October, 01 2020, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Mike Mather, SELC Communications; (434) 977-4090 or cell/text (434) 333-9464; mmather@selcva.org
Kristen Monsell, Center for Biological Diversity; (510) 844-7137; kmonsell@biologicaldiversity.org
Alice M. Keyes, One Hundred Miles; (912) 230-6495; alice@onehundredmiles.org
Diane Knich, Coastal Conservation League; (843) 530-0211; dianek@scccl.org
Jake Bleich, Defenders of Wildlife; (510) 882-1592; jbleich@defenders.org
Dustin Cranor, Oceana; (954) 348-1314; dcranor@oceana.org
Seismic Blasting Efforts Halted in Atlantic Ocean
Permits will expire next month; industry won’t launch boats this year.
WASHINGTON
A status conference on seismic litigation revealed today the industry will not pursue efforts to employ seismic blasting to search the Atlantic Ocean for offshore petroleum deposits this year, and possibly for several years.
The hearing marked a victory for dozens of organizations and thousands of coastal communities and businesses in a years-long legal and public battle challenging the government's issuance of Incidental Harassment Authorizations, or IHAs. Those authorizations were needed because the air-gun bombardment of the sea floor would have hurt ocean animals, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
The developments included:
- Recognition by government attorneys that the IHAs would expire on Nov. 30, and there was no mechanism to extend them.
- Acknowledgment that seeking new permits would move the lengthy process back to square one.
- A concession from lawyers representing the seismic industry that it is not feasible to launch boats this year.
"This is a huge victory not just for us but for every coastal community that loudly and persistently protested the possibility of seismic blasting," said Catherine Wannamaker, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. "There will be no boats in the water this year, and because this resets the clock, there will be no boats in the water for a long time. And we'll continue fighting to keep it that way."
Quotes from participating organizations:
"Seismic blasting harms whales in the search for offshore oil that we should leave in the ground. We can't allow the oil industry's greed to threaten endangered North Atlantic right whales and other vulnerable species," said Kristen Monsell, ocean legal director with the Center for Biological Diversity. "We're happy these animals will have a reprieve from this unjustified acoustic attack on our oceans. We'll keep fighting to ensure the oil industry stays out of the Atlantic."
"We are at a crucial time for the last remaining 400 North Atlantic right whales on the planet," said Alice M. Keyes, vice president of coastal conservation for One Hundred Miles. "Seismic blasting in the Atlantic would sound the death knell for this magnificent species. We are proud to stand alongside hundreds of thousands of Georgians and East Coast residents who have fought against seismic blasting for the protection of our marine mammals, fisheries, and ocean-dependent economies."
"The end of Atlantic seismic testing for the foreseeable future is a much-needed reprieve for marine life, including the critically-endangered North Atlantic right whale," said Jane Davenport, senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife. "However, until there is an outright ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along the East Coast, we will continue to fight against this disruptive and dangerous practice."
"Seismic surveys are the precursor to offshore drilling, but these waters are far too important to sacrifice to Big Oil. There's no need to risk irreplaceable marine wildlife just for potential information about oil deposits that should never be drilled in the first place," said Earthjustice Managing Attorney Steve Mashuda. "We're grateful there will be no airgun blasting in the near future and will keep up the fight to make sure it stays that way."
"We are relieved that the threat of seismic testing and its damage to marine wildlife is at least temporarily lifted," said Laura Cantral, executive director of the Coastal Conservation League. "It's vital that we use this pause to secure a permanent ban on offshore energy exploration activities and drilling in South Carolina and adjoining waters, and finally put an end to the unacceptable risk it poses to our economy and environment."
"There will be no seismic blasting this year, and none of the senseless harm that would bring to our whales and fish and coastal communities, but the Trump administration has left the door open to new proposals from industry," said Michael Jasny, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at NRDC, "The only way to end the threat is to prohibit offshore oil and gas exploration for good."
