Summit County Citizens Voice

Wildlife workers clean oil from a brown pelican. Photo by Greg Thompson, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Colorado Congressman Jared Polis introduces measure requiring offshore drilling projects to comply with endangered species laws

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A bill introduced this week in Congress by Jared Polis (D-CO) would end endangered species exemptions for offshore oil drilling projects and require federal agencies to consider the cumulative impacts of offshore oil and gas development.

“The disaster in the Gulf is what happens when companies choose profit over protections,” said Polis, A Colorado Democrat. “The blatant disregard of our environmental laws by the oil industry was shameful, but the lax enforcement of those laws by our very own government is equally to blame. While we cannot put back the oil, we can put an end to the government-approved evasion of some of our nation’s most important environmental laws,” he said.

The bill would require oil companies to comply with fundamental environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

In announcing the legislation, Polis said investigations have shown that the former Minerals Management Service often approved drilling projects without requiring permits from agencies that manage endangered species, and that officials with the MMS routinely edited biological assessments when the studies showed that drilling could have serious environmental impacts. The agency also understated the frequency and impact of oil spills and overlooked these issues while highlighting selective safety statistics.

In the case of Deepwater Horizon, thousands of birds, turtles, and countless other endangered marine species have lost their lives as a result of the spill — lives which could have been saved had the proper permitting procedures been followed, according to Polis.

Specifically, Polis’ legislation would:

·         Increases openness and transparency in drilling on federal lands by requiring notice in the federal register of exploration, development and production plans.

·         Ensures permits for Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Magnuson-Stevens Act and others are received by the Department of Interior before oil plans are made.

·         Protects endangered marine wildlife by ensuring that the total impact of cumulative oil and gas development is accounted for on marine wildlife populations, in addition to the impact of each individual project.

·         Strengthens the public oversight of agency actions and ensures that the proper permits are received by amending the judicial review section of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

“For decades the offshore oil industry has been able to disregard laws already on the books because the American people have been unable to enforce them,” said Michael Jasny, Senior Policy Analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which supports the bill. “Rep. Polis’ legislation is key to preventing the kind of illegal behavior that has devastated the Gulf environment.”

A Fact Sheet on H.R. 5863 — The Oil Pollution Wildlife Protection Act is available at http://polis.house.gov/UploadedFiles/7-26_Oil_Pollution_Wildlife_Protection_Act_Fact_Sheet.pdf.

Filed under: biodiversity, BP Gulf oil spill, Environment, Summit County Colorado Tagged: | BP, endangered species, Environment, Gulf oil spill, oil pollution wildlife protection act, oil spill and wildlife, Summit County, Summit County Colorado, Summit County News