Environmental impacts of oil and gas surveys to be discussed

November 13, 2016

Representatives of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will be hosting a public meeting this afternoon from 4-7 p.m. at the Four Points by Sheraton on Okaloosa Island.

They’re gathering input on an agency compiled assessment of potential environmental impacts caused by geological and geophysical surveys.

The controversial surveys are conducted in an effort to locate oil, natural gas and minerals, a BOEM news release said, but environmental groups believe they can do great harm to underwater wildlife, particularly marine mammals.

BOEM was ordered to prepare the draft environmental impact statement as part of a 2013 legal settlement between the agency and a coalition of environmental groups led by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

NRDC hailed the order as “a landmark for marine mammal protection in the Gulf.”

When finalized the impact statement will be included as part of the packet turned in by the BOEM when it seeks permitting to conduct the surveys.

If permitted, the surveys could include high-resolution seismic surveys, electromagnetic and magnetic surveys, gravity surveys, remote-sensing surveys and geological and geochemical sampling. They would “provide information about the location and extent of oil and gas resources,” the release said.

NRDC said oil and gas surveyors use “arrays of high-powered air guns that release intense blasts of compressed air into the water every 10-12 seconds, for weeks or months at a time.”

“The noise they produce is almost as intense as dynamite, which air guns replaced in the mid-1950s,” an NRDC news release from 2013 said. “Each year industry routinely conducts dozens of “seismic” exploration surveys in the northern Gulf, one of the most highly prospected bodies of water on the planet. These super-loud air blasts hurt whales and dolphins.”

BOEM said its draft environmental impact statement “recommends strong measures to protect marine mammals and coastal environments in the Gulf of Mexico from the potential impacts of geological and geophysical surveys.”...

Read entire article at NWF Daily News.