Interior’s New Offshore Drilling Plan Hands Oceans to Big Oil
Proposal will massively expand lease sales across U.S. waters, risking coastal communities, wildlife, and the climate.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior released a draft offshore oil and gas leasing plan that would dramatically expand drilling opportunities across U.S. waters—scheduling lease sales in the Pacific, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in Alaska’s Arctic—despite broad public opposition and mounting climate and spill risks.
This proposal is in addition to the 36 upcoming offshore oil and gas lease sales mandated by the president’s ruinous tax bill passed earlier this year, which is more lease sales than have been held over the past 15 years.
Following is a statement from Taryn Kiekow Heimer, director, ocean energy, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“As if selling off our public lands weren’t enough, the Trump administration's new offshore drilling plan aims to hand our ocean to oil companies. Opening California, the Gulf of Mexico, parts of Florida, and large areas of Alaska puts coastal economies, communities, and wildlife at risk. Worse, pushing into the Arctic is especially reckless as cleanup is nearly impossible in the hostile conditions that exist there.
“The people of these states have been clear that they don’t want this off their coasts, threatening their livelihoods and way of life. We should be building affordable, reliable renewables, not padding the oil industry’s profits.”
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).