Obama Stewardship Policy Sounds Good, But Will It Really Protect Oceans?
If the BP oil spill crisis has taught Americans anything, it’s that we aren’t doing enough to protect our oceans and delicate coastal ecosystems. Between recreational pollution and government agencies that prefer to ignore unsafe industrial practices just miles from our shores, our oceans are in a state of crisis.
On Monday, President Obama signed an Executive Order establishing a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes.
The order is supposed to create a set of guiding principles for ocean management, establish a flexible framework for effective coastal and marine spatial planning to address conservation, economic activity, user conflict, and sustainable use of the ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes, and establish a National Ocean Council (NOC) to strengthen ocean governance and coordination.
Sounds great, right?
Unfortunately, at almost the same exact time Obama was signing this noble order into existence, the U.S. Interior Department issued its first shallow-water drilling permit since the BP oil spill. And of course, it was to allow new drilling in the already devastated Gulf of Mexico.
Sorry Obama, but like a teen-aged girl who can’t decide between suitors, you’re sending some mixed messages.
If the government were truly interested in using “the best available science and knowledge to inform decisions affecting the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes, and enhance humanity’s capacity to understand, respond, and adapt to a changing global environment,” it would say “NO MORE OFFSHORE DRILLING!” in big, fat letters on the first page…but of course, it doesn’t.
Instead the policy’s most significant tenet is a weakly-worded zoning process “that confines certain recreational and commercial activities to designated areas, known as marine spatial planning. Proponents of the process say it will help balance and manage competing uses of the oceans” (AP).
Ah, what a dream! Oceans and oil companies playing nicely side by side, pumping thousands of gallons of crude from the seabed without the danger of toxic tarballs clogging the moat of your child’s sandcastle…
Instead the same companies that thought it was acceptable to turn off the Deepwater Horizon’s security alarms, and shower the Gulf Coast in toxic dispersants will now be operating just a few miles from what used to be the country’s most beautiful beaches.
And the National Ocean Policy Coalition, representing energy and other business interests, is already worried the recommendations will actually end up restricting some (profitable) activities and could lead to unintended economic consequences.
Quick! Someone go tell the blue fin tunas, dolphins and pelicans that the ocean is safe now.
Image Credit: Flickr – troshy