Seismic Testing and
Offshore Oil & Gas Exploration

The Georgia Conservancy opposes offshore oil and gas exploration, which includes seismic testing and drilling, in our Atlantic waters.

The Georgia Conservancy’s Coastal Policy envisions a healthy, resilient and diverse coastal ecosystem that can endure natural and human disturbances, continue to perform its natural functions, and support self-sustaining populations of native fish, birds, wildlife and plants.

January 2025 Update

The Georgia Conservancy applauds the January 2025 decision from the Biden Administration to permanently ban future oil and gas drilling in U.S. offshore waters, including those off Georgia’s precious 100-mile coastline.  This is a monumental decision that will leave our precious coast protected from the harmful effects of seismic testing, oil and gas drilling, and associated onshore infrastructure.

“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs. It is not worth the risks. As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren.” says President Biden.

October 2020 Update

The Trump Administration’s September 2020 announcement to extend a moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration along the coasts of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina is welcome news. Our offshore waters and expansive, productive salt marsh are far too precious to be exposed to the detrimental effects of offshore drilling.

This decision is a positive step in protecting our waters and represents an important reversal in the Trump Administration’s prior goal of expanding offshore exploration to our south Atlantic waters.

Please read our March 2018 public comment letter opposing the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management’s Draft Proposed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program (DPP) and Notice of Intent to Prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)

Additional measures beyond this moratorium should be taken to permanently protect Georgia’s coast from offshore oil and gas exploration.

Not included in this 10-year moratorium extension are the mid-Atlantic states of North Carolina and Virginia. Offshore leasing boundaries on government maps are just imaginary lines. Oil spills do not abide by them, nor does the wildlife that inhabit our oceans. To ensure that Georgia’s coastal ecosystems, which are home to a robust fishing and shrimping industry, remain healthy and functioning and safe from oil spills, our Federal government must look at including the entire Atlantic seaboard in this moratorium extension and begin the process of making these protections permanent.

Thank you to all who continue to express your concerns. Your voices are heard. Our Congressional delegation has expressed opposition to offshore oil and gas exploration along our coast, and our elected officials at the state level, especially our coastal leadership, have advocated for state resolutions in opposition. Vocal and bi-partisan support of our coastal communities and natural resources has proven crucial in the White House’s decision to include Georgia in this extended moratorium. Let’s remain vocal! 

March 2019 Update

In a show of bi-partisan support for Georgia’s precious coast, state legislators under the Gold Dome in Atlanta came together to pass House Resolution 48 on the last day of the 2019 Legislative Session, affirming their opposition to offshore drilling and seismic exploration. The resolution signals to Governor Brian Kemp, our Congressional delegation in Washington and to the White House that Georgia stands united in opposition to the oil and gas industry setting up shop in our coastal communities.

The day following the passage of HR 48, Congressman Buddy Carter of Georgia’s 1st District, the coast’s sole Representative in Congress, reversed his longtime support for offshore oil and gas exploration in our waters by asking the U.S. Department of the Interior to remove Georgia’s coast from the federal offshore seismic testing lease program. This bold move supports the will of his constituency and reflects the view of a growing number of elected officials, on both sides of the aisle, from Florida to Maine.

Seismic Testing

In line with our policies and marine conservation efforts, the Georgia Conservancy is opposed to seismic testing in our Atlantic waters due to the potentially harmful disturbances that seismic air gun blasting has on marine ecosystems.  Seismic testing for oil and gas reserves produces extremely loud blasts which can potentially harm marine life temporarily, and in more deadly cases, permanently.

The 2014 Marine Mammal Hearing and Sensitivity to Acoustic Impacts study indicates that shipping, seismic surveys, and oil and gas drilling have negative impacts on several species of whales, fish and dolphins, especially between the 10 Hz to 1 kHz range. Frequency related disturbances are likely to result in driving marine life from their habitat, damaging sensory organs including hearing and disrupting natural behaviors including breeding and foraging - all potentially leading to mortality.

Many species of commercial and recreational larval fish recruit in our offshore waters. Larval fish are especially sensitive to environmental changes and rely upon environmental cues in order to successfully recruit. Therefore, environmental disturbances are likely to disturb their natural behaviors. Seismic blasting could increase the mortality rate thus severely impacting these species’ natural life cycles for recruiting and spawning. 

The Georgia Conservancy has concerns for many depleted marine species that occur within the proposed testing area. Of particular concern is the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Due to overfishing off of the western coast of Europe, North Africa and in the Mediterranean, Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks around the globe have been severely depleted. This is part of the same stock that visits Georgia’s offshore waters after making a trans-Atlantic migration from breeding grounds in the Mediterranean Sea.

Proposed seismic blasting locations include areas where speckled hind and Warsaw grouper occur. According to the most recent status population data available, speckled hind and Warsaw grouper are classified as a Species of Concern by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and are undergoing overfishing according to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Recent data provided by NMFS indicates that speckled hind has only five percent of its fully reproductive population remaining, while Warsaw Grouper is at six percent.

