[Mb-civic] Exploration on Georges Bank OK'd - Boston Globe

[William Swiggard]

Exploration on Georges Bank OK'd
Critics say oil, gas survey could disrupt fishing grounds

<>By Rick Klein, Globe Staff  |  August 5, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A provision tucked into the energy bill approved by 
Congress last week calls on the government to conduct a survey of 
potential oil and gas drilling at sites along the entire US coastline, 
including Georges Bank off the coast of Nantucket.

The measure directs the Department of Interior to conduct an ''inventory 
and analysis of oil and gas resources" beneath the outer continental 
shelf, the relatively shallow areas beginning about 3 miles off the 
nation's coastline. That includes Georges Bank, a vast underwater 
plateau that stretches from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia and has been among 
the world's most fertile fishing grounds.

Energy companies have sought to drill for oil and gas on the bank for 
more than 30 years, prompting protracted legal and congressional 
battles. A ban on drilling has been in place since 1982, and the current 
moratorium runs through 2012. The energy bill, which President Bush is 
expected to sign next week, does not alter the drilling ban but lifts 
the prohibition on exploration, which was added during the 1990s.

Some fishing and environmental groups say that even looking for the 
buried resources could disrupt the fragile ecological environment at 
Georges Bank at a time that authorities are trying to restock declining 
fish populations. The measure specifically authorizes ''3-D seismic 
technology," where the ocean floor is mapped through the use of air guns 
that emit high-intensity sound waves, potentially harming fish.

If the exploration suggests that significant petroleum sits beneath the 
bank, political pressure could mount for the Bush administration or 
Congress to reverse the moratorium that has protected Georges and other 
pristine tracts like it for decades, said Richard Charter, cochairman of 
the National OCS Coalition, an association of environmental and fishing 
groups formed to prevent drilling on the outer continental shelf.

<>''It's more than a foot in the door -- it's the entire camel under the 
tent," Charter said of authorizing oil exploration. ''When you're trying 
to restore a damaged fishery, it's counterintuitive to introduce 
something that will further damage fisheries in a real way. The cost is 
likely to be the survivability of the ecosystem."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/05/exploration_on_georges_bank_okd/ 

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