Environmentalists blast Obama say offshore drilling plan "could spell disaster..."

President Barack Obama's new effort to expand East Coast offshore drillingexploration "could spell disaster for much of America's coastline, and the tourism on which many coastal communities depend economically" according to environmental protection groups.

The leaders of the group Defenders of Wildlife released a statement Wednesday blasting Obama for opening up East Coast exploration because of the huge potential for oil spills and other environmentally damaging side effects. The group doesn't mind mixing it up politically, their website is currently collecting signatures opposed to Sarah Palin's looming reality show.  

But it is interesting to note - in all the statements released since the offshore announcement by Obama - including statements from Sen. Mark R. Warner, Bob McDonnell and GOP Chairman Pat Mullins - that no one - NO ONE - mentions the need to proceed cautiously. NO ONE mentions the potential for serious environmental problems. The mantra "hope for the best and plan for the worst" is clearly not in play here.

Here's the statement from DefendersPresident and CEO Rodger Schlickeisen: 

“While we are pleased that the Obama administration has decided to permanently protect Alaska’s salmon-rich Bristol Bay and continue protection of the California coast until 2017, we’re extremely concerned about the administration’s planned expansion of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, south Atlantic, and mid-Atlantic coasts. The administration’s planned expansion of oil drilling risks the health of marine wildlife, fisheries, and coastal economies. It continues and expands our dependence on fossil fuels at a time when we need to reduce our dependence in order to address the harmful impacts of global warming.

“If this drilling plan is fully implemented as President Obama outlined it today, it could spell disaster for much of America’s coastline, and the tourism on which many coastal communities depend economically. If oil drilling is allowed to proceed off our mid-Atlantic coast, for example, major fisheries and wildlife areas including the Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina’s Outer Banks will be subject to disruptive seismic testing and potentially catastrophic oil spills. Oil exploration and drilling will pose a particular risk to the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale, which migrates along our entire Atlantic coast. Defenders of Wildlife and other organizations have recently petitioned to expand critical habitat protection for the North Atlantic right whale to include areas being considered for drilling off the south and mid-Atlantic coast. Any drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas could prove disastrous for those fragile Arctic ecosystems and imperiled species such as polar bears.

“We’re particularly disappointed that President Obama’s plan reverses the bipartisan compromise reached by Congress in 2006 to safeguard Florida’s Gulf Coast and Panhandle through 2022. As Senators, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar all voted in support of that compromise, which now stands to be reversed. What kind of message does that send to citizens of California, for example, who today were promised a reprieve from drilling until at least 2017?

“Increasing fossil fuel drilling will also increase the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global climate change. Today’s announcement threatens the health of our near-shore waters, an environment at particular risk from global warming. Now, more than ever, it is urgent that Congress pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation that tackles carbon emissions and addresses the climate impacts already being seen today.”

Obama offered this to critics:

To critics who already were branding the decision both unnecessary and a threat to the environment, Mr. Obama said in his remarks: “There will be those who strongly disagree with this decision, including those who say we should not open any new areas to drilling, But what I want to emphasize is that this announcement is part of a broader strategy that will move us from an economy that runs on fossil fuels and foreign oil to one that relies more on homegrown fuels and clean energy. And the only way this transition will succeed is if it strengthens our economy in the short term and long term. To fail to recognize this reality would be a mistake.”

Comments

[Dean]

He's forcing Republicans to vote FOR something.

They won't.

And, we'll still not have offshore drilling.

[Rodney Llewellyn]

What does this guy think that we are going to run the country on while the clean energy sources are being developed? I guess that would be foreign oil.