Today, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) denied six pending geophysical and geological (G&G) permit applications to conduct seismic surveys in the Atlantic Ocean. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) issued the following statement:

“First, Director Hopper told us she doesn’t support leasing until new seismic data is collected. Now she tells us she doesn’t support seismic surveying because she has canceled all the leasing. The Obama administration has rigged the system so that American energy cannot win.

“Seismic surveys have been conducted safely for decades including in the Atlantic, just look to our Canadian allies – they do it successfully. This permitting process started in 2009. It took eight years just to get rejected, and that’s unacceptable. Any prohibition on safe data collection offshore, even without leasing, is an incredibly poor precedent that should be reversed.”

Background:

The Offshore Continental Shelf Lands Act states “the outer Continental Shelf is a vital national resource reserve held by the Federal Government for the public, which should be made available for expeditious and orderly development, subject to environmental safeguards, in a manner which is consistent with the maintenance of competition and other national needs.”

BOEM testified before the Committee arguing for more data in the Atlantic, including seismic surveying to see what is there, before future leases. In Director Abigail Ross Hopper’s testimony she acknowledges that G&G surveys are “not exclusively for oil and gas exploration,” and that they are “helpful in identifying sand used for restoration of our Nation’s beaches and barrier islands” and “protecting coasts and wetlands from erosion.”