restrict future exploration in the Arctic.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, said the plan promotes risky new drilling in ice-prone Arctic waters in addition to expanding high- risk, ultra-deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

But Interior Department officials today said the plan — which includes three potential sales off Alaska and a dozen sales in the western, central and eastern Gulf — is a “cautious but forward- looking” solution that allows access to the nation’s most prospective energy resources. “This is a good plan,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters during a news conference. “It’s a smart plan, it’s an aggressive one.”

As announced earlier this week, Salazar said future lease sales in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas — tentatively scheduled for 2016 and 2017, respectively — would be subject to further scientific studies and consultations with Native Alaskan communities to determine their location and size. The agency will maintain a 25-mile buffer along the Chukchi coast put in place under the George W. Bush administration to protect subsistence communities. The new plan would also protect two subsistence whaling areas in the Beaufort near Barrow and Kaktovik that have attracted minimal industry interest but have high subsistence value.

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Tommy Beaudreau said the Hanna Shoal, a Chukchi region known for its high density of marine life, will also undergo further study to determine whether it is appropriate for leasing. He also noted the agency has received “significant interest” from industry in leasing the Cook Inlet off south-central Alaska, which has historically lacked demand. BOEM will conduct an environmental impact statement for leasing the area to consider resources such as beluga whales, he said.

“We are taking a cautious approach to leasing in the Arctic that accounts for the Arctic’s unique environmental resources and the social, cultural and subsistence needs of Native Alaskan communities, and draws from the best available science as well as any new information that we may learn from activity on current leases,” Salazar said.

While the plan was significantly delayed by the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf, agency officials said the next lease sale in the Gulf will proceed as planned by the end of the year.

Virginia and politics

The leasing plan, which is required under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, is one of the executive branch’s biggest energy policy decisions. With today’s plan — which is subject to two months of congressional review but needs no approval — President Obama has broken sharply from a George W. Bush administration plan in 2008 that opened virtually all of the nation’s coastline.

As such, the plan could play a prominent role in the presidential campaign as Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney seeks to highlight policy wedges between himself and Obama, particularly in the battleground state of Virginia (Greenwire, May 3).

Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), an opponent of Atlantic leasing, today said that Obama made the right decision to forgo a Virginia lease sale but that he’s unsure whether it will benefit him politically. “I’ve made it clear the jobs in the Tidewater areas devoted to naval operation are far more important to us than any illusory revenue that might be gained by offshore drilling,” he told E&ENews PM. “I think what plays favorably to the president’s election bid is he’s willing to be a responsible chief executive and make the right decisions irregardless of the political consequences,” he added. “And I think this is one of those right decisions regardless of the political consequences.”

One former Bush administration official said he, too, believes the absence of leasing off the Virginian coast could factor in the 2012 election. “Without legislation, these are the rules and the only place people can look for the next five years,” the official said. “The fact that this plan doesn’t have Virginia probably creates some openings.”

Salazar today said Atlantic development was excluded because of a lack of resource data and infrastructure to respond to spills, as well as the concerns of neighboring states. “Virginia is not a stand-alone state on the Atlantic,” he said, adding that conversations continue with the Defense Department to eliminate remaining conflicts with training exercises. “There are other states that share the Atlantic, and their views need to be taken into account.”

Arctic leasing

The decisions in the Arctic also drew a range of reactions from environmentalists and Alaska’s delegation. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she was concerned by the agency’s decision not to hold annual lease sales. “I’m also concerned by the administration’s plans to place undisclosed amounts of acreage off limits and impose additional layers of regulation on the Arctic — above and beyond rules already in place,” she said.

Andrew Hartsig, the Ocean Conservancy’s Arctic program director, said that he was disappointed the Arctic was included in the leasing plan but that he appreciated the decision to exclude certain areas from the leasing program, in addition to emphasizing science-based planning.

“Interior must use that time to develop and implement a comprehensive science and monitoring program, identify and protect additional important ecological and subsistence areas, and implement Arctic- specific standards that ensure effective oil spill response in icy waters,” he said.

But Erik Milito, the American Petroleum Institute’s group director of upstream and industry operations, said the plan “will not allow us to realize the full benefits from safe and responsible development of America’s oil and natural gas resources, continuing a pattern of delay and unnecessary restraint. While vitally important, the western and central Gulf of Mexico areas included in this proposed offshore program are not ‘new’ areas,” he added. “We look to the administration and Congress to begin working on a new plan that opens areas in the eastern Gulf, the Pacific and the Atlantic, such as offshore Virginia and South Carolina, where we continue to see bipartisan support for new offshore leasing.”
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Special thanks to Richard Charter