[Occupymendocino] FW: [Opcsteering] Arctic Drilling EIR - Comments deadline June 27

[Ann Rennacker]

From: jugglestone at comcast.net
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 01:07:39 -0700
To: OPC at lists.mcn.org; opcsteering at lists.mcn.org
Subject: [Opcsteering] Arctic Drilling EIR - Comments deadline June 27

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Some people think BOEMRE is just a new say to say BUMMER, and they would be right.
You see, the "Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement," otherwise known os BOEMRE, is just a new name for what was previously known as the Minerals Management Service (MMS), an agency so mired in corruption, pay-off scandals, and drunken, incestuous corpo-government party bingeing, that it had to change it's name.
Right now, public comment is being taken by BOEMRE on an environmental impact report regarding the affects of offshore oil drilling and exploration in the Arctic, a huge area of ocean off the northern and northwestern coasts of Alaska.  This vast area of Alaska's Arctic ocean is being put on the chopping block in the name of offshore oil drilling.
In the areas of the Arctic covered by the recent EIR, the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, the proposed take of marine mammals is astonishing.  According to the report, the highest level of exploration and test drilling will cost a death toll of 9,965 Bowhead Whales, 6,610 Beluga Whales, 1,720 Gray Whales, 113 Humpback Whales, 113 Minke Whales, 90 Fin Whales, 105 Killer Whales, along with 118,570 Ringed Seals and 2,568 Bearded Seals, porpoises, seals, fish, birds - and who knows what else. These are just estimates, and this is just the exploration phase.
And this doesn't figure in for an oil spill (which is inevitable.) The report states in every category, that if the worst happens - a VLOP as they call it (Very Large Oil Spill) - each and every species will suffer a catastrophe.  Or as they say in the EIR report: "a VLOS could have a major impact on…."  Fill in the blank, and say good bye to  your favorite marine mammal, including polar bears.
To paraphrase a letter from the NRDC: "The amount of oil and gas activity that the Fisheries Service has proposed is staggering, with up to 24 surveys and drilling operations taking place at any given time. This scale of activity will transform the Arctic: industrializing it, bombarding its wildlife populations with deafening and lethal seismic testing, and risking this sensitive ecosystem with an oil spill that, in those remote and hazardous waters, will be virtually impossible to contain."
Your environmental review does not meaningfully address the cumulative effects of Arctic industrialization on species that depend on sound for their survival, or the cumulative risk of oil spills from exploratory drilling."

You have only a few more days to submit your comments on this EIR.  Please urge NOAA and BOEMRE to reject this proposal of expanded Arctic oil exploration, a proposal that the public has thoroughly rejected.  Ask these agencies to adopt Alternative 1 - the no action alternative that says we want to put a stop to Arctic oil drilling!
For info on how to submit your comments, go to:
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/eis/arctic.htm

The deadline to submit is June 27th.

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