From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):
Just one month after a pipeline leak spilled 25,000 gallons of oil into California’s coastal waters, an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico is set to take place.1
The Bureau of Ocean Management (BOEM) has scheduled the lease sale for mid-November. Once the lease is sold, oil and gas exploration, drilling, and mining will begin, putting marine ecosystems and wildlife at risk.
Instead of paving the way for future oil and gas projects, BOEM should instead cancel all existing offshore drilling leases. We’re calling on the agency to do just that, but we need your help to build the necessary support.
Go to https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=47437 to tell BOEM: Stop offshore oil and gas drilling.
In early October, a pipeline leak off of California’s southern coast killed birds and fish and created a slick spanning 8,320 acres. Oil from the spill has also contaminated the Talbert Marsh wetlands, an ecological reserve that is home to dozens of species of birds.2
And this is simply the most recent example proving that when we drill, we spill. From the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 to the seemingly never-ending Taylor spill to the 1969 Santa Barbara spill to the … (the list just keeps going).
We shouldn’t be risking the health of wild places and wildlife just for a little more oil and gas — especially when we have alternative, cleaner forms of energy.
BOEM has the ability to cancel existing offshore drilling projects if they create significant harm to the environment. That’s why we’re delivering a petition to the agency and showing it the historic consequences of offshore drilling. Will you help us?
- Keith Magill, “Oil vs. environment: Debate continues after Biden administration schedules Gulf lease sale,” Houma Today, October 4, 2021.
- Hannah Fry, Robin Estrin, Ahn Do et. al, “Massive oil spill sends crude onto Orange County beaches, killing birds, marine life,” Los Angeles Times, October 2, 2021.
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