BULLETIN: Obama fumbles ball again. NC Coast may suffer.

Wilmington, NC: Ilario Pantano, the Republican nominee for North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District, calls on the Obama Administration to immediately reinstate the charter for the Minerals Management Services’ (now known as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Policy Committee and to immediately appoint a representative from North Carolina to the committee.

“It is frightening to me that in the midst of the worst oil spill on record in U.S. history, and during the middle of a review and potential revision of offshore energy regulations and policies, that the OCS Policy committee, the group of experts whose job it is to advise the Secretary of the Interior on such issues, no longer exists because President Obama let their charter expire,” Pantano said.

The Outer Continental Shelf Policy Committee’s charter expired on June 5th effectively disbanding the committee. The Committee had been in existence since 1975, and its expired charter stated that the purpose of the committee was to advise the Secretary of the Interior by reviewing and commenting on all aspects of the leasing, exploration, development, and protection of OCS resources. North Carolina has not had representation on the committee, despite the fact that North Carolina has the largest OCS acreage on the east coast (64 million acres) and the fourth largest in the nation.


"This is another example that President Obama and Interior Secretary Salazar are asleep at the wheel,” Pantano said. "They are not focused on solving the problem. Instead, they are busy trying to politicize this crisis in order to pass their potentially disastrous cap-and-tax energy policy. This is one of the worst disasters in the history of our nation. It deserves our full focus. We must bring every asset to bear from the US Navy on down to plug this leak now.”

Pantano also noted that while other North Carolina leaders including Senator Burr, Senator Hagan, Congresswoman Myrick, and Congressman Butterfield have advocated for North Carolina representation on the OCS, Congressman McIntyre appears to have remained silent.

“While the odds are slim that oil from this disaster will reach the North Carolina coast, we must be proactive and we must be prepared. As a former Marine, I know that the best defense is to take charge and attack the problem before it gets to us. We must do what is necessary to mitigate the damage that would be done to both our environment and our economy if the oil does reach our shores,” Pantano concluded. “It is imperative that the OCS be re-chartered with North Carolina representation.”

www.pantanoforcongress.com


UNCW RESEARCHER: GULF SLICK COULD HAVE DEVASTATING EFFECT ON NC COAST

UNC Wilmington's Steve Ross is among researchers who have studied a deep-sea coral reef, called the Viosca Knoll, that is near the Gulf oil slick. Pristine, deep-water coral reefs also lie off the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Florida.

A thick blanket of oil could smother the living coral, Ross said. Oil droplets that attach to debris sinking to the bottom could also rain onto sensitive bottom-dwelling creatures. Researchers aren't sure what to expect.

"We have serious concerns that are difficult to answer because the appropriate studies have not been funded," Ross said. "Both we and (government) agencies have been remiss" in not assessing such risks sooner.

The ocean currents that could sweep Gulf of Mexico oil up the Atlantic coast might also become a contaminated highway for billions of young sea creatures, some of which will grow to maturity off the Carolinas.

Commercially valuable seafood species such as snappers and groupers sometimes spawn in the Gulf, their larvae riding currents to settle onto N.C. reefs. Coveted Atlantic bluefin tuna, which brought N.C. fishermen $1.4 million last year, are spawning now within miles of the oil leak.

Rare turtles are also swimming onto beaches in the Gulf and Carolinas to lay their eggs.
Scientists say oil could stunt the animals' growth, cause breathing problems or kill them outright. Fish larvae and eggs are especially sensitive to toxic substances.

The odds remain low that the spill will reach N.C. beaches. But oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon well has reached the Gulf's Loop Current, which flows south around the tip of Florida and then northward up the Atlantic coast on the Gulf Stream.

"The Gulf Stream stitches us all together," said Duke University marine biologist Larry Crowder.
The key questions, he added, are how much oil the Gulf Stream will deliver, for how long and in what form?

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/05/22/1451078/oil-spill-a-threat-to-sea-life.html


FOR MORE POSTS LIKE THIS FROM CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL WRITER VERNE STRICKLAND, VISIT:

http://www.examiner.com/x-42565-NC-7th-Elections-2010-Examiner