April, 02 2009, 03:24pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Richard Charter, mobile: (707) 696-1363, office: (202) 629-3372
Erin McCallum, (202) 772-3217
Offshore Energy Report Details Potential Resources Without Weighing Risks
Defenders of Wildlife calls for a more balanced approach
WASHINGTON
The Department of the Interior today released a
hastily-prepared report estimating potential offshore renewable energy
resources, as well as possible oil and gas deposits that might be found along
America's coastlines. While the report will be a major focus of upcoming public
meetings, it fails to adequately examine the other side of the equation: the
potential for major long-term harm to other coastal resources from offshore
energy development, particularly from fossil fuels.
"The Obama administration has promised to take a more thoughtful approach to
the stewardship of America's coastal waters than the preceding administration,"
said Richard Charter, consultant for Defenders of Wildlife. "However,
today's draft report is filled with outdated petroleum estimates and wild
guesses about hypothetical energy potential."
Today's report was prepared in just 45 days, apparently using past seismic
survey data long kept on file by the Minerals Management Service and the U.S.
Geological Survey. The report attempts to quantify rough estimates of possible
oil and gas and the hypothetical potential of various offshore wind, wave and
tidal energy sites. However, while the report briefly summarizes environmental
issues, it does not incorporate any significant recent information about the
regional economies and living marine resources that would be affected by
industrial development of petroleum resources, nor does the report address the
significant impacts of carbon fuel consumption on global warming.
"The existing, coastal-dependent economic base of shoreline communities
nationwide is not really considered in the report, nor are the immense dollar
values represented by commercial and sport fisheries, ocean ecosystems, national
parklands, tourism uses, and the habitats for marine wildlife that rely
completely on clean, ecologically productive coastal waters," said Charter.
"Today's report demonstrates the need for a more balanced approach that
considers the long-term impacts of drilling on climate, and balances energy
development with existing uses of the sea and seabed for the benefit of
wildlife, fisheries and the human communities that depend on these
resources."
The Department of the Interior report is available online and will be the
focus of upcoming public hearings to be held in Atlantic City on April 6, in New
Orleans on April 8, in Anchorage on April 14, and in San Francisco on April
16.
See locations and details about these upcoming public hearings
Read today's full report from the Department of the Interior
View our podcast regarding the upcoming hearings
Defenders of Wildlife is the premier U.S.-based national conservation organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of imperiled species and their habitats in North America.
(202) 682-9400LATEST NEWS
20 Years Later, Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Get Their Day in Court
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Two decades after they were tortured by U.S. military contractors at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, three Iraqi victims are finally getting their day in court Monday as a federal court in Virginia takes up a case they brought during the George W. Bush administration.
The case being heard in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Al Shimari v. CACI, was first filed in 2008 under the Alien Tort Statute—which allows non-U.S. citizens to sue for human rights abuses committed abroad—by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of three Iraqis. The men suffered torture directed and perpetrated by employees of CACI, a Virginia-based professional services and information technology firm hired in 2003 by the Bush administration as translators and interrogators in Iraq during the illegal U.S.-led invasion and occupation.
"This lawsuit is a critical step towards justice for these three men who will finally have their day in court."
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Bush's successor, former President Barack Obama, promised to investigate—and if warranted, to prosecute—the Bush-era officials responsible for the torture that had become synonymous with the War on Terror. Instead, the Obama administration protected them from prosecution.
In 2013, L3 Technologies agreed to pay $5.28 million to 71 former Abu Ghraib detainees who were subjected to sexual assault and humiliation, rape threats, electrical shocks, mock executions, brutal beatings, and other abuse.
The following year, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling prohibiting Abu Ghraib torture victims from suing U.S. companies implicated in their abuse. But the court later reversed itself, finding the case had sufficient ties to the United States to be heard in an American court. The suit was later dismissed under the political question doctrine, which prevents courts from ruling on issues determined to be essentially political.
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