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Offshore Oil & Oil Spills: Top news

Help Establish a New National Marine Sanctuary
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Photo Credit: Mark J. Palmer

Native tribes and environmentalists are urging the Biden administration to establish a new Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary along the California coast, protecting the homes of whales, sharks and many other marine animals. You can help!
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Protect Belugas from Offshore Oil Drilling Proposal
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Photo Credit: iStock

Act now to stop a proposed oil drilling lease sale in Alaska's Cook Inlet, home to an endangered population of beluga whales.
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Will Congress Ban Offshore Oil Drilling?
| By Mark J. Palmer

US Congress has introduced two new bills that would ban offshore oil drilling in two major areas off our coastline.
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Oil Drilling in the Bahamas a BUST
| By Mark J. Palmer

The Bahamas Petroleum Company began drilling December 20th in the beautiful blue waters of The Bahamas. But the test well was a bust – on Feb. 7th, the company announced that they had found oil, but not in concentrations necessary to be commercially profitable.
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Update on The Bahamas Offshore Oil Drilling
| By Mark J. Palmer

Drilling began on December 20th on the “Perseverance #1 Well” and is continuing despite the lawsuit brought by the grassroots environmental groups Waterkeeper Bahamas Limited and Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay. The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute, along with a wide range of local and national environmental organizations, is opposing the drilling.
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Will The Bahamas Allow Offshore Drilling?
| ​By Mark J. Palmer

The Bahamas plans to open 3.9 million acres of water to offshore drilling in December. Its waters are home to one of the most studied dolphin populations in the world.
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Trump and Oil Companies Target Arctic Refuge for Drilling
| By Mark J. Palmer

In 2017, the Republican-controlled Congress added an amendment to the President’s Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The Trump Administration is now working overtime to issue permits for an invasion of seismic testing and oil crews.
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House Votes to Block Offshore Oil Drilling in Atlantic & Pacific Oceans
| Mark J. Palmer

The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute joined 38 national organizations in supporting legislation to block offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, and off the Gulf Coast of Florida. These are areas of sensitive wildlife habitat, including the homes of many species of whales and dolphins. Offshore oil drilling is known to cause large and chronic oil spills, as well as the dumping of toxic drilling muck into the sea. Exploring for oil can also precipitate harmful noise pollution (from the air canons that probe the ocean bottom for oil-bearing rock formations). Furthermore, coastal businesses in fishing and tourism are dependent on clean, oil-industry-free oceans. Oil drilling operations can ruin these businesses due to toxic discharge and noise pollution. Organizations supporting the legislation include the Sierra Club, Oceana, IFAW, IMMP, and many others.
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ACTION ALERT: Tell Your Senators to Support House Bans on Offshore Oil Drilling
| By Mark J. Palmer

Using the Department of Interior Appropriations legislation to fund the agency for the next fiscal year, the House voted overwhelmingly to halt offshore oil leasing, exploration and drilling proposals by the Trump Administration. Now, the legislation will go to the Senate, where YOUR HELP is needed to ensure that the one-year bans stay in place, and that the Trump Administration is blocked from moving forward by giving away the ocean to the oil industry.
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Was the Public Properly Informed of BOEM's New OCS Program?
| By Erin Murphy

This new program for 2019-2024 proposes opening up more than 90% of the OCS to oil and gas development, while the previous 2017-2022 program kept almost 94% of the OCS protected from human interference. The Trump Administration in its zeal is rushing to lease as much territory as possible to oil drilling operations.
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Campaign Top News

International Marine Mammal Project >
  • From the cold reaches of the Russian coast, to Japan's notorious Cove, to global tuna fleets, to Barataria Bay, to the concrete tanks of SeaWorld - the International Marine Mammal Project had key accomplishments for whales and dolphins, thanks to your support!
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    OPS

