*** Cousteau/Hofmeister Debate | bcbeat

Brunswick Environmental Action Team

BEAT was happy to be invited to the 2022 Oak Island Earth Day Festival, April 2022. Thank you Oak Island for allowing us to share ideas about how we can continue to work together to thrive while peacefully making use of the life sustaining energy that our Earth provides for us every day - To optimize our ongoing survival and a deeply shared happy and healthy existence.

BEAT received an email from: Melissa Edmonds <medmonds@selcnc.org> of the Southern Environmental Law Center on September 9, 2022 at 12:32:50 PM EDT. The subject of the email was Offshore Drilling Comment Opportunity. BEAT leadership would like to share this message with you here. The text that follows is the body of the message in its entirety.

Hi all,

I hope this note finds you well! You are receiving this email because you have previously been involved in SELC’s campaign to fight offshore drilling, by signing onto our comment letters to oppose drilling in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico. I am writing now to alert you of another important comment opportunity on the issue of offshore drilling in these regions.

SELC is currently preparing comments on the Biden administration’s Proposed Five Year Plan for offshore drilling, which removes all Atlantic Planning Areas from consideration, yet still proposes to hold lease sales in the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico. Comments are due Oct. 6. As usual, our comments will be focused on the Gulf and the Southeast; we plan to thank BOEM for listening to the voices of the East Coast by removing the Atlantic, and further urge no new leasing in the Gulf of Mexico because of the continued harm from offshore drilling on Gulf communities and natural resources and on climate change.

SELC supports responsible offshore wind development as a critically important piece in the necessary clean energy transition to address the climate crisis, but we do not support provisions within the Inflation Reduction Act that tie future offshore wind leasing to continued oil and gas leasing. We are planning to make this distinction in our comments, but please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns with this approach.

If you are potentially interested in signing on and have input as we draft, please let me know ASAP, as we are working on drafting the comments now. We will circulate a draft on Sept. 23, accept feedback through Sept. 28, and take final sign-ons through Oct. 5.

Thank you all for being valued partners in this important issue, we look forward to your continued support throughout this fight!

Melissa L. Edmonds (Whaling) (she/her)

Science & Policy Analyst

medmonds@selcnc.org

Southern Environmental Law Center

601 West Rosemary Street, Suite 220

Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Office (919) 391-4099

Mobile (919) 623-5003

southernenvironment.org

Dear visitor, below is a message BEAT received from "Emily Donovan via ActionNetwork.org" <info@email.actionnetwork.org>

The subject of her message regards

URGENT ACTION REQUIRED:

Say: "No More Chemours!"

BEAT received this message on: September 10, 2022 at 12:36:12 PM EDT

Her message is shared here in its entiretity.

Friends,

It's time to mobilize like never before. Chemours just announced they want to EXPAND their toxic PFAS production in NC. We don’t feel they’ve earned this right–especially when they’ve failed to deliver on the most basic promises to our community.

We believe the majority of control measures taken, so far, are because Chemours was legally forced to comply via a 2019 consent order established by our friends at Cape Fear River Watch. However, it’s important to remember, consent orders are only as good as they are being enforced. Sadly, strong enforcement of the Chemours consent order has taken constant pressure from dedicated folks like you, who are determined to hold both DEQ and Chemours’ feet to the fire.

Here’s a quick summary of how Chemours has “helped” us:

Chemours has not earned the right to expand in NC and we are counting on you to help them get the message. Chemours is hosting a public information session at Leland Cultural Arts Center, Wednesday, September 21st from 5:00pm - 7:00pm. Click here to RSVP We’ll send you talking points in the next two weeks to help you feel prepared.

In the meantime, please share our event link on social media and with your fellow neighbors. Media will be present at this meeting, so it’s vital that we show a united front against Chemours. We cannot allow them to add another drop of their poison to our water.

With gratitude,

Emily Donovan, cofounder

Clean Cape Fear

Gullah Geechee in Brunswick County, NC - 2021

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE BEAT LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR the Brunswick County NAACP’s proposed Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Multi-Use Greenway/Blueway Trail, Brunswick County, North Carolina

FYI: An Informative PDF about PFAS as it Relates to Brunswick County in 2020 - by Eugene Rozenbaoum of LG Chem

https://e7c15df3-84ba-4acf-af91-88be79109bb4.usrfiles.com/ugd/e7c15d_a19abcf749f24faf8ffc19b7b12a3d64.pdf

Attending the Wilmington Public Square Forum Debate Between Jean-Michel Cousteau and John Hofmeister on Offshore Drilling on October 17th, 2017

On Tuesday, October 17th, the Public Square Forum in Wilmington presented a debate between Jean-Michel Cousteau, environmentalist and son of legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau and John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil Company on seismic testing (blasting) and offshore drilling. The Public Square Form is a collaborative effort between Cape Fear Community College, the University of North Carolina - Wilmington, and Cape Fear Realtors. The event was held at the Wilson Center on the campus of Cape Fear Community College and drew an attendance of 950 persons. The North Carolina Coastal Federation helped underwrite the forum.

Cousteau emphasized the dangers to marine life from the process that tests for the presence of oil, the dangers to the ocean and coastal communities from problems like Deepwater Horizon and the Exxon Valdez, and the tremendous benefits to the country in investing resources in renewable, clean energy sources like solar, wind, and ocean currents. Hofmeister acknowledged the danger to marine life, felt that calamitous accidents are now less likely to happen, and endorsed offshore testing and drilling as a way to know how much oil is there and to help America meet its energy needs.

Dr. Kristen Colleran and Dr. Dwight Willis from the Board of Directors attended as did several other BEAT members including Joanne Levitan, Alan Warner, and Becky Willis. Several also took place in a march prior to the event to oppose seismic blasting and offshore drilling.

Are you a BEAT member who attended this event? Please let the webmaster know, so that we can include your name here as a participant. Just click on the Suggestion Box button in the footer of this page. Thanks!