From the office of U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski:
MIKULSKI PRAISES OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCEMENT REVERSING PLAN TO ALLOW EAST COAST DRILLING
Senator helped introduce legislation prohibiting East Coast drilling and fought against proposal that would harm Maryland coastal economy
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today praised the Obama Administration’s announcement that it plans to reverse its proposal to allow offshore drilling off the Atlantic Coast.
“I am absolutely opposed to offshore drilling and always will be. I fought tooth and nail to protect Maryland’s coastal economies from offshore drilling and am pleased the Administration has reversed its plan to allow drilling off the Atlantic Coast,” Senator Mikulski said. “As we saw after the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, when oil starts to leak it knows no boundaries. Drilling off the coast of Virginia and other states along the Eastern Seaboard could pose great risks to the coastal economy of Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay. Offshore drilling can devastate the environment, harming our unique and fragile coastline and wreaking havoc on the coastal communities whose economies rely heavily on tourism. I will keep fighting to protect Maryland’s beaches, precious waterways and tourism economy.”
The Administration’s proposal introduced last year, the Department of Interior’s 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program, would have opened up drilling along parts of the Mid- and South Atlantic Coast.
Senator Mikulski fought hard to prevent drilling off the Atlantic Coast, helping to introduce legislation led by Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act. That legislation would prohibit the U.S. Department of the Interior from issuing leases for the exploration, development, or production of oil or gas in the North, Mid-, or South Atlantic Ocean.
Senator Mikulski, along with East Coast Senators, wrote to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell in 2014, urging the Administration to protect the East Coast from offshore oil and gas drilling. A copy of that letter is available here. The Senators followed up with a letter to Secretary Jewell last March where they cautioned that ‘offshore drilling anywhere in the Atlantic has the potential to adversely impact our states’ fishing, tourism and recreation industries, our coastlines and our environment.’ That letter is available here.
AG Frosh Statement on Obama Administration Decision to Abandon Atlantic Coast Oil Drilling Plan
From the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland:
Baltimore, MD (March 15, 2016) – Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh released the following statement in response to today’s announcement that the U.S. Department of the Interior has shelved plans to allow oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean Outer Continental Shelf:
“This is a terrific decision by President Obama. Our experience in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere around the country, and around the world, shows just what happens when oil drilling goes wrong. But even when it goes right, the effects are dangerous. Seismic testing harms marine life. Industrial activity destroys fragile coastal environments. Routine and inevitable leakage fouls water and kills fish and plants. There is simply no reason to play Russian roulette with the Chesapeake Bay or with vulnerable Atlantic Coast shoreline.”
Attorney General Frosh announced his strong opposition to drilling in Outer Continental Shelf last year, submitting written comments to the Interior Department in March 2015 arguing that Maryland’s natural resources would be degraded at every step in the unnecessary and unwise process of exploring for oil and gas in the Atlantic.
Many segments of Maryland’s economy would be placed at risk from the proposal, he noted, from the $4 billion mid-Atlantic fisheries to the $1 billion in tourism spending in Ocean City and Worcester County. The now-abandoned plan would have allowed rigs as close as 50 miles off the coasts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
Attorney General Frosh said that his office is responsible for enforcing the Maryland Coastal Zone Management Act, the Coastal Facilities Review Act, the state Critical Area law and other environmental laws which could be impacted by drilling operations offshore.
King Obama said it, so lapdogs mikulski and Frosh start drooling all over the floor and slip in their own saliva of praise for dear Leader and his wonderful pronouncements.
Drill baby drill.
On behalf of the dolphins that take their young for a fishing swim off the coast of Ocean City every morning around 10 a.m., I would like to thank Obama, Mikulski and the other Senators who pushed for a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling.
As a taxpayer and voter who loves to watch the dolphins, I want to add my thanks as well.
As a taxpayer and voter who likes to be able to afford his BGE bill, I do not add my thanks.
Humans are not the only important creatures on this planet and we do not have the right to destroy the feeding grounds of any other creature.
Offshore oil drilling and natural gas fracking are two of the most destructive activities being done in the name of cheap oil. It’s time to get our government busy funding research into other sources of dependable energy.