"Communities can breathe a little easier knowing the Atlantic is now safe from seismic airgun blasting in 2020. Today's much needed news is a bright spot and in line with the court of public opinion. Over 90 percent of coastal municipalities in the proposed blast zone are opposed to opening our coast to offshore drilling and its dangerous precursor, seismic airgun blasting. The expiration of these unlawful permits will finally protect coastal communities and our marine life. Oceana has been campaigning for more than a decade to protect our coast from dirty and dangerous offshore drilling activities. We are going to do everything in our power to permanently protect our coasts and ensure dynamite-like blasting never starts," said Diane Hoskins, Oceana campaign director.
Oceana is the largest international ocean conservation and advocacy organization. Oceana works to protect and restore the world's oceans through targeted policy campaigns.
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"If your income was $274 million per year, you'd make more than 99.9% of Americans," wrote one activist. "Elon Musk spent that buying the 2024 elections for Republicans."
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Federal filings released Thursday revealed that Elon Musk spent significantly more than previously known to help secure a second White House term for Donald Trump and boost GOP congressional candidates, making the world's richest man the nation's largest political donor and perhaps the most influential figure involved with the incoming administration.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings showed that Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of the social media platform X, spent around $270 million this year in support of super PACs backing Trump's reelection bid.
The filings also exposed Musk as the mysterious funding source behind RBG PAC, a Republican organization named after the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Musk pumped more than $20.5 million into the super PAC, which aimed to paint Trump as more moderate on abortion than other Republicans and falsely claimed Trump shared Ginsburg's views on reproductive rights.
"In reality, RBG unequivocally supported abortion rights, believing it was a fundamental matter of equality," notedRolling Stone's Andrew Perez. "Trump, on the other hand, pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to ban abortion—and his justices did just that. When Ginsburg died late in Trump's first term, he replaced her with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, creating a 6-3 conservative supermajority on the court that overturned Roe and ended the federal right to an abortion."
Musk's ability to convert his extreme wealth into political influence underscored the need for far higher taxes on the nation's economic elites, progressives said in response to the FEC disclosures. In 2018, Musk paid nothing in federal income taxes even as his wealth soared, largely due to Tesla stock appreciation.
"We need to tax the rich so much more," activist Jonathan Cohn wrote on social media. "Not just so that we can fund programs to benefit everyone, but to prevent them from rigging the political system in their favor."
Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, noted that "if your income was $274 million per year, you'd make more than 99.9% of Americans."
"Elon Musk spent that buying the 2024 elections for Republicans," she wrote. "Tax the oligarchs."
Musk's spending on the 2024 elections outpaced that of Timothy Mellon, the secretive heir to a Gilded Age fortune who pumped $197 million into races in support of Republican candidates, Bloombergreported.
Musk, whose wealth jumped substantially following Trump's victory, is one of more than a dozen billionaires set to be either a member or close adviser to the incoming administration. The president-elect has tasked Musk and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy with leading a commission whose goal is to gut federal regulations and slash spending.
"It's not hyperbole to call this a government of billionaires," Axiosreported Friday. "Trump's projected Cabinet alone is worth at least $10 billion... Trump's gilded Cabinet is the product of an election in which billionaires spent like never before in U.S. history—mostly on behalf of Republicans."
The billionaires in Trump's inner circle are set to play central roles in crafting policy over the next four years, including another tax-cut package that's expected to disproportionately benefit wealthy Americans. The 2017 Trump-GOP tax law that Republicans are looking to extend and expand helped boost the collective wealth of U.S. billionaires by over $2 trillion.
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Republican lawmakers on Thursday signaled a willingness to target Social Security and other mandatory programs after meeting with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the billionaire pair President-elect Donald Trump chose to lead a new commission tasked with slashing federal spending and regulations.
Though the GOP's 2024 platform pledged to shield Social Security, the party has reverted to its long-held position in the weeks since Trump's election victory, with some lawmakers openly attacking the program while others suggest cuts more subtly by stressing the supposed need for "hard decisions" to shore up its finances. (Progressives argue Social Security's solvency can be guaranteed for decades to come by requiring the rich to contribute more to the program, a proposal Republicans oppose.)
On Thursday, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) emerged from a meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy with the message that "nothing is sacrosanct."
