Every catastrophic oil spill begins with a lease sale ...
It's been 12 years since the horrific Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, which poured at least 134 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico — and tourism and wildlife still haven't fully recovered, despite years of cleanup.
And yet, despite touting the boldest climate agenda of any administration to date, President Biden's Interior Department just released a five-year offshore drilling plan that includes proposals for as many as 11 potential offshore leases for oil and gas companies in public waters in the Gulf of Mexico and possibly Alaska.
Offshore drilling is risky and dangerous — and expanding it is antithetical to our climate goals. Just one oil spill would spell catastrophe for beaches, Indigenous communities, coastal communities, marine wildlife, and fishermen alike. We support communities opposing further leasing — including in the Gulf of Mexico, which should NOT be the nation’s sacrifice zone.
Thankfully, the Biden administration is accepting public comments on its proposal — but only for a limited time. We need to rally a massive public outcry urging them to reverse course and protect our coasts from drilling. will you submit a public comment right away?
The oil and gas industry is using the gas price crisis to push for more drilling — as they reap record profits — but they're already sitting on the rights to drill across 11 million acres of ocean, and only using a quarter of that. And the U.S. is on track to hit all-time records on both oil and gas production this year.
By their own admission, the oil and gas industry has enough acreage to sustain oil operations at current levels for a decade or more — and expanded drilling would have NO impact on the current gas price crisis, as new leases would not yield more oil supply for at least five years.
The true price tag for oil and gas goes far beyond the pump. Our communities pay when children suffer from asthma. Catastrophic oil spills devastate our communities, ocean waters, and marine life. And taxpayers are forced to fork over billions a year in subsidies to polluters.
It's time to reduce, not expand, offshore oil and gas leasing.
Submit your comment NOW: Tell Biden's Interior Secretary Deb Haaland that the administration must revise its five-year plan to include NO new leases, and to instead double down on the bold climate action we need to avert climate catastrophe.
Scientists say we must cut fossil fuel emissions at least in half by the end of the decade if we are to have any hope of staving off the worst impacts of climate change. Leasing large chunks of our ocean will lock us into the climate-destroying fossil fuels of the past at a time when we must rapidly transition away from fossil fuels and toward 100% clean energy.
And it's even more urgent that we act now to stop new offshore oil drilling given last week's devastating West Virginia v. EPA Supreme Court ruling that narrows the EPA's ability to limit climate-busting carbon emissions from power plants. This ratchets up the pressure to limit pollution anywhere and everywhere we can.
Will you call on the Biden administration to commit to NO new leases — before it's too late?
Thanks for continuing to fight with us.
Sincerely,
Lauren Kubiak
Senior Advisor, NRDC Action Fund
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