Coast Watch: Trump Administration Offshore Drilling Madness
The Trump Interior Department has issued an extreme drill-everywhere recommendation for America’s most sensitive offshore areas—including the North Carolina coast. A wide array of opponents are fighting back.
What happened? In a nutshell, the US Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released its draft 2019-2024 update of the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (draft plan). We just won a battle over this plan in the final year of the Obama Administration, which kept the NC coast and most other highly sensitive offshore areas out of the drilling leasing program. Now, we have to fight it over again, because the extreme pro-drilling Trump Administration officials are proposing the most radical offshore plan we’ve ever seen: opening 47 potential drilling sites in 25 of the 26 outer continental shell planning areas.
Environmental quality advocates wasted no time in opposing this radical anti-environment plan. The national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) called the draft plan “beyond reckless” and said, “Seaside communities, businesses, and elected officials from both parties have consistently opposed risky offshore drilling because of the grave threat it poses to their way of life, our climate, and local economies that rely on tourism and fishing.”
The irresponsible Trump draft plan also drew immediate fire from impacted states’ governors of both major parties, including the Republican governors of Maryland and Florida. In his own statement of opposition, NC Governor Roy Cooper declared, “Offshore drilling represents a critical threat to our coastal economy. Protecting North Carolina families and businesses is my top priority, and we will pursue every option to prevent oil drilling near North Carolina’s beaches, coastal communities, and fishing waters.”
NC Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Secretary Michael Regan added, “Offshore drilling and the seismic testing that would precede it pose environmental and economic risks to North Carolina’s coastal communities that we cannot afford. Protection of our beaches, sounds and marine life is vital to ensuring a robust coastal economy.”
Citizen groups around the nation are appealing for an outpouring of public opposition, including this informative post from the NC Coastal Federation outlining three ways for citizens to act: see more here.
NCLCV encourages our members and friends to join in speaking out against this irresponsible draft drilling plan now.
Up Next, Legislative panel recommends more study, but no funding for water pollution >>
