Proposed Rules Put Park at Risk

Mississippi’s National Park deserves protection from offshore oil and gas development

By Louie Miller, State Director of MS Sierra Club

Would you support oil and gas drilling in Yellowstone National Park? Why should it be any different for Mississippi’s National Park, the Gulf Islands National Seashore? The scenic offshore barrier islands of Horn, Petit Bois and Ship and Cat islands that make up Gulf Islands National Seashore are pristine wilderness islands that are outstanding natural treasures.

But now our National Park is being placed on the chopping block to pander to oil and gas interests. Federal legislation passed recently requires the Park Service to ignore the usual environmental rules and regulations governing oil and gas exploration in National Parks. Sen. Thad Cochran, who has been an important supporter of the GINS in the past by obtaining funding for the purchase of Cat Island, was asked to pass the legislation by former energy lobbyist Gov. Haley Barbour.

The governor claims that gas exploration and production could be conducted carefully to minimize any environmental impact. However, in Mississippi there is little hope of meaningful oversight when the oil and gas exploration rules have been placed under the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA). Their mission is economic development—not environmental regulation. MDA has no history (or interest) in being a regulatory agency.

In a nutshell, most normal environmental safeguards are left out with the recently passed federal legislation directing the Park Service to ignore laws such as the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The regulations give the final authority to MDA Executive Director LeLand Speed. For example, a portion of the proposed regulations dealing with explosives used for seismic testing says: “Explosive charges no larger than twenty (20) pounds TNT equivalence and multiple charges in one shot having an aggregate weight in excess of twenty (20) pounds TNT equivalence shall not be used without special permission from the Executive Director or his designee.”

If jet skis are considered too detrimental for the National Park, what is the impact of setting off dynamite charges within the park in order to explore for oil and gas? What is the impact on endangered species such as the bald eagle and osprey? In waters near the park, what impact would the seismic testing have on dolphins and other marine life such as the endangered gulf sturgeon?

These regulations proposed by MDA don’t just apply to the National Park, but also to the 30,000 acres of Mississippi Coastal Preserves and all of the state parks in Mississippi. We could have oil and gas exploration and production at Tishimingo State Park or any of the other outstanding parks in Mississippi.

If you want to see what oil and gas drilling has done for tourism, visit Dauphin Island. There isn’t a motel or hotel on Dauphin Island that you and your family would want to stay in. The island’s beaches are noisy and dominated by massive unsightly drilling platforms.

These regulations proposed by MDA don’t just apply to the National Park, but also to the 30,000 acres of Mississippi Coastal Preserves and all of the state parks in Mississippi. We could have oil and gas exploration and production at Tishimingo State Park or any of the other outstanding parks in Mississippi.

The State of Mississippi has no experience regulating offshore oil and gas development, and hasn’t done an adequate job with regulating onshore industries. And there is also no guarantee that the state will be adequate watchdogs to make sure oil companies pay their royalties. Next door in Alabama, Exxon Mobil was fined $11.9 billion for attempting to defraud the state of Alabama out of hundreds of million of dollars in offshore oil and gas royalties.

Proponents of offshore oil and gas drilling claim it could produce up to $200 million per year in royalties for the state. However, there is a solution that would provide money for cash strapped Mississippi without risking the islands and the Coast’s tourism industry. Other states have had the federal government purchase mineral rights under National Parks in order to protect the parks by removing the threat of drilling. Sen. Cochran heads the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. With his support a federal buyout of the state’s mineral rights would be a major win for the State of Mississippi.

This would provide money up front to the education trust fund in one lump sum rather than “gambling” on possibly discovering and extracting oil and gas reserves five to ten years from now. This idea is not new. The Bush Administration appropriated $235 million to purchase mineral rights under Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida in 2001 and 2002.

To contact Sen. Cochran, send a letter to 113 Dirksen Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510, or an email to senator@cochran.senate.gov. His phone number in Gulfport is 228-867-9710; Oxford, 662-236-1018; Jackson, 601-965-4459; and Washington, 202-224-5054.

Offshore Oil/Gas Drilling