{"id":328,"date":"2010-04-24T20:43:48","date_gmt":"2010-04-24T20:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/?p=328"},"modified":"2010-04-24T20:43:48","modified_gmt":"2010-04-24T20:43:48","slug":"field-stream-what-coastal-drilling-means-for-sportsmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/2010\/04\/24\/field-stream-what-coastal-drilling-means-for-sportsmen\/","title":{"rendered":"Field & Stream: What Coastal Drilling Means for Sportsmen"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.fieldandstream.com\/blogs\/where-fish\/2010\/04\/bob-marshall-what-coastal-drilling-means-sportsmen<\/a>
\n\u00a0April 23, 2010<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: Welcome to The Conservationist, a new blog on
\nFieldandStream.com, where at least three times per week we’ll be posting
\nconservation news, analysis, and commentary from Conservation Columnist Bob
\nMarshall, Contributing Editor Hal Herring, and Deputy Editor Jay Cassell.
\n—————————————————————————
\nSo what does President Obama’s decision to open once-protected areas of our
\ncoasts to energy drilling mean for fish, wildlife and sportsmen?<\/p>\n

It could be terrible. It could be bad. Or it might not matter much at all.<\/p>\n

The Terrible: If this derails the push for meaningful carbon reduction
\nlegislation, it will be a black mark on his presidency, and a disaster for
\nfish and wildlife and sportsmen.<\/p>\n

There is no greater threat to our outdoor pursuits than global warming, and
\nthe major cause of that problem is the accumulation of carbon in the
\natmosphere, primarily from fossil fuels. There are alternative fuels, but
\nthe only way to encourage development and use of those fuels is to place a
\npenalty on the production of carbon. That’s what cap and trade is all about.<\/p>\n

Even the energy industry agrees the known untapped sources in these offshore
\nareas can’t make a serious dent in our needs. During the Bush
\nAdministration, the federal Energy Information Agency said the impact on
\nprices would be “negligible”- and even that wouldn’t happen for 30 years.
\nBut the longer the nation believes we have a ready supply of cheap
\ncarbon-emitting fuels, the longer it will resist converting to cleaner
\ntechnologies. No pain, no gain.<\/p>\n

There is also fear this could lead us on a slippery slope. By opening these
\npreviously protected areas off the coasts, the administration will be faced
\nwith this question: If the energy emergency means those pristine oceans off
\nthe east coast must be sacrificed, why should the Rocky Mountain front be
\nany different?<\/p>\n

Throwing our petrol patriots a bone has never slated their thirst in the
\npast.<\/p>\n

The Bad: As a lifelong resident of coastal Louisiana, which supports 4,000
\noil and gas platforms – the largest such concentration in the world – I
\nthink I can speak with some authority on the impacts of offshore drilling.<\/p>\n

The first thing to understand is that the most obvious risk is not the most
\nserious.<\/p>\n

While the nation this week has been gripped by photos of a rig that
\nexploded,\u00a0 likely killing at least 11 workers and now pumping untold gallons
\nof crude into the Gulf, such disasters are the rare exception to the rule in
\noffshore drilling. Certainly the risks are great in any such event; we’ll
\nhave to wait to see how much damage this does to the coastal estuaries and
\nbeaches, if any. But if tightly regulated, constantly watched and slapped
\nwith crippling fines when it breaks the rules, the offshore energy industry
\ncan be safe and have very little impact on\u00a0 fish and wildlife.<\/p>\n

However, when allowed to bully a state, this industry can do horrendous
\ndamage, most of which takes place onshore. This includes a deep and lasting
\ndisruption to both natural and social infrastructure by the on-shore
\ncomponent of development such as transmission pipelines, canal dredging,
\nrefineries, and port facilities.<\/p>\n

Since permitting was required in the 1970s, as much as 10,000 miles of
\npipelines were dredged for oil and gas work through our coastal marshes. No
\none has an accurate count of how many miles were dredged before that, but
\nsome experts think it was at least as many.<\/p>\n

Louisiana’s coastal estuaries – the largest and most productive in the lower
\n48, an ecosystem that 90 percent of all Gulf marine species depend on and
\nthat is important to 70 percent of the continent’s migratory waterfowl –
\nhas been reduced by 2,000 square miles in 70 years, and experts believe
\nalmost 40 percent of that loss can be attributed to oil and gas industry
\nimpacts.<\/p>\n

Did that have to happen?<\/p>\n

No. But efforts to force the energy industry to be more environmentally
\nsensitive\u00a0 were defeated under heavy industry lobbying.<\/p>\n

There are much greener ways to develop offshore energy than what happened in
\nLouisiana. But sportsmen in states now facing this challenge should be
\nprepared to hear from the petro-patriots that all those environmental
\nsafeguards are just too expensive. Let them win that argument, and your fish
\nand wildlife habitat and quality of life will suffer greatly.
\n**<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.fieldandstream.com\/blogs\/where-fish\/2010\/04\/bob-marshall-what-coastal-drilling-means-sportsmen \u00a0April 23, 2010 Editor’s Note: Welcome to The Conservationist, a new blog on FieldandStream.com, where at least three times per week we’ll be posting conservation news, analysis, and commentary from Conservation Columnist Bob Marshall, Contributing Editor Hal Herring, and Deputy Editor Jay Cassell. ————————————————————————— So what does President Obama’s decision to open once-protected areas … Continue reading Field & Stream: What Coastal Drilling Means for Sportsmen<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}