2014 ndi 6ws – Fitzmier, Lundberg, Abelkop

Offshore drilling is unpopular amongst coastal areas

Unlike wind development, support for offshore drilling is split along party lines, with Republicans more likely to favor oil and gas drilling than Democrats in each of the three Rasmussen polls – in June 2008, 85% of Republicans supported the practice compared to 57% of Democrats (Rasmussen Reports, 2008a). There are also pronounced differences in the perceived effects offshore drilling will have on gasoline prices. In the same June 2008 poll, 78% of conservatives believed that expansion of U.S. offshore drilling is at least somewhat likely to bring prices down, compared to just 57% of moderates and 50% of liberals. Although not tested, political differences might also explain the lower levels of support for offshore drilling found among residents of the Mid-Atlantic states. Among residents of coastal counties in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, support for oil and gas drilling off the Mid-Atlantic coast was at 46%. New York had the lowest levels of support at 37% and Maryland had the highest at 65% – a figure more in line with the national average (Monmouth University, 2009). The authors of the Monmouth study do note, however, that these support levels were higher in 2009 than in 2007, when just 33% of Mid-Atlantic coastal residents supported drilling in the Atlantic.

Ocean conservation is unpopular with the fishing industry

WASHINGTON – When President Barack Obama announced two weeks ago that he intended to expand federal protections around seven islands and atolls in the central Pacific Ocean, many environmentalists hailed the move as an important step for conservation. But the main group overseeing fishing operators in Hawaii and three U.S. territories declared Monday that it opposes the proposal, on the grounds that it would hurt the U.S. fishing industry. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council - composed of fishing industry representatives as well as some state and federal officials - helps establish fishing policy for both commercial and recreational operators in Hawaii as well as the territories of American Samoa and Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In a statement Monday afternoon, members of the quasi-governmental agency said they would oppose any additional limits on commercial fishing in the area. President George W. Bush used his executive authority to establish the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which now encompasses almost 87,000 square miles, in 2009. Obama is now contemplating widening those boundaries to cover nearly 782,000 square miles of federal waters, which would be off-limits to fishing, energy exploration and other activities. The designation now extends 50 miles out from shore; it could be extended as far out as 200 miles. The statement argues that the move would deprive fishing operators of an important resource. “U.S. fishermen, including those in the Pacific, already abide by the strictest fishing regulations in the world, and this plan further inhibits their economic survival,” they wrote, adding it would yield “few, if any, ecological benefits from the restrictions.”