Oil and Water Don't Mix: Join Hands Saturday to Oppose Drilling off the Atlantic Coast

We’ve all seen the images: Pelicans blackened and slick, dripping with oily residue; fish, dead by the thousands floating among a sea of black; the economy of one of the largest port states in the nation crippled; and human health impacts for years to come.

For most of 2010, you couldn’t turn on your television without seeing the aftermath of the gulf oil spill, which claimed the lives of 11 men and filled the Gulf of Mexico with more than 200 million gallons of crude oil. Although this 87 day long catastrophe occurred only three years ago, it can seem a distant memory to many as we continue to fill up our gas tanks and power our homes and offices while utilizing “dirty” oil-based sources of energy which we pump from our oceans despite the inherent risks.

October 2012: Superstorm Sandy devastated shore communities up and down the New Jersey coast.  It was the biggest natural disaster we ever experienced. Superstorm Sandy was a wakeup call that we need to do whatever we can to combat climate change.

Just imagine if we had oil rigs off of our coast when Sandy hit. We would not only have had beaches and communities filled with debris; destruction of our homes, businesses and places we love and, sadly, lives lost; but potentially a coast slickened with oil.

Offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean is a future unnerving possibility with the potential decision for seismic testing for oil exploration to happen soon.

Before offshore drilling can occur, seismic testing must be done to locate potential oil and gas deposits. Though most may know the dangers of offshore drilling, not many may know that seismic testing alone already poses a threat to our aquatic neighbors.

The testing consists of seismic air gun ‘explosions’ repeatedly set off at ten-second intervals. These explosions are detrimental to marine life and put their chances for survival at risk.

The booming sounds and vibrations created by seismic air guns can travel for hundreds of miles deafening animals including whales, dolphins and porpoises who depend on sound for feeding, mating and communication. For them, and in particular for the North Atlantic right whale -- of which there are only just over 300 left in the world -- going deaf is akin to being sentenced to death. 

And if those intense booms don’t fully deafen our visually challenged dolphin and whale friends, they certainly cause alarm and avoidance reactions from other species, some of which fisherman rely on for resources and business.  Oil exploration could not only cause irreparable damage to several aquatic species and ecosystems but also the fishing industry, one of the major economic engines of the Jersey Shore.

With all this in mind, we can and should place more emphasis on tapping into clean, alternative energy resources to protect our ocean while at the same time creating green jobs to help boost the economy.

We also can and should place greater emphasis on demand reduction, efficiency and conservation: there are unlimited amounts of energy to be “recaptured” from wasteful, inefficient practices so we do not have to face the grim choice of drilling off the Atlantic Coast, risking so much.

The American Littoral Society opposes any policies to reopen the coast for oil and gas exploration or drilling. Offshore drilling will not resolve any of America’s energy issues. Spending billions of dollars on yesterday’s fuel, risking our coastal economies and putting our already stressed marine environment in harm’s way makes no sense. We need to spend our resources seeking policies that emphasize energy conservation and environmental sustainability.  

We do not support off-shore drilling and industrialization of our ocean because there is simply too much at risk both environmentally and economically. 

If you agree and want to be part of sending this message to our government officials, join us this Saturday, May 18th at Island
Beach State Park.  We will be standing along with people around the world who will meet hand in hand on beaches from the United States to New Zealand to embrace the same purpose.

To learn more: www.handsacrossthesand.org

To RSVP, please visit, http://hatsislandbeachstatepark.eventbrite.com
Print your ticket for *FREE admission to the park.

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/173211929508353/