  • There's a lot of whale and dolphin jargon out there. Here's some explanations about what we know about cetaceans.
  • The damages of global warming are already here, and worse is to come. Can COP28 overcome national resistance and lobbying from the oil industry to adopt real solutions to global warming, including an equitable phase-out of the burning of fossil fuels?
Save Japan Dolphins >
  • The Taiji dolphin slaughter was as horrendous as always, but the numbers of dolphins being killed and captures continues to decline. Can we end the dolphin hunts for good?
  • A recent analysis by scientists, adopted by the IWC Scientific Committee, shows what many opponents of the Taiji dolphin hunts have feared -- the hunts are depleting several dolphin species along the coast of Japan, leading the dolphin hunters to go after other species, while still killing the depleted species.
  • The Taiji dolphin hunts are well underway, with a pod of bottlenose dolphins recently herded into the notorious Cove. The Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission is warning that some dolphin species are declining.
Dolphin + Whale Project >
Keiko Whale Rescue >
  • We are deeply saddened at the death of orca whale Tokitae. Calls for her release were denied for decades and it’s shameful that she never got a chance to go home.
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    Tokitae (also known as Lolita) has died. Photo Credit: Dr. Ingrid Visser, Orca Research Trust

  • 30 years ago, the movie "Free Willy" was a huge hit. The plight of its orca star, Keiko, touched the public along with the moving story. Read how the International Marine Mammal Project took that spark of concern and returned Keiko to his home waters. SeaWorld and other captive dolphin parks would never be the same!
  • The last captive orca in Canada, Kiska, has died, after being kept alone for twelve years at the notorious MarineLand park in Niagara Falls. If Tokitae (Lolita) goes home to a seaside sanctuary, the only North American captive orcas will be those in SeaWorld's three parks.
Dolphin Safe Fishing >
  • For more than 30 years, Trixie Concepcion and her staff have worked to protect dolphins and other marine life in the Philippines, monitoring tuna fishing in the Western and Central Pacific Oceans to ensure the tuna is caught by Dolphin Safe methods, saving the lives of tens of thousands of dolphins annually.
  • The history of the drowning of millions of dolphins by the tuna industry turned a corner in 1990, when US tuna giants agreed to work with the International Marine Mammal Project to establish Dolphin Safe fishing standards that avoid harm to dolphins and other marine life.
  • In order to better monitor tuna vessels to ensure no dolphins are netted or harmed, the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute is supporting placing closed circuit television (CCTV) aboard tuna vessels.
Freeing Orca Whales from Captivity >
  • Orcas, beluga whales, and other cetaceans do poorly in sterile concrete tanks. A spate of premature deaths of orcas in facilities around the world underscores why captivity should end!
  • France is closing down orca captivity, and not a moment too soon -- two orcas died within the last year at Marineland Antibes. But where will the last two orcas go? Not another concrete tank in Japan!?
  • IMMP and our colleagues are seeking an end to the keeping of whales and dolphins in concrete prison tanks for profit. Recently, years of effort has resulted in the closing of three notorious dolphinariums. But where will the animals go?

Topics

Angel - Bans, Legislation - Belugas - Biden Administration - Captivity Industry - Cetacean Habitat - China - Climate Change - Covid-19 - Demonstrations - Dolphin And Whale Trade - Dolphin Safe Tuna - Dolphins - Dugong - Earth Day - Entanglement - Grey Whales - Grindadrap - Iceland - International Whaling Commission - Japan - Keiko - Lawsuit - Marine National Monuments - Navy, Military - Norway - Offshore Oil & Oil Spills - Orcas - Philippines - Pilot Whales - Plastic Pollution - Pollution - Rehabilitation, Release - Russia - Sanctuaries - Science - Seaworld - Slaughter - Solomon Islands - Taiji, Japan - Trump Administration - Tuna Industry - Vaquita - Whales - Whaling - Mystic Aquarium - Marineland - Seals & Sea Lions - Marine Protected Areas - Sperm Whale - Sea Otter - Lolita - Tokitae - Miami Seaquarium - Latin America - Ship Strikes - Ocean Noise - Salmon - Blue Whale - Fin Whale - Right Whale - Us Marine Mammal Protection Act - Environment - Minke Whale - Humpback Whale