Offshore drilling is bad for our ocean
First, a recap: drilling in the ocean always brings a risk of a spill, and those spills can have catastrophic consequences for ocean life. Oil that spills offshore can travel long distances, coating wildlife such as sea turtles and sea birds and impacting others, including dolphins and whales, who attempt to breathe at the surface. When the oil makes its way on shore, it can take months or years to clean–if it ever is.
While the images from catastrophic spills of seabirds and turtles coated with thick brown sludge, like those taken during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf, are unforgettable, the daily operation of oil rigs offshore also brings with it less newsworthy but still routine environmental risks. Seismic testing, needed to find deposits of oil under the seafloor, creates loud noise that disrupts communication for whales, dolphins and other marine species. Offshore rigs regularly report smaller oil spills, and drilling in the ocean requires shipping ashore not just oil and gas, but also toxic drilling byproducts that pose their own environmental threats. The infrastructure needed on land to support drilling, from pipelines to refineries to injection wells, are sources of pollution and disrupt coastal ecosystems.
In other words: drilling off our coast is a terrible idea for our ocean, our coast and the health of our coastal communities. That’s why we’ve been fighting for years to prevent drilling from expanding to new areas, and working to reduce the amount of new leasing in the regions where offshore drilling already occurs.
What the new draft plan would mean for our ocean
Currently, new offshore drilling leasing is only occurring in the Gulf off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and in Cook Inlet in Alaska. The new proposal would expand this map, allowing offshore drilling leasing closer to Florida’s gulfside coastline, in California’s coastal waters and in most of the rest of the ocean around Alaska.
If finalized, this would mean more whales, dolphins, sea turtles, seabirds, fish and countless other species would face seismic testing, pollution and the risk of oil spills. A lease sold today would likely lead to drilling operations for decades, risking not just today’s marine ecosystems, but ecosystems for generations to come.
But the plan isn’t yet final: the public has a chance to weigh in over the next 60 days. If all of the people who love and rely on healthy oceans make their voices heard in opposition to new offshore drilling, from fishermen to surf rental shops to families visiting the beach, we can stop this proposal in its tracks, just as we did with a similar proposal in 2018.
Together, we can protect our coasts and all of the amazing life that calls it home.
