Folks you have probably heard about the public meeting on offshore oil drilling that will be happening in Annapolis, MD - March 9th 3:00-7:00 PM, Loews Hotel Annapolis, 126 West Street, Annapolis, MD 21401. Facebook Event here https://www.facebook.com/events/908011085916872/
Here's what you need to know - this is a Public Meeting in an "Open House" format, as opposed to a public hearing where you can take the microphone, speak your mind, and have it recorded into the official record. You can view their displays, talk to agency staff, and write your comments via a computer at the meeting.
Take a look at how difficult it was to hear the BOEM employees speaking during this extremely loud "Open House" type of Meeting in Norfolk. I was 5 feet away from this person.
BOEM Open House on Offshore Drilling from John Weber on Vimeo.
I was standing five or six feet away from this person at the "Open House" Public Meeting help by BOEM on Offshore Oil drilling. The meeting was held in Norfolk, VA and most people I was with were dumbfounded that there was no microphone at this "public meeting" as a way to be heard.
If you are planning to attend, here are some ideas for your comments.
- The Hearing format is not helpful to the public. There is no reason the open house format can't be held for a couple of hours and then have an actual hearing where people's oral comments are recorded into the record.
- The process of Ocean Planning is just beginning in the Mid-Atlantic (NY to VA) and it is designed to avoid conflicts of ocean uses. So why throw oil and gas drilling into the mix, a major conflict for several ocean-dependent industries, before Ocean Planning has been completed?
- Ocean Planning in the Southeast (NC to GA) has not really even started. There is no substantial data on non-consumptive recreation ocean use in the Southeast. It didn't exist in the Mid Atlantic before their Ocean Planning process started. Surfrider Foundation conducted surveys and put all that data on recreational ocean use into the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal It makes no sense to drill in a region where the economic value of recreation has not been quantified.
- The computers at the hearing let you do written word comments, but they also let you draw maps about areas you are concerned with, while you explain those concerns. Learn more about BOEM's Geoportal in this online presentation
- The tourism economy of the entire Delmarva peninsula would be put at risk by offshore drilling. It is not worth the risk.
- The protected barrier island off of Virginia's eastern shore are a national treasure. No where along the east coast is there such a stretch of undeveloped coastal and ocean habitats. Threatening these with oil and gas development is unacceptable
- Oil spills such as the oil train derailment that happened in West Virginia last month would become more frequent and that is also unacceptable. That train was en route to a storage facility in Yorktown, VA.
