The Surfrider Foundation is adamantly opposed to new offshore oil drilling and to drilling in the Atlantic in particular. The entire Atlantic Coast was protected by a moratorium on oil drilling since the 1980’s. In that time, the tourism-based economy of the Ocean City, MD region has grown tremendously.
Yet the Obama Administration had plans to do just that. A 5-year leasing plan to open up areas for oil and gas exploration as well as a seismic surveys were proposed for the Atlantic. Seismic surveys are deafening air-gun blasts that can harm wildlife.
Surfrider Foundation and other environmental groups rallied and got numerous towns to pass resolutions against both drilling and seismic testing, Ocean City included. The meeting is pictured here. We also helped get local businesses to “Sign the Surfboard” that traveled the entire coast to Washington DC. In March of 2016 the Obama Administration announce they would NOT pursue drilling.
And in January of 2017, plans for seismic testing were cancelled. More on that here.