For Immediate Release

Date:                January 4, 2016
From:               Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast (BAPAC)
Contact:          Tom Kies, President, Carteret county Chamber of Commerce, 252-726-6350,                                 Tom@nccoastchamber.com
Frank Knapp, BAPAC Co-Founder, 803-252-5733 (O), 803-600-6874 (C), fknapp@scsbc.org

Washington, DC—The Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast (BAPAC) is making one last effort to derail plans for offshore oil exploration.

The Obama Administration has up to 6 seismic testing permits sitting in the Department of Interior waiting for approval. From Virginia to Florida this testing process would damage marine life and thus our local economies:

The process, called seismic airgun blasting, is an old, dangerous technology that blasts extremely loud sound waves miles below the seafloor in a hunt for oil deposits. One seismic vessel can tow up to 96 airguns that can cover an area 21 times larger than the National Mall in Washington. These blasts are repeated every 10 to 12 seconds and can be heard for thousands of miles under water.  The Administration has reported that up to 138,000 marine mammals could be directly injured or harmed and millions more will be disturbed.

“We only have a few more days to protect the Atlantic Coast from destructive exploration for oil, at least for a while,” said Tom Kies, president of the Carteret County Chamber of Commerce and co-founder of BAPAC. We’re asking all the over 35,000 business and 500,000 commercial fishing families who support BAPAC to contact the White House and ask that all permits for seismic testing be denied.”

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