Locals travel to D.C. to lobby against seismic testing off coast

Politicians looking for an easy applause line often vow to fight “special interests.”

People love to hate special interests. They’re the boogeyman of modern politics.

But what many citizens don’t appreciate is that virtually everybody belongs to one special-interest group or another.

If you’re part of a group lobbying government officials to take - or not take - certain actions, you’re part of a special-interest group.

Groups include everything from the NRA (National Rifle Association) to NAR (National Association of Realtors) to the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council).

On Jan. 27, four coastal Delaware residents, John Mears, Trish Baines, Janet Strickler and Mayor Diane Hanson of Dewey Beach traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby the state’s congressional delegation about the dangers of seismic testing off the coast of Delaware.

Another local, Jules Jackson, attended as an observer for the Delaware chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, and I tagged along to sample a small slice of our democratic system at work.

Every presidential campaign, it seems, has become a campaign against Washington. Virtually all candidates, including sitting members of the U.S. Senate, compete to be considered the most genuine Washington “outsider.”

As if not knowing how Washington works is an asset. But that’s another story.

I have a feeling, though, that fewer people would hate Washington so much if they actually visited our seat of government.

Despite a reputation that would shame Sodom and Gomorrah, Washington is filled with friendly people, many quite young, doing their part to help government function.

Among those we met were Bryan Mack and John Young, two Cape Henlopen graduates who work for Sen. Tom Carper. Mack serves as deputy scheduler for Carper, a job that includes driving the senator to his appointments, and Young works as a staff assistant.

Another was Caroline Wood, a 2012 William & Mary graduate who works as a campaign organizer in the Mid-Atlantic region for Oceana, a nonprofit devoted to protecting and restoring the world’s oceans. She hails from Virginia Beach but has family around Bethany Beach.

It was her job to shepherd us around the pathways of power for Coastal Voices Summit Hill Day, a lobbying effort that included celebrities like Ted Danson and Kate Walsh. We did not meet them.

But we did meet with Carper himself, and with two of his staff members familiar with the issue. We also spoke with staff members of Sen. Chris Coons and Rep. John Carney.

My impression: They all listened respectfully to the arguments against seismic testing presented by Wood and the local lobbyists.

That’s a big part of lobbying. The word is often understood as a synonym for influence peddling and backroom deals, if not outright bribery.

But lobbying is also simply a way of providing information and presenting citizens’ concerns to our legislators. That’s how our system works.

And in some ways, that’s why our system sometimes doesn’t seem to work. Or work too slowly. Our legislators represent us and we Americans make up a motley crew whose interests - or “special interests” - can’t all be satisfied.

As we waited for Carper, we watched a live feed of him delivering a speech on the Senate floor.

It wasn’t one likely to make the nightly news. Or do much for Carper with the folks back home. It was about an employee for Homeland Security, the federal agency that ranks last in staff morale.

Carper, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, was trying to raise the agency’s morale by lauding the accomplishments of Milo Booth, a FEMA employee who has helped Alaskan native villagers with disaster preparedness.

Not a big thing, perhaps, but it’s another example of what our legislators, on both sides of the aisle, do to improve the workings of government.

Despite the many - nearly infinite - demands on his time, Carper introduced himself to each visitor and then patiently listened as coastal Delaware residents relayed their reasons for opposing seismic testing.

Seismic testing, the first step on the way to potentially drilling for oil and gas off the Eastern Seaboard, sounds innocent enough but can be deadly for both fish and marine mammals.

Mears, one of the citizen lobbyists, compared it to using dynamite to go fishing. Mayor Hanson fears that even a few dead dolphins washed up on the shores of Dewey Beach could hurt tourism. To me, seismic testing is just plain cruel.

It’s also a hot issue. Six Delmarva towns, Lewes, Dewey Beach, Fenwick Island, Berlin, Md., and Ocean City, Md. and Rehoboth Beach have already passed resolutions against seismic airgun blasting, as have Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Milton and other Delmarva towns may soon follow suit.

The issue, Wood said, is “moving at light speed in our region.”

Next week: More reasons why Delmarva citizens are rising to oppose seismic testing and offshore oil drilling.


Don Flood is a former newspaper editor living near Lewes. He can be reached at floodpolitics@gmail.com.