American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2017 - 98

BOEM Nixes Atlantic Seismic Surveys
WASHINGTON-In a move that industry advocates describe as a decision
to forego the expansion of scientific
knowledge, the Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management in early January denied six
pending geophysical and geological permit
applications to conduct air-gun seismic
surveys in the Mid- and South Atlantic
planning areas of the Atlantic Ocean.
The bureau says the decision is based
on a number of factors, including a diminished need for additional seismic survey information because the Obama administration has removed the Atlantic
Program Area from the 2017-22 Outer
Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing
Program.
"In the present circumstances, and
guided by an abundance of caution, we
believe the value of obtaining the geophysical and geological information from
new air-gun seismic surveys in the Atlantic
does not outweigh the potential risks of
those surveys' acoustic pulse impacts on
marine life," states BOEM Director Abigail
Ross Hopper. "Since federal waters in
the Mid- and South Atlantic have been
removed from leasing consideration for
the next five years, there is no immediate
need for these surveys."
BLM says the usefulness of any such
seismic information is another pertinent
consideration: If the Atlantic is not offered
for future oil and gas leasing, the data
are moot. If leasing is permitted far in
the future, data acquired today may be

outdated. Moreover, the bureau predicts,
in a future scenario that allows leasing in
the area, lower impact survey technology
probably will exist before the future geophysical and geological information is
needed.
Such reasoning drew exasperated responses from industry representatives.
American Petroleum Institute Director
of Upstream and Industry Operations
Erik Milito describes BOEM's announcement as a politically driven decision that
flies in the face of the best available science, and ignores the bureau's own history
of repeatedly deeming seismic surveys a
safe, efficient, and scientifically proven
way to find new energy.
"Additionally, this is a decision that,
at its core, denies the opportunity for private industry to conduct scientific, geologic
research that will be used by academia,
government and industry alike for important educational and research purposes,"
he declares.
National Ocean Industries Association
President Randall Luthi characterizes
BOEM's rationale for denying the G&G
permits on the basis of the administration
withdrawing 3.8 million acres in the
North and Mid-Atlantic as self-fulfilling
rhetoric.
He also emphasizes that offshore seismic surveys are hardly fraught with risk.
"This decision continues the Obama administration's dismissal of scientificallybacked offshore policies, and ignores the

fact that seismic and other geophysical
surveys have been conducted safely offshore in the United States and around
the world for more than 50 years," Luthi
says. "What is more, the decision dismisses
BOEM's own finding that there has been
no documented scientific evidence of
seismic surveys harming marine mammals
or the environment."
BOEM says its decision impacts only
the six permit applications for air-gun
seismic surveys that were proposed for
oil and gas exploration deep beneath the
ocean floor. After differentiating between
survey types in a press release, the bureau
holds, "While surveys may have some
impacts to marine life, air-gun seismic
surveys have the potential for greater impacts."
However, suggests Karen Harbert,
president and chief executive officer of
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute
for 21st Century Energy, the potential
impact that most worries the Obama administration deals more with the possibility
that G&G research will lead to a more
compelling case for drilling off the country's East Coast.
"Hiding the resource potential from
the American public demonstrates the
lengths to which this administration will
go to bow to special interests, and how
afraid it is of revealing the truth of America's energy bounty," Harbert maintains.
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UTICA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FROM PAGE 91
"Many of our closed systems have lost a
tremendous amount of their markets. The
volumes simply aren't there."
Downey agrees. Nice as it is to gain
access to Gulf Coast, Midwest and Western
markets, they come with a price. "You
aren't on only one pipeline," he points
out. "You probably are riding on three.
You stack those transportation fees and
you easily can have $0.60-$1.25 in transportation charges, maybe more."
One promising market development
for natural gas producers, both Aslanides
and Downey mention, is the proliferation
of gas-fired electric power plants in the
Appalachian Basin. Downey lists four
power plants currently under construction
in Ohio:
* The 513 megawatt Middletown Energy Center in Butler County;
* The 940 Mw Clean Energy Future
plant in Trumbull County;
98 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

* Oregon Clean Energy's 960 Mw
facility in Lucas County; and
* Carroll County Energy's 742 Mw
plant in Carrollton.
Add South Field Energy's 1.1 gigawatt
generating facility in Columbiana County,
which was approved last September, although construction had not begun by
early January, and Ohio is looking at
4.255 Gw of new gas-fired power generation.
On top of that, Downey continues,
are 5.550 Gw of gas-fired generation in
some phase of the pre-application process,
including Apex Power Group's Guernsey
County plant, which at 1.6 Gw would be
the largest gas-fired power plant in Ohio.
In addition to those developments,
Aslanides emphasizes the importance of
educating other industries "about the opportunities they have here because of the
adequate and reasonably priced energy

resulting from what is occurring in the
Utica."
While end-use marketing may be somewhat beyond the purview of the Midstream
Committee, it isn't beyond OOGA's,
Downey maintains, pointing to Shale
Crescent USA, which describes itself as
an economic development initiative to
encourage business growth in the MidOhio Valley, based on low natural gas
prices that allow manufacturers to operate
more efficiently and produce products
more economically.
Shale Crescent USA was formed by
OOGA past-President Jerry James, president and chief executive officer of Artex
Oil Co., along with various other businessmen, civic leaders, nonprofits, chambers of commerce, and port authorities.
"These are exciting prospects for us,"
concludes Aslanides.
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2017

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