Maryland Attorney General Martin E. Frosh (D) said he strongly opposes proposed oil and gas activity on the Mid-Atlantic US Outer Continental Shelf in comments submitted to the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
“The idea of allowing oil exploration along the Atlantic Coast is beyond foolish,” Frosh said. “Half of the water in the Chesapeake Bay comes from the Atlantic Ocean. Beaches like the Assateague Island National Seashore are some of the most unspoiled in the nation. We would be jeopardizing the very assets we are working so hard to preserve.”
He said that each offshore oil and gas activity carries needless risks, from testing and drilling needed to locate deposits, to the damage done during extraction and transport of the fuels, to the inevitable spills that occur.
“There is just no way to eliminate the risks of spills and blowouts,” Frosh declared. “The cumulative effect of small leaks can be as damaging as huge disasters such as the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout. Maryland's tourism economy, fishing economy, and natural resources would all be at risk if this unnecessary plan moves forward.”
He submitted his comments the same day that the American Petroleum Institute and seven other US oil and gas associations asked BOEM to not make what they consider an already overly restrictive 2017-22 draft proposed federal OCS oil and gas program more so (OGJ Online, Mar. 30, 2015).
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