Whalesatcenterofdrillingfight

Environmental concerns clash with oil company plans off Georgia coast

WASHINGTON — Oil and gas companies hoping to drill in the Atlantic Ocean will have to contend with a new federal proposal to declare waters off the Carolinas and Georgia as critical for endangered whales.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is proposing a huge expansion in the critical habitat area for endangered North Atlantic right whales. The new area would include coastal waters from Georgia to Cape Fear, N.C.

The proposal comes as nine companies have applied to use seismic cannons to start ex- ploring for oil and gas in the Atlantic, including in areas that would be deemed critical habitat for the endangered whales.

Claire Douglass, a campaign director for the environmental group Oceana, called the new critical habitat proposal a potential “game changer” for her group’s attempt to block the seismic exploration program.

“These seismic air guns are extremely dangerous and can harm the ability of marine mammals to hear, feed and survive,” she said.

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s main lobbying group, said it was reviewing the critical habitat proposal. Brian Straessle, a spokesman for the group, said it was a myth that the seismic surveys were harmful to the whales.

“Decades of experience and the best science and research all indicate that seismic surveys have little to no impact on marine wildlife populations,” he said in an email. “The government also requires surveyors to take a variety of steps for added protection, which are more than enough to alleviate any concerns about right whales.”

The seismic surveys are done with compressed air guns that blast as loud as a howitzer under the sea, repeated every 10 seconds or so for weeks at a time. The echoes are used to produce maps that help company

Whales

so brings expertise and mentoring from a pro. The Rensings don’t dwell on what they might have missed by not sticking with Corcoran.

“There is always the ‘what ifs,’ but we don’t let that get to us,” Daniel Rensing says.

Some contestants may turn down offers because they feel there are more important things than getting investors, says Matthew Rutherford, an entrepreneurship professor at Oklahoma State University who has studied “Shark Tank” pitches.

“What they crave over everything including money and wealth is autonomy,” Rutherford says.

Entrepreneurs who appear on the show are likely hoping for both a cash infusion and control of their companies, says Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman. But the money doesn’t guarantee success, and having an investor may be an unpleasant experience.

“You could end up with the worst of both worlds,” he says.

When Mona Weiss and Scott Shields pitched their company, Eco Nuts, on an episode that aired in October 2012, Herjavec offered $175,000 for 50 percent. Weiss and Shields, who wanted to sell a 15 percent stake for that amount, said no on the spot.

“It was a terrible deal, really awful. No one would give up half their company for less than they make in a year,” Weiss says. The Lawndale, Calif., company, which makes laundry detergent from berries, was on track for $250,000 in revenue in 2012.

A spokeswoman for Herjavec, Erin McLean, says he does not comment on deals or offers that are closed.

Some people told Weiss and Shields they were foolish.

“They said, ‘it was a lot of money, you should have taken that,’” Weiss says.

But being on “Shark Tank” put Eco Nuts on a faster track to its cur- rent success. Revenue, now over $1 million, grew so much the company moved to manufacturing space five times bigger than its original factory.