Tell Our Senators: Act to Prevent Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

When we drill, we spill. The catastrophic Deepwater Horizon disaster should have taught us that lesson for good.

But we’re still drilling off our coasts to this day. And despite fierce opposition, the Trump administration is working to open up even more of our oceans to oil and gas companies — places like the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which has been protected from drilling for decades.¹

Right now, Congress has a chance to block new offshore drilling along the sensitive, protected eastern Gulf.² Go to https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=39836 to tell our senators to do all they can to make sure that measure passes.

It took just one accident in the spring of 2010 for more than 3 million barrels of oil to start flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, smothering and killing untold wildlife and devastating hundreds of square miles of ocean habitat.³

The seafloor around the spill site is still covered in dirty crude oil. Bottlenose dolphin populations in the area were halved, and survivors suffered birth defects for years after the spill. The surrounding ecosystems have not recovered, and some may never fully recover.⁴

That spill happened off the coast of Louisiana. Thousands of oil rigs still operate today in that part of the Gulf — but not in the eastern Gulf, which has been off limits since 1985.^5,6

Those restrictions are about to expire; but a bipartisan bill that would extend them permanently has already passed the House. Now we need the Senate to take action.

Let’s keep the eastern Gulf, and all our coasts, protected. Tell Sens. Patrick J. Toomey and Robert P. Casey to take action.

Legislators from both sides of the aisle oppose new drilling in the eastern Gulf. And with good reason: From mangrove forests to pristine beaches, it’s a place worth protecting.⁷

When decision-makers have a chance to protect a broad swath of priceless ocean ecosystems home to everything from gators to manatees, we need to urge them to take it.

Tell our senators to protect the eastern Gulf of Mexico from offshore drilling today.

1. Ben Lefebvre, “Interior to push drilling in Florida waters after November election,” Politico, June 10, 2020.
2. “H.R.205 – Protecting and Securing Florida’s Coastline Act of 2019,” Congress.gov, accessed August 18, 2020.
3. Lisa Friedman, “Ten Years After Deepwater Horizon, U.S. Is Still Vulnerable to Catastrophic Spills,” The New York Times, April 21, 2020.
4. “Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Longterm Effects on Marine Mammals, Sea Turtles,” National Ocean Service, April 20, 2017.
5. “Gulf of Mexico Data Atlas: Oil and Gas Structures,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, last accessed July 29, 2020.
6. Ben Lefebvre, “Interior to push drilling in Florida waters after November election,” Politico, June 10, 2020.
7. “Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast,” Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Accessed August 12, 2020.