Further compounding the issue, Georgia’s coast is home to various endangered marine species. These include the Atlantic and Shortnose sturgeon, and the North Atlantic right whale.  The Georgia Conservancy has a long history of advocating for the protection of the right whale, Georgia’s official state marine mammal. Right whales are one of the most endangered whales in the world, with only about 450 remaining. Coastal Georgia has been identified as a critical habitat area for right whales from November through April.

In a letter to former President Barack Obama, more than 50 renowned ocean acoustic scientists collectively emphasized “the magnitude of the proposed seismic activity is likely to have significant, long-lasting, and widespread impacts on the reproduction and survival of fish and marine mammal populations in the region.”

Additionally, the Georgia Conservancy views seismic testing as unnecessary. The potential disasters and environmental disturbances posed by oil and gas drilling off of the Georgia coast far outweigh the financial benefit, thus there is no need for seismic testing.

Offshore Oil & Gas Drilling

In August 2018, the Georgia Conservancy submitted comments to the Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to express its concerns over the new administration's interest in developing an oil and gas leasing program for the outer continental shelf in the Atlantic Ocean. As noted in the Federal Register announcement for this program (82 Fed. Register 126, July 2, 2017), the last such lease program that affected the Georgia Coast was in 1983. The Georgia Conservancy had a major role in opposing leasing for offshore drilling then, and we have an even heightened level of concern now, 35 years later.

Our issues with the oil and gas leases center primarily on the numerous ways it would damage critical ecosystems and disrupt the lives and economy of our coastal residents. There are more than 40 years of sound science that need to be considered by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Trump Administration. It is critical that this federal review process not be hurried for the sake of an energy independence policy wrought by a change in administration.

The Georgia Conservancy stands with other environmental organizations to call into question if South Atlantic Area leases are even justified and to question the hurried manner being used to reconsider the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing program when a previous administration excluded this area less than two years ago.

Former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, cabinet member in the Obama Administration, announced on November 11, 2016 that the 2017-2022 OCS leasing plan would not include the Atlantic, in large part because BOEM data from 2016 found that more than 70 percent of the recoverable oil was included in the already-approved lease program.

Georgia’s extensive estuaries comprise one third of the East Coast’s remaining salt marshes, and they play a critical role in maintaining our shrimp and fish populations.  Further compounding the issue, Georgia’s coast is home to various endangered marine species, as mentioned above.

In 1975, the Georgia Conservancy became an active stakeholder when we started to follow plans to develop domestic oil production on Georgia’s coast. In May 1976, the Georgia Conservancy began working with what would become the Coastal Zone Management program, created to bring together government, the petroleum industry and environmental representatives to consider the onshore impact of offshore oil and gas development.  Then as now, the Georgia Conservancy realizes such drilling off of our coast would bring demands to onshore natural resources and public services, as well as introduce the increased risk of oil spills and health hazards. Additionally, if oil and gas exploration moves forward, there will be a major question looming for our coastal communities as they struggle to deal with our disrupted tourism and seafood industries.

Since the 1970s, a host of partner organizations working collaboratively has greatly advanced our understanding of the unique coastal ecology of Georgia’s offshore, marshes and critical nearshore habitats. These organizations have included the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Coastal Resource Division, the University of Georgia Skidaway Institute, The Georgia Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary and Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve. During this time, the population of Georgia’s coastal region has more than doubled. Given the unique conditions of Georgia’s coast with only four of the 14 barrier islands being significantly inhabited, any offshore oil and gas piping or support infrastructure will be located in populated areas (barrier island or mainland) or in conserved critical maritime coastal habitat.

Our federal agencies and elected officials should recognize that Georgia has done a remarkable job protecting our coastal assets for the benefit of our citizens, and that the largest functioning marsh estuary on the East Coast should not be jeopardized by this leasing program. Elected officials from Islamorada, Florida to Maine, including the Governors of neighboring Florida and South Carolina, have stated their opposition to seismic testing and offshore oil and gas drilling due to economic and environmental concerns. The Georgia Conservancy believes that our elected officials in Georgia, both at the local, state, and Federal levels, should reiterate or declare their opposition to this most recent effort by the Trump Administration to expand oil and gas exploration and infrastructure into our offshore waters and onshore communities. 

The Georgia Conservancy is adamantly opposed to seismic testing and oil and gas drilling in Georgia’s offshore waters. It is not in the best interest of our state or our nation and the risks far outweigh the reward. We appreciate the opportunity to voice our concerns in hopes that our elected officials will acknowledge and accept the scientific and economic data that refutes the need for oil and gas drilling off of Georgia’s coast.

Read our March 2018 comments to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Click here for more information on the Georgia Conservancy's Coastal Program