"They're going to put everything on the table," said Norman, one of the wealthiest members of Congress.
After airing Norman's remarks, Fox Business reported that Musk and Ramaswamy told lawmakers that no federal program is safe from cuts, "and that includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid."
Fox Business reports that cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is "on the table" for Republicans pic.twitter.com/ETUjJHbt3h
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 5, 2024
NBC News congressional correspondent Julie Tsirkin said Thursday that after meeting with Musk, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)—who was recently elected Senate majority leader for the upcoming Congress—told her that "perhaps mandatory programs are areas that they're looking to make cuts in, like Social Security, for example."
"But again, no specifics were laid out there," Tsirkin added.
Thune has previously voiced support for raising Social Security's retirement age, a change that would cut benefits across the board.
🚨🚨🚨
BREAKING: After meeting with Elon Musk, Republican leader Sen. John Thune announces plans to cut Social Security
HANDS OFF OUR EARNED BENEFITS! pic.twitter.com/eTX8wpHuwr
— Social Security Works (@SSWorks) December 5, 2024
In the days leading up to their Capitol Hill visit, both Musk and Ramaswamy took swipes at Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and made clear the programs would be in the crosshairs of their advisory commission, which is examining ways to slash federal spending without congressional approval.
Earlier this week, Musk amplified a series of social media posts by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who once said he hopes to "get rid of" Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Defenders of Social Security saw Lee's thread, and Musk's apparent endorsement of it, as a declaration of war on the New Deal program.
Days later, Ramaswamy said in an interview with CNBC that "there are hundreds of billions of dollars of savings to extract" from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, claiming the programs are rife with waste, fraud, and abuse.
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Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said Thursday that the Trump-GOP agenda is "so predictable."
"Tax cuts for billionaire donors; benefit cuts for people on Social Security—how the billionaires loot our country (what, not rich enough already, fellas?)," Whitehouse wrote on social media.
In a column on Thursday, MSNBC's Ryan Teague Beckwith wrote that "Republicans somehow keep coming back to the idea of cutting Social Security" despite widespread opposition to such cuts among the American public.
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The Congressional Progressive Caucus on Thursday elected its leaders for the next term, including Rep. Greg Casar as chair.
"The members of the Progressive Caucus know how to fight billionaires, grifters, and Republican frauds in Congress. Our caucus will make sure the Democratic Party stands up to corporate interests for working people," said Casar (D-Texas), who will replace term-limited Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).
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García said that "I am proud to join incoming Chair Casar, Deputy Chair Omar, and all members of the newly elected executive board as we prepare for the 119th Congress—in which I believe the role the CPC plays will be more critical than ever."
"We are a caucus that gives platform to ideas deeply popular across the political spectrum, and a caucus that builds diverse coalitions to get things done," he continued. "I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress and partners across the country who believe in people-centered policies rooted in equity and justice for all."
The CPC, first led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 1991, when he was still in the U.S. House of Representatives, has nearly 100 members. The new caucus leaders are set to begin their terms on January 3 and will face not only a Republican-controlled House and Senate, but also U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to be sworn in on January 20.
"It is my great honor to pass the torch to the next class of elected leadership of the Progressive Caucus: My dear friends and trusted colleagues Reps. Greg Casar, Ilhan Omar, and Chuy García," said Jayapal.
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"So when we hear Republicans attacking queer Americans again, I think the progressive response needs to be that a trans person didn't deny your health insurance claim, a big corporation did—with Republican help," he explained. "We need to connect the dots for people that the Republican Party obsession with these culture war issues is driven by Republicans' desire to distract voters and have them look away while Republicans pick their pocket."
According to NBC:
That means the Democratic Party needs to "shed off some of its more corporate elements," to sharpen the economic-populist contrast with Republicans and not let voters equate the two parties, he said. He predicted Trump and the Republican-led Congress will offer plenty of opportunities to drive that distinction, including when it pursues an extension of tax cuts for upper earners.
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Others—including Sanders, who sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2016 and 2020—have issued similar calls since Democrats lost the White House and Senate in last month's elections.
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