Debate continues over wind and fossil fuels
The Town of Ocean City has been the subject of debate over possible offshore windfarms that could pollute the site lines of thousands of beach-goers.
Concerned residents came to the Convention Center Thursday evening to learn how seismic blast testing, followed by oil and gas drilling in federal waters offshore could effect the local environment and economy.
"Do we want a more polluting form of energy production offshore, or do we want something that's going to help move the Eastern Shore forward," said Kathy Phillips, an Assateague Coastkeeper.
The debate stems back to late April, when President Trump signed an executive order for the Interior Department to review areas off the east coat of the U.S. that were potentially rich in fossil fuels that the Obama administration had put out of reach.
"It's a great day for America workers, unleashing American energy and clearing the way for thousands and thousands of high-paying American energy jobs," said President Trump at the signing of the order. "Our country is blessed with incredible natural resources, including abundant offshore oil and natural gas reserves."
Ocean conservation group Oceana disagrees with the president's sentiments. According to their numbers, with modest and gradual development of offshore wind, wind energy would produce 7,049 jobs over the life of the offshore oil drilling project, just over 4,000 more jobs than offshore drilling would create.
And it isn't just the number of jobs created that concerns Oceana and it's members. Caroline Wood, Mid-Atlantic Campaign Organizer with Oceana, calls jobs created by wind energy both 'long-term' and 'sustainable,' whereas she finds oil and gas jobs to be 'temporary and migratory.'
We reached out to experts to get reaction to environmental concerns that come from seismic blasting and oil and gas drilling.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, sent 47ABC Q&A audio from June 5th. In it, experts explain mitigation tactics used to avoid the harming and loss of marine life, or the diversion of aquatic life using techniques such as acoustic monitoring, time and area limitations and shutdowns for sound waves.
Acoustic monitoring will help monitor where marine life is, as well as any protected species within a certain distance.
Time and area limitations help minimize potential behavioral responses, and shutdowns are designed to eliminate or reduce the impact on sensitive species in certain areas.
NOAA says they have heard many concerns about the safety of marine life during seismic blast testing.
"We have no reason to anticipate certainly mortality from this, and we believe the mitigation measures that we have put in place, for example the shutdown measures that Donna is speaking to, allow us to really reduce or alleviate the likelihood of any sort of injuries," said Jolie Harrison with NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources.
