Governor Cuomo Announces NY Opposition to Trump Offshore Drilling Plan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Governor Cuomo Announces NY Opposition to Trump Offshore Drilling Plan
WASHINGTON – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today announced his state’s opposition to the Trump administration’s proposal to expand oil and gas leasing to nearly all of America’s coastlines.
The following is a statement by Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council:
“Governor Cuomo understands that we can’t sacrifice our oceans and our coastal economies to industrial pollution and the threat of a BP-style disaster. NRDC joins with New York and states nationwide in fighting any attempt to sell out our children’s future for big oil and gas. The American people own these waters, and they should remain off limits to oil and gas drilling.”
BACKGROUND:
In January, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke proposed opening the largest number of oil and gas lease sales in U.S. history—exposing nearly every U.S. coastline to offshore leasing.
That magnified opposition from communities businesses, fishing groups and citizens. For example, as of last month, opposition along the Atlantic had grown to more than 170 East Coast municipalities and more than 1,200 local, state and federal elected officials formally opposing offshore drilling and/or seismic airgun blasting to prospect for oil and gas.
The existing leasing program, in contrast, makes nearly the entire U.S. coastline off limits to dirty energy companies. The Department of Interior in 2017 excluded the Atlantic and Arctic oceans from its five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing. President Obama took additional action to permanently protect the vast majority of the Arctic Ocean and 31 Atlantic deep sea canyons from future drilling.
New York State is a leader on developing offshore wind power. Governor Cuomo has committed to build 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030, enough to power 1.2 million homes while creating 5,000 new jobs in manufacturing, installing and operation offshore wind projects. The Governor’s recently released Offshore Wind Master Plan outlines a plan to achieve this significant goal while adhering to sound environmental management measures to protect valuable marine resources.
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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.