Kudos to the US House of Representatives. Using the Department of Interior Appropriations legislation to fund the agency for the next fiscal year, the House voted overwhelmingly to halt offshore oil leasing, exploration and drilling proposals by the Trump Administration.
Now, the legislation will go to the Senate, where YOUR HELP is needed to ensure that the one-year bans stay in place, and that the Trump Administration is blocked from moving forward by giving away the ocean to the oil industry.
Many Republican members of Congress joined House Democrats in opposing offshore oil drilling that threatens coastal economies as well as the ocean environment.
Offshore oil drilling involves dangerous oil spills, chronic oil spills, use of toxin-contaminated drilling muds, and destructively loud ocean noise. Exploration for oil involves airguns blasting the ocean bottom to determine the presence of oil-bearing rock formations – creating some of the loudest, most prolonged, and deadly noises heard in the ocean. Seismic surveys impose harmful effects on acoustically sensitive whales and dolphins who rely on sound to navigate, find food and mates, avoid predation, and to communicate.
Because the Appropriations legislation only applies to one fiscal year, the bans, which take the form of amendments prohibiting the Interior Dept. from expending funds to process offshore oil leases, is only good for one year. A permanent ban will require Congressional legislation, but the Senate, under the control of the Republican supporters of Donald Trump, is unlikely to go along with a ban. The Appropriations bill, however, is must-pass legislation for the Interior Dept. to function next fiscal year.
One of the amendments bans offshore oil leasing for one year around the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Another bans activity for one year on the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida. Yet another bans activity in the Pacific Ocean along Washington, Oregon and California. A fourth measure bans the issuance of permits for seismic testing for oil in the Atlantic Ocean, protecting, among other marine life, the endangered right whale.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Contact your two Senators, and urge them to support the moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf oil leasing and drilling to save our coasts and oceans! Urge them to strongly support the amendments, in the House Appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior, that restrict offshore oil leasing, drilling and seismic testing in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and around Florida.
For a list of Senators with links to their individual websites, go here. https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Under the heading “Contact”, most Senators will either post an email address or have an online form you can fill out to contact them.
You can also call the Congressional Switchboard (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to the office of your Senator.
For those of you who would like to write a letter, you can address it:
Senator __________________
US Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
