Help Us Stop New Offshore Drilling
The Trump administration has announced plans to expand offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Arctic Ocean. These plans include deafening seismic blasts that will injure or kill numerous marine animals. The federal administration recently authorized five companies to conduct seismic blasting, the first step to offshore oil drilling, in the South and Mid-Atlantic.
This drastic proposal puts our nation’s coastal economies, communities, beaches, surf breaks and marine ecosystems at risk of major oil spill diasters and ongoing offshore drilling impacts.
Surfrider Foundation is determined to prevent this plan from being finalized, but we need your help!
Latest Update!
The House of Representatives has passed legislation to permanently ban offshore drilling in large portions of U.S. waters. The Senate also needs to pass the measures for the bills to become law.
In response to the news, the Surfrider Foundation’s CEO, Dr. Chad Nelsen, issued the following statement:
“The Surfrider Foundation applauds the House of Representatives for listening to the American people and taking bipartisan action to protect U.S. coastlines from the damaging practice of offshore drilling. New drilling would pollute the ocean and put our nation’s coastal communities and economies at unnecessary risk. Today’s outcome is a major testament to the efforts of coastal advocates, elected officials, businesses, communities, and the recreation industry, which have fought tirelessly to defend our nation’s coasts from new offshore drilling.”
While both anti-drilling bills passed with comfortable margins in the House, passage of the bills in the Senate is expected to be much more difficult as several Senate leaders have vowed to block the legislation from moving forward. If the Senate does pass the bills, President Trump is expected to veto the legislation given the administration’s focus on expanding oil and gas development.
The Deepwater Horizon disaster spilled over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Nevertheless, the House of Representative’s passage of the anti-drilling bills is an important milestone in Surfrider’s campaign to permanently protect our nation’s coasts from new offshore drilling. The strong bipartisan support that both bills received shows that both Republicans and Democrats understand the risks and impacts of offshore drilling, and will fight any attempt by the Trump administration to proceed with revising the 5-year offshore drilling program
H.R. 1941 and H.R. 205 were supported by every West and East Coast governor; more than 2,100 elected officials from both parties and from all levels of government; 369 municipalities and counting; over 50,000 business interests; and over 500,000 fishing families. Last year, the National Congress of American Indians adopted a resolution opposing offshore drilling.
Make Your Voice Heard
Contact Your Senators to Support Drilling Bans click here
Visit Surfrider’s Stop Offshore Drilling campaign page
Access Surfrider’s offshore drilling resources and activist toolkit
Business owner? Add your business to the growing coalition against new offshore oil drilling. Sign on letter HERE
Get involved with your local Surfrider chapter or other community activities.
Participate in ocean planning to establish protections for our marine environment.
Support Surfrider’s Stop New Offshore Drilling campaign. Donate today and help us protect our coasts from new drilling and seismic testing.
