A British Drilling Science Experiment. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

To the editor: A huge drilling platform, complete with a helicopter pad, is slated for the waters south of Nantucket for the summer. Unfortunately, the same waters are heavily relied on for Nantucket's summer tourism and beach experience.

This experiment, conducted by international scientists, will be searching for water, analyzing for rare earth metals and comes along with an accidental finding of hydrocarbons. The environmental impacts, absorbed by our island and marine environment will be in addition to Vineyard Wind's ongoing damage.

The project, scheduled to start May 1st, has not yet received full permitting by our federal agencies. The call for public comment was not adequately communicated. The 30-day period, ending April 11, is rapidly slipping away. Please read the draft environmental assessment and please take the opportunity to comment by sending a message to nsfnepaMV@nsf.gov.

A British drilling science experiment. What could possibly go wrong?

Mary Chalke