Delaware tourism to benefit from drilling ban

The Obama administration announcement Tuesday that it will bar oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean was cheered by Delaware politicians and environmental activists.

John Doerfler, chair of the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation's Delaware chapter, said the administration's decision will benefit the state's economy  by keeping its tourism industry intact.

Drilling opponents say that the offshore rigs would deter fish and fishing in the area.

A state study found tourism generated more than $3 billion in 2014. Although the study did not break down the the percentage of tourists who come to fish, it did note that tourism supports 17 percent of total employment in Sussex County.

"We are protecting tourist dollars and at the same time protecting the environment," Doerfler said.

Critics of President Barack Obama's decision, charge oil drilling would create jobs and those staffing oil rigs will spend money in the towns near where they are based.

But Doerfler countered that the damage done to the state's economy would not offset the potential revenue generated by drilling.

"At most, you are talking 20 people on a rig," he said. "There are already more than 100 people employed at some of these restaurants and hotels."

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell made the announcement on Twitter, declaring the administration's next five-year offshore drilling plan "protects the Atlantic for future generations." Under the plan, the U.S. government will not auction drilling rights for Atlantic Ocean waters off of states along the Atlantic.

Gov. Jack Markell's office issued a statement saying the action is "welcome news."

"Until we can be certain the necessary regulations and environmental protections are in place we will not be in a position to fully support proposed Atlantic exploration," the statement said. "In the interim, we will continue to aggressively pursue clean and renewable energy generation and energy efficiency measures."

Delaware's congressional leaders were quick to praise the administration's decision.

U.S. Rep. John Carney, D-Delaware, said in a statement that the move "comes as a sigh of relief for folks in Delaware."

"This proposal put our state and our neighbors at risk of suffering the same devastation we’ve seen time and again from oil spills around the world," he said.

U.S. Sens. Christopher Coons and Tom Carper both Democrats, praised the decision.

"After hearing many of my constituents' opposition to drilling in portions of the Atlantic, I am happy to hear that the administration concluded that it was not worth risking impacts to other sectors and the potential environmental impact to our region," Coons said.

Carper, meanwhile, said he appreciated that the president "considered all points of view on the issue.

“While oil and gas will be a big part of our country's energy supply for the foreseeable future, I have long believed we need to reduce our consumption of these fuels and pursue an all of the above strategy to meet America’s energy needs," he said. "By investing in clean technologies like offshore wind, solar, water and other alternative energy sources, we can put our country on a path toward a more sustainable energy future.”

The Rehoboth Beach Board of Commissioners in January approved a resolution opposing offshore drilling. And Lewes passed a resolution on Nov. 9 against oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic.

Tuesday's decision reverses a proposal made last year in which the administration floated a plan that would have opened up a broad swath of the Atlantic Coast to drilling. The January 2015 proposal would have opened up sites more than 50 miles off Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia to oil drilling no earlier than 2021.

Rich King, who operates a Delaware fishing web site, said the decision was "a victory for business." He said the oil rig jobs would likely not have gone to Delaware residents and would have reduced tourism in the state.

"What was offshore drilling really going to do for Delaware?" King asked.

Both King and Doerfler said the battle over seismic testing is another issue that could hurt tourism and fishing in Delaware. Seismic testing is a process in which oil and gas companies search for drilling spots by using soundwaves that some say hurt fish.

"Seismic testing causes all the fish to start running away," King said. "That is going to hurt fishing tourism."

The decision on offshore drilling comes as President Obama, in his final year in office, continues to build an environmental legacy that includes a global agreement to curb climate change and an ambitious plan to reduce carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Offshore drilling is likely to grow as an issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. Both Democratic candidates oppose drilling in the Atlantic, while Republicans vow to expand it.

Environmental groups hailed the decision. A coalition that opposes Atlantic drilling had organized protests and petitions in affected states, often running into opposition from governors and other political leaders that support drilling. Republican governors in North and South Carolina back drilling off their states' coasts, as does the Democratic governor of Virginia and its two Democratic senators.

"President Obama has taken a giant step for our oceans, for coastal economies and for mitigating climate change," said Jacqueline Savitz, vice president of Oceana, an environmental group. "This is a victory for people over politics and shows the importance of old-fashioned grassroots organizing."

The oil and gas industry has pushed for Atlantic drilling and pledged that exploration would be done safely, with lessons applied from the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"If the Atlantic is taken out, that means there's less of an opportunity to invest in the U.S., and those dollars will flow overseas, and we'll hear more and more of that in the presidential election," said Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association.

The Pentagon said Atlantic offshore drilling could hurt military maneuvers and interfere with missile tests the Navy relies on to protect the East Coast.

The Pentagon submitted a report to the Department of the Interior that identified locations in Virginia and other states where military readiness programs would conflict with oil and gas activities, said spokesman Matthew Allen.

Allen said ensuring the safety of service members and the public during military training and testing activities was "of key importance."

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who supports offshore drilling, said he has worked on the issue from more than a decade as a former governor and longtime member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

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The Pentagon "has been relatively quiet during this public debate and has never shared its objections with me before," Kaine said, adding that he will speak with Pentagon officials soon to better understand their objections.

The drilling plan announced Tuesday covers potential lease sales from 2017 to 2022 and calls for leasing 10 areas in the Gulf of Mexico – long the epicenter of U.S. offshore oil production – and three off the Alaska coast.

The Interior Department estimates there are 3.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil on the Atlantic's outer continental shelf and 31.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Energy industry experts say the reserves may be far greater.

Carney, who co-signed letters to the administration urging reconsideration of the drilling plan, said in the statement that the risk of a possible spill is "just not worth it."

"I’m glad the administration heard our concerns, and I applaud them on the reversal of this decision," he said.

Contact Jeff Mordock at (302) 324-2786, on Twitter @JeffMordockTNJ or jmordock@delawareonline.com.