And hey, they are going to raise your BGE bill no matter what. The current cheap price of oil is making it unprofitable to recover domestic oil. The price has to be higher than $87 a barrel before it is profitable to extract oil from domestic sites. When OPEC decides to raise oil prices again the entire planet is in danger of becoming so polluted it can’t sustain any form of life.
The Gulf of Mexico oil wells are proof that off shore drilling is deadly to the environment. If you don’t know what fracking can do to the environment, I suggest you do a little research.
Fracking in Maryland runs the risk of poisoning the major underground aquifer supplying fresh water to Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York state. If that happens where will all the people go? They have already poisoned parts of Texas and Pennsylvania just to name a few. If you think fracking will supply you with cheap natural gas perhaps you should look at the research. Maybe you should review your definition of “cheap”.
And yes, I think watching the dolphins feeding their young is worth a few dollars on my BGE bill. BGE is going to raise my bill no matter what anyway. Their new “smart meter” has already added a significant surcharge to my bill.
Let us only hope that the dolphins make you feel good Amber. God only knows how terrible it would be for you to have to do without your feel good carl!
I don’t drink or use recreational drugs. I need something to feel good about. God knows the current political climate doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy.
I feel sorry for you that you are not able to appreciate the beauty of a natural setting. It’s a shame your idea of a good time is running up and down the boulevard in your gas guzzler.
Yes, by all means thank Obama… when Democrats flip-flop it’s courageous leadership. Did you read this article? By the way, isn’t it interesting how we’re suddenly hearing so much about Frosh and his sage opinions? Bab’s trying to anoint him as her replacement?
You betcha.
How much more damage can she do between now and the election. I hope someone get in that will overturn everything.
Not in this state, all the uneducated welfare relying voters will just elect another democrat, They certainly won’t vote for anyone that will take their gravy train away. This country started to go down hill when the electorate became aware that they could vote themselves benefits by electing the right people.
bj rash (or whatever) …this is one of the smartest, wealthiest and best looking states in the country. What you are saying doesn’t come close to describing this state. Your syphilis must have moved to your brain because you are imagining things..
Actually if you look at Maryland it’s a microcosm of the US. You see large open areas – the counties away from DC and Baltimore – where people prefer to be self reliant and resent government involvement in their affairs voting Republican. The counties around DC, Baltimore City and the City itself tend to vote Democrat because they’re bought off with free stuff. Of course, the counties around DC are particularly partial since so many of them work for the government they love it and want more of it. Much of the wealth of Maryland you speak of is a result of government jobs and all the flotsam of lobbyists and special interests that accompanies them. Some of the richest counties in the nation border DC and that isn’t because there is anything of value being produced there. Quite the opposite.
I wish I could say you are lying, but I’m afraid you are right.
Was it the electorate or was it campaign promises made to get elected?
It is true that a big part of our federal deficit is the result of unfunded entitlement programs such as food stamps and Medicaid. I have seen Social Security and Medicare included in these unfunded entitlement programs, but Social Security and Medicare are line items on your pay stubs.
What confuses me is if these “entitlement” programs are running up the deficit, where is our tax dollars going? My idea of a real unfunded entitlement program are foreign wars that we shouldn’t be involved in.
Do you realize that for every dollar Bin Lauden spent on 9/11, the US spent $7 million dollars to fund the Afghan War and to track him down?
Amber, Social Security was funded by the workers that paid into the system. When they started robbing the Trust Fund and giving payouts to people that didn’t pay into the system it became a illegal entitlement.
If I remember correctly, Bill Clinton left a moth-eaten IOU in the Social Security Trust fund after he emptied it to pay for Federal shutdown caused by a Congress unwilling to compromise on a budget.
I was a little confused when I read that the fund will run out sometime in the 2030’s.
I think the Feds are doing some smoke and mirrors followed by an abracadabra with this trust fund. It would be helpful if we knew the truth about what is in the trust fund, but the Feds don’t want to tell the truth about anything relating to Federal money – where it comes from and where it goes.
So it’s not a good idea to change antifreeze over a storm drain and bury old refrigerators in